I've had some severe arthritis and tendinitis problems in my hand, so I am behind on my snow shoveling. The problem with this dry, soft powder snow we have here is that it drifts easily. No sooner you finish shoveling and it is back. I don't feel bad asking the landlord to borrow their snow blower because I hauled 2 tons of wood pellets for their stove in a snow storm during my lunch break earlier this week. Oh, and I had to thaw out the snow blower for them because the ding-bat left if out in a blizzard and the carb froze up.
In other news, a local 62 year old retiree second homeowner died when her car got stuck in a snow drift and she tried to walk the couple miles home in a blizzard. They found her frozen body half covered in snow around 3 am that morning. How sad, but it didn't have to happen if she would have thought things through and been prepared. I take it as a lesson to respect the weather and be prepared. So I am compelled to make a list here of the emergency equipment I have been gathering and toting around in the truck these last few weeks:
- One portable plastic snow shovel
- One extendable snow scraper / brush
- One 12V battery backup jump starter with air inflator, power inverter and work light
- One LED flashlight
- One survival kit (borrowed from the boat for the off-season) Nalgene water bottle with flashlight, compass, space blanket, pocket knife, matches, wind proof lighter, fire starters, and hand warmers inside
- One Leatherman tool
- One nylon tow strap
- Three 8' logging chains
- Three nylon tie down straps
- One blanket
- One army surplus wool blanket (also borrowed from the boat for the off-season)
- One set of snow shoes
- One plastic sled (the "red rocket", undefeated to date against the "tie-die torpedo"..ok, so this one's more for fun than emergency, but you never know)
- One set ski poles
- One package of beef jerky
- Chocolate (problem is I keep eating it and having to replace it)
- One first aid kit borrowed from the boat for the off-season
- One air horn and flare gun borrowed from the boat for the off-season (I basically just stole everything out of the emergency cabinet of the boat)
- One two pound hammer (handy to break things loose from ice or hammer frozen trailer couplings)
- One pair snow pants
- One windproof and waterproof hunter orange beanie cap
- One set insulated gloves
- One pair gators
- One set jumper cables
- One roll duct tape
- One roll electrical tape
- nylon zip ties, assorted sizes
- road flares
- One pair ski goggles
- Two pairs sun glasses
- One hatchet
Am I missing anything? I think I might add a scarf or balaclava to the mix.
1 comment:
Wow, here's hoping you don't need to use all that stuff! (except the chocolate, of course).
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