Not Dr Potter's Medicine Show - Life at the VME

The last few months' posts have been mostly about the publication of Eric's debut novel and that is because that's mostly what's been going on around here that's at all interesting. Otherwise, life on the VME has been about how it's snowing, how we're going to have to rethink where we* plow and where we put the snow we've plowed, how we're going to keep the melting snow out of the shop which is a bit below grade, etc. This is general winter stuff, that is just a bit more intense this year because we got so much snow in December and and then more snow in January.

Plowing of the road created a bit of a berm at the bottom of the driveway and eventually even Eric's plowing of the driveway won't take it down. But two different snow shovels, a pick ax, and an hour or so will. 

Luckily, Delia has been enjoying fetch despite the snow...

... and enjoying hassling the squirrels and chipmunks under the snow!

And then we went on the DPMS World Tour (of the Pacific Northwest) and it warmed up while we were away which made the driveway a challenge for our house-and dog-sitter, Carrie. But by the time we got home, much of the road was down to exposed dirt! And the driveway was just a couple days away from its annual Death Luge Ice Driveway (DLID) stage.

And then a couple days after that, lots of exposed dirt! Which is certainly ugly, but much nicer for driving than the DLID.

Now this week has been a daily rotation of rain, snow, melt and rain, snow, melt... a potential mess and a real drag for fetching firewood and playing fetch. But at least I'm able to get up and down the driveway without chaining up Bert every time. At least for now.

I couldn't capture it, but it was pouring down rain when I took this. Not that sissy Montana rain, but real cats n' dogs style rain and for a good while, too.

I guess this big melty, rainy mess is not only a drag for us, but also for denning bears. Uh oh!



* And by "we," I mean "Eric" when it comes to plowing.