I like the cold weather, but the snow can go away anytime now! We do want to do a little tobogganing if it ever quits snowing long enough for me to get caught up. Just wish I could find a good sledding hill. Anyone know of one? The Easton Bluff is closed down now due to new ownership, so that's out.

I'm finally done with all my driveways - again. The new snowblower works great! The old one works great too, but it's so little that it takes longer. It's even better exercise though. I was a little concerned at first, because normally when I used to plow with my ATV under conditions like these I'd have a hell of a time. It's all ice underneath and by now I would be running out of places to push the snow. I'd be doing a lot of spinning and revving and cussing. None of the driveways are paved and they are all uneven so I can never get them scraped too clean, and that also turns to ice, which was an even worse problem with the blade than the snowblower. The snowblower scrapes them cleaner than what I ever could get them with the blade due to their unevenness, and I never have to worry about running out of room. As a result, today I think I got done faster than I would have with the old Sportsman, and the blower loads in the truck much quicker. Sportsman would probably have been quicker in town on a parking lot where it's level and paved and lots of room to push snow, but out here in the sticks, brush, rocks, and HUGE drifts it makes a difference. A guy was trying to plow out the driveway to the barn today with his 500 and and he finally gave up. Couldn't push it because of the ice underneath. I know exactly how he felt. Been there, done that, many times. I do miss plowing with the old beast sometimes, but not today. I remember. If I ever get anything else for snow removal, it will be a truck with a blade, or maybe a blade for the old Cherokee. A tractor would be cool, but overkill for me I think.

Looks like my little rides in the woods are done for awhile. I couldn't even make it past the garden. I didn't think I would make it, because the drifts are too deep, but I thought I'd try. One thing I discovered is the safety engineer that invented the reverse override switch should have it crammed real far. If you've ever been stuck in the snow, you know why. On the old Sportsman I had the worthless thing bypassed and used it for a horn button. Then when I got stuck I'd just get off to the side, squeeze the throttle, and walk it out. I can't bypass the override on the Hawkeye because the button also controls the odometer and hour meter functions. There's no way I can reach over to hold that stupid little button in at the same time as running the throttle and pushing it out of the drift. I think I'm going to carry a big clamp around with me and when I get stuck, I'll clamp the damn button in. I've got a clamp with a 2 inch opening, and it almost fits on there, but not quite.