The Saga of the Lost Mailbox

Our saga begins a few weeks ago when we had a snow storm. All the weeks of this winter are molding together in my brain, so I can't give you an exact date. I was stuck again at the end of my driveway waiting for Chris to come and bail me out. I noticed our black mailbox off to the side detached from its post. I picked it up and gave it to Chris. He was smart and stayed home that day. He first put it back on the post using duct tape (of, course). Now mind you, the mail lady has given us several notices that show pictures of the correct way to plow out a mailbox. One had an angry circle that had been drawn many times around the exit. We tried to keep up with it, but because the snowstorms usually happened when we were at work, we didn't always get around to getting out to the end of the road to keep it cleaned out in the specified way. By the time the mailbox had become detached from its post, there was not much of the post to see because of the giant mound of snow surrounding it. Also, with the ice, rain, and snow that we were having (not necessarily in that order) the entrance and exit was somewhat bumpy, I guess you could say. She has a Jeep for crying out loud, stop whining. I digress. Where were we? Ah, yes, Chris was taping the mailbox back to it's post. For those of you who do not know, we cannot see the mailbox from the house. It is about a 1/2 mile away. Chris went back out later that day to get the mail. He noticed that the mailbox was missing. Somehow (evil postlady) it had been knocked off again. Chris realized that duct tape, however strong and versatile, was just not going to do the trick. He went back to the house and began a search for something better. He came up with bungy cord. Nice... That seemed to work, or did it. Right now we won't know until we have the Great Thaw. Because for the past week, it has been buried under a 20 ft. pile of snow that has just multiplied with each flake of snow that we get. Begrudgingly, Chris made his way to the post office to tell them the tale. Apparently several Alton townies were in the same predicament. MAIL HELD UNTIL END OF WINTER. Several of us have had to have our mail held because either they have lost a mailbox or in our case it is buried. Sad, we are back to getting our mail once a week because of the convenient hours of the post office(if you didn't notice that last comment was dripping with sarcasm.) Last Monday, it was very warm and we did capture a glimpse of the elusive mailbox but of course that did not last long because Surprise! there was another snow storm to bury it again. Will it ever end???

x country skiing

I went cross country skiing today. Wooh! I am out of shape. I didn't get very far the first time. I got new boots last weekend for my old (1991) skis and bindings. I had one hell of a time getting the boots to click in. So today, I went down our snow filled steps very carefully with all my gear. I got down to the lake and tried to put my boots into my skis. I could not for the life of me get one of my boots in. How frustrating. I decided to go to the place where I had bought the boots to tell them my problem. After huffing back up the snow filled stairs. I took the dog for a ride to Piche's to get it all straightened. They are the nicest people there. Very helpful. After taking a look at my situation, one of the girls brought me to the back where a guy was working in the repair room. He put a little lube on it and fit the boots in and they worked. Yeah! He saved me about $50 trying to get new bindings. Rocky and I went back home and I went skiing on the lake. What a gorgeous day. I went for a little bit and then decided to turn back because I had to walk up the snow covered stairs again. By the way there are 84 stairs. Although when they are covered in snow you take about 4 at a time. When I got to the top I was ready for a nap. I really need to get on that elliptical so that I can go for a longer time. Have fun in the snow.

a little song i wrote

snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow. more and more snow.

where is the sun

I have been starting to feel the effects of the lack of sun. This morning, we had yet another snow storm and I had to shovel out the end of my driveway in order to get out. About 30 seconds after I had finished, the plow guy showed. Convenient timing. This is the second time this week that I have been a half hour late to work because of the god damned snow. It is really starting to piss me off. On the way in, the girl from the Mt. Washington Observatory said that it was going to be sunny tomorrow and I thought to myself, Thank God. I can't wait for the sun. I can't wait for it to be warm. I think some of my problem has to do is that I was in Hawaii at this time last year and I have been thinking about how wonderful it was. Hopefully my mood will brighten soon.