I 80 Shopping & Snow-of Course!

Cabin Fever has set in, so we masked up and headed over to Williamsburg, IA for the I 80 Shopping Spree. DD went with me! Love to spend a little time with my girl.

Lots of stuff to see! So many beautiful quilts and fabric!

And they served food and had the signature cocktail too! They're all fancy! I also took the display Nolting long arm for a quick spin. Hmmmm, I am in lust for sure.

I didn't take a picture, but here's one from the Nolting website. It was such a nice relaxing time-easy to keep our distances and of course masks!

And of course the snowblower broke down. My faithful old workhorse up and died on me.  SO Hubs bought this beauty.

It's an Ariens-Made in the USA. Kind of pricey, but those heated hand grip-WOW!!

I took her on the maiden voyage to clean up a few snow piles out in the driveway.

It worked very well. It's a lot heavier than my old one. It's all metal-no plastic on the chute at all.

Unfortunately, I think we'll have a few more trips down the driveway before it's time to store her away for the summer.
 

Kind of Like Groundhog Day...it Keeps Coming

 

It seems like the snow keeps on coming every few days. Unfortunately, the snow blower broke down on Thursday!! YIKES. Hubs called and the repair shop would get it in right away. 

I drove it over to North liberty, in the pick up, it's also zero degrees out...brrrrrr. If you drivr over the Forever Green overpass over Highway 380, you can see that traffic was backed up for several miles. 

Looked like a parking lot out there! Anyways, I got the snow blower dropped off.

Then I get to shovel the ramp...... again.My electric heat tape on the top landing does seem to be working pretty well. But when it's really deep like this, it loses the battle.

The dogs like it out in the cold and snow.....

But they would rather be indoors when the temps are this low! 

But good news the snowblower is fixed! I picked it up on Monday, and we only had a little bit, maybe 2-3" of fluffy snow, so we'll see if I need it before the weekend or not!!

Snow Blowing in the New Year

So starting Last night (Tuesday Night) it snowed a TON! 

We have over 10" of snow right now.  I went out around 6pm to get a start on it-even thought it wasn't due to stop until later in the night. I was supposed to go to work, but........

I chose to not risk it. Only I think the 2nd time in 24.5 years that I called off due to weather.

I got the driveway all cleared and shoveled the ramp-the heat tape is going, but it doesn't seem to be keeping up with this deep stuff! SO that was enough for last night! I'm in for the night and off for the holiday-yay snow!

Today I go out to start the snow blower and it won't start! Turns over but won't take off .Hmmmm, I get to looking and see that the KEY is not in the spot where it belongs, where it has been for years!!! It must have fallen out last night or I brushed it out when I was putting it away for the night.  In a panic I get on line and hunt down local places that might have a replacement-there's way to much snow out there to try to find a little plastic key! I finally locate a place and DD, who is going into town any ways will stop and get it for me. The roads are good right now, so no big deal. I'm waiting impatiently and get to thinking that maybe there's a hack for the snow blower. 

I take a look at youtube and what do you know!? there's a guy who says a plastic spoon handle will work in a pinch! WHAT!!! I've been waiting all day and I could have gotten going. I immediately get  a plastic spoon and go out to try it....OMG IT WORKS!!!

I start getting the new snow cleared and also try to keep an eye out for the original key, when WHIIING-there goes a red flash right out of the snow blower! It's the KEY!!! I finished the new snow and pulled out the spoon and plugged in the key. Now I have a spare! 

But I'm keeping my plastic spoon handy!!

Bonnie Do List

SO I got a lot of things done yesterday! I visited my old lady friend Loretta up in Cedar Rapids, I got some groceries, and went to the library!

 And I replaced the front  closet door knob..the old one fell apart. I had a heck of a time getting the old one out. But the new one went in pretty easily. Looks Good, right! I hope they all aren't going to fall apart-they all came with the house at the same time.....

 Then when it snowed on Monday I was blowing the driveway and the auger control cable broke! So I right away ordered a new cable from Amazon, only $15! YAY! The weather was nice so I went to the garage with my laptop to watch the how to videos on you tube.

I took an extra picture of this little part, It's a pulley guide,  because I knew I wouldn't remember how to put it back on.

 

 It was a good thing I had the video handy because I had the little hooky thing on the end of the cable that goes on the control lever, attached incorrectly. Now it's right!

 There all Done! Seems to work OK. No snow left to test it out on though! Oh well I'm  ready for the next time!

How come the people in the videos never get dirty and greasy and break their finger nail? The Bonnie Do list is done for today!