Running the gamut of thanks

The weather forecast for this past Monday morning through Tuesday night called for up to 20 inches of snow. By four p.m. Monday, when there was maybe four to six inches of new snow on the ground, and nothing seemed to be coming out of the sky, I thought that once again those weathermen were just pulling our leg.

February 29, 2012, 8:00 am, on the main drag of town

Then I woke up Tuesday morning and thought, “oh, nuts.” I haven’t been able to take many pictures of this new snow, but here is the blizzard of Leap Day 2012. This week’s snow wasn’t that bad but this is the kind of snowfall potential we can look forward to in the Northwoods.

For the month of November I am writing about the 30 things I am thankful for. Right now, I am thankful for snowblowers, snowplows, graders, tractors and anything else which moves the snow out of my way making it easier for me and all the people around me to get where they are going in a safe manner.

Found a picture of hubby snowblowing that day.

But that is only the ninth item on my list. I seem to be running behind as it is the 13^th of November already.

I am also thankful that I have a warm house to live in on these snowy days. I shouldn’t even mention this for fear of jinxing myself, but when we first moved into this house, it had an old oil burning furnace. Our first major investment was getting a new furnace, but that one never seemed to run right. For a couple of years, it felt as if I was calling the furnace repair guy a couple times each winter. I don’t remember what happened, but the furnace finally started working reliably and the house has stayed warm. Or it would stay warm if I wasn’t too cheap to turn the thermostat up past 66 degrees (that’s warm enough outside in the summer and besides, I am also thankful for sweatshirts and blankies. But I will stick with just the warm house as item number 10).

My house all snug in winter. And thankful for snow-rakes too.

I’m going to throw out to you two more things and call it a day. Number 11 would be the best well water anywhere. One of the reasons that hubby never wants to move is because he is afraid he will never find water this good. He’s probably right, but I would still like to at least try the water at other houses that have newer kitchens or – never mind, my kitchen is the only thing I would change about my house.

I digress. Last of all I am thankful today for where all that delicious water goes after we are done with it. We had to replace our septic in 2008. The yard looked like a mine-field a week before our daughter’s graduation party, but hey, once the new septic was in all was well. And I don’t have to worry about the waste backing up into my bathtub. (Have you been THERE? Yuck!)

The view outside my office window, with the septic cover visible on Sunday.

Oops, septic cover no longer visible Tuesday morning.