Saturday's Hunk of the Day!

Would anyone care to ring his bells?

I'll be out most of the day today, visiting the relatives in Louisville.

I spent yesterday baking cookies and pies and trying to melt some of the ice on the porch and the driveway. My driveway adventure began early after Budley decided to go to work. He made it out, but at the end of our driveway is a relatively steep slope to the road, which is on a slightly gentler slope. This spot has been the bane of our country living existence for the past twenty-one years, and we have yet to come up with a way to manage the ice. I have driven home through snow deep enough to belly-out under my car, only to be brought to a screeching halt when attempting to enter the drive.

In the past, I have used rock salt, a snow shovel, and cat litter, but this year, Budley had an idea. Now, as idea men go, Budley is one of the best. Unfortunately, I am usually the one who implements these notions. His idea was to dig out a wheelbarrow full of used cat litter, which Sam has been piling up along the edge of the woods for the past several years to the point that it has taken on the appearance of an Indian burial mound, and cart it down to the road and spread it out over the ice.

So, in true intrepid Cat Master fashion, I dutifully emptied the manure from the wheelbarrow onto my rose bed after cleaning the barn, gathered up a shovel, and set off for the mound. The ice and snow covering was easy enough to break through, and as the cat litter wasn't frozen solid, it was relatively easy to shovel out. In short order, I had filled the barrow to the brim with damp cat litter.

Has anyone spotted the problem with this idea yet? No?
Very well, then. I shall continue.

Our driveway is perhaps fifty yards long (I've never measured it, but half the distance to the end zone seems applicable) and there are two steep slopes, one gentle rise, and an almost 90 degree turn right before the last slope to the house. The driveway is covered in ice--slicker in the tire tracks, but only snow and ice-covered in the center. This is the path I took. First to empty a bucketful of hot coals from the woodstove on the end of the drive (which was totally inadequate, BTW), and then to push the load of cat litter. My first effort to move the barrow demonstrated the problem.

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH A WHEELBARROW FULL OF DAMP CAT LITTER WEIGHS?????

A lot. I accomplished my task, but I am now feeling the effects. My back is in a spasm and my right hip hurts from where I fell on it. I was standing still at the time, which should give you an idea of just how slick that spot is.

But it was worth it. My guys are now home, safe and sound, and their cars are not stuck in the drive, keeping us cut off from the outside world until spring.

Only SEVEN more shopping days until Christmas!