UGH, Kentucky Snow Vent.......we got a beautiful dumping of 12 inches. A wonderful neighbor on the huge farm was plowing the long drive across the street for the work entrance & the rental home...& just came across & plowed mine.....WOW.....while my truck was not sitting in the driveway, I always drive in onto my lawn close to my front door....I'm usually lazy in the cold weather. Dump came on Monday.....Tuesday they plowed my driveway & we got another 2 inches (wow) of snow that night. I didn't bother going out anywhere as they closed everything down around here & cancelled my medical appointment in the city.......well, Thursday came....I got a call just after 11 telling me that I could have my appointment at 1pm.....I had a foot of snow on my truck & on the windshield & I hadn't even started my truck since the weekend....didn't even know if would really start as the temps had dropped into the single digits.....& I never had an engine block heater put on my truck because I didn't think KY would get anywhere as cold as it does in Wyo where we used to winter vacation for several weeks each year enjoying the snow, downhill skiing, snow shoeing & x-country skiing (yes, I LOVE winter as long as I don't have to live in it all winter like you guys do).....they have snow birds that fly to Florida for the snowy months....those of us in the warm areas are reverse snow birds....we fly to the snow to enjoy it at least for a nice long vacation.
Anyway.....I threw on my layers, took my dogs out with me so they could enjoy the snow. I finally got the door open & started the truck after 4 tries, turned on the defrost, & started scraping the 10 inches of snow off the hood & windshield of my truck. Took about an hour.....then I prayed that I could at least back out to where the driveway had been plowed.
All this time....Leo, really wasn't interested in being in the snow...so he jumped into the truck & sat & supervised from the passenger seat......the snow was as deep as my towing hitch & the bumper but under my truck was virtually free from snow & putting my truck in 4x4 obviously helped. I just had to worry about backing up too far because there is a down slope on the other side of my driveway. Managed to get back to the plowed area & then it took me about 10 little back & fourths in order to get turned around & face OUT the driveway to the street. Too far back & there was the slope....too far foward & there is a ditch. Couldn't get my window open to look outside either (frozen shut).....so I inched my way around....& SUCCESS.
Put Leo back in the house because it was way too cold for them to hang around in my truck for the several hour appointment I was heading for (migraine treatment that I had missed for 2 months.....first I was sick with bronchitis & last week them messed up my appointment). I didn't even bother changing my cloths as it was already 15 minutes to make it to my appointment 50 minutes away. I had to go the long way around because the quick way, is through the winding road which goes down through the KY river palisades....beautiful but not safe in this weather. I made my way over to the highway through simi plowed country roads & when I got to the highway & tried to go 60 mph on the clear road, my truck started riding really rough......hmmmmm found a clear plowed parking lot to pull into & got out my slower than slow air compressor & checked my tires......low but not horrible but too low to safely drive on that far......so I sat there & filled the tires with air. My aluminum wheels don't hold their seal in the really cold weather. I had one tire resealed already this year...wish they had just done all of them.....so another 15+ minutes & I was back on the road.
Honestly I was really proud of myself, I arrived only 1 hour after they wanted me there.....I had already called & let them know the time I was on my way & when I thought I would be there & I came close. Heading home it was after 5pm. I needed to stop at my house to get a charged phone battery & check with a neighbor who I saw was totally snowed in still (she lost her husband to cancer just before Christmas). I thought, hey, just pull into the drive enough to be off the road & run into the house.....however, when I tried to reverse my way out even in 4x4, the tires just spun & I went nowhere up the small slope. So in my infinite wisdom, I thought....hey, just pull forward & turn around where you turned around before....if it worked then, it should work now.....but the snow was more icy & I had packed it down so it was more slippery & oops, that slop that is next to my driveway.....well, I found it. Backed up just a little too far & got my truck STUCK. Spinning tires just made piles of snow. I really needed to get to the pharmacy....has to do with the date of filling the prescription & really needed it done. I didn't give up on my truck even though it was now after dark.
Got my cell phone light on, got my snow shovel & started moving snow away from under the back tires. Gunned the accelerator & poof, I was free. Ended up getting turned around & out to the pharmacy. Sat there for awhile & then headed home. On the way home I decided to check the outside temp that registers on my truck....I actually took a picture of it because I didn't believe that my truck would even register anything that cold (-19F)......but I accomplished EVERYTHING I had set out to do that day.....worked at it from 11am until after 9pm....but I got through it without any damage.
It was too cold to even go outside on Friday....it never got above 0F. Then Saturday.....we had a winter weather advisory.....snow, sleet, then
RAIN!!!!.....crud, RAIN most of the day. It turned the snow into a snow cone made of water.....we still have a lot of snow but it's so wet & then freezing. What a horrible way to end a beautiful week of snow....I like it better when it just melts itself away rather than getting washed away.
I had to get out into that on Saturday to take a friend to run some errands (doesn't own a vehicle). Had to fill my tires again.....didn't have a rain coat & my down jacked ended up socked along with ALL my layers.....not a smart thing to do.
On the way home, I live on a curving, sloping, country road....it was so beautiful I wanted to go back I get pictures.....got turned around, started down the road toward the creek & my house & there was a car behind me. I pulled over a bit too far & ended up in the ditch with 2 wheels.....but the guy got around me....couldn't get the truck out until I realized I wasn't in 4x4 at that time....I put it in 4x4 & slowly went forward & right back onto the road where one NORMALLY drives. Don't know what I would do without my truck.....it gets me into & out of a LOT OF TROUBLE.
Everything is still covered with snow....even though it's slushy now. It's going to last for awhile because the temps aren't going to be above freezing for the next week or so.......
We have only had to deal with this for a week & it's fun.....not sure I would feel like that if it went on for months.....but that's why I chose KY to move to rather than Wyo or the more northern states. Glad that my horse isn't here right now though....don't think a California born & raised Salle Francais TB mare would like this weather very much especially since I don't have a barn & will only have a run-in shed.....she's nice & warm right now in California in 75-80F weather.