If I didn\’t mention Snow

I would be amiss if I failed to mention the 9+ inches of snow we\’ve gotten in the last 48 hours. I would also be amiss to say it didn\’t affect me at all. From John calling me bright and early this morning, to canceling my client meetings to prevent from having to drive. All I know is that days like today are nice, but at the same time… Drive me crazy.

I had things I really needed to do. Things I really can\’t do from home. Things that can wait til tomorrow, but will just delay the things I needed to do tomorrow.

The funny part about everything I\’m saying is this:

Last night, I was telling myself that I needed to slow down. I needed to let my body relax. Last week was crazy for me. This week is likely to be the same. 10 hour days, 6 days a week. I try not to stop. Sundays are my day to unwind, and things like nascar (which btw: there is a 3 way tie for at the moment between Amber, Richard and me). Today afforded more relaxation time, for I didn\’t have any of my files with me (they are on my desktop). I didn\’t have high speed internet. All I had was my mind and some snow that I needed to move out of the way.

So I spent a portion of my day learning how to drive the big tractor. Quite different than our little tractor, and although I have driven it before, there are two things I don\’t believe I have ever done:

1) I\’ve never started it in cold weather. Diesal tractors don\’t like to start when it\’s cold… At all. It\’s about a 20-30 minute process. It starts by plugging it into an outlet to start heating the engine. After a good amount of that, there is another device built into the tractor designed to heat the oil/gas as well. You hold that for about 30-45 seconds, give it some gas, and try to start it. It will more than likely fail, so you wait another 30 seconds, try the button again for 30-45 seconds, and then try to start it again… Man did it sound sick when it finally did start, and for about the next 3 minutes while it warmed up.

2) Used the blue tractors scoop other than to have fun, and the 4 wheel drive. Although this isn\’t entirely worth mentioning, it was fun to use levers on the manual beast. It\’s not like a car, or our riding lawn mower. You have to pull a level and hold the clutch to put this thing into 4 wheel drive. You have to put this thing into gear to get it to do anything. Coolest thing of all: using the front scoops as your front tires… The hydraulics are powerful enough to lift the tractor off the ground, so you can do it. Lots of fun. If anyone needs a nice snowboard jump 😉

I really have a lot of things I could be writing about, but right now I feel sleep is my best option. I\’m sure tomorrow will be a long day.