The weather outside truly is frightful, but I don't want to hear any more choruses of "let it snow..."   We've had more than enough to last us quite a while, thank you...
 
     Things started off great this morning.  It was cold, but the air was calm and it looked like it was going to be a nice day. trixstir and I headed into town around 10:30am to pick up a few things we needed, and re-program the cash-register to add the appropriate sales-taxes.  We also installed Quickbooks Pro on the company laptop, and started the laborious task of entering vendors, item lists, etc.  All the while we were blissfully unaware of what was happening outside.
 
     It was 3pm when we looked up and realized how late it was getting.  I had to pick up a few other items, most importantly the shear-bolts for the snowblower.  Going outside was a bit of a shock!   There was close to 3 inches of new snow on the ground, and the wind was howling like crazy!  What happened to our nice day?!?!   My plan had been to head back to the farm, then come back into town again around 7pm to pick Trixstir up after closing.  I got as far as the highway , and realized that the roads were in horrible condition.  Actually, the road itself was fine, you just couldn't see it very well!  Case in point, the New Holland dealership sits on the edge of the highway, and you couldn't see the store from the road!  The co-op didn't have any of the shear-bolts I needed, and since I was right across from the New Holland dealership (also the local NAPA autoparts store) I thought I try them.  They didn't have the bolts either, and I got stuck for a few minutes trying to get out of their driveway.  The 4x4 option on my Explorer won't engage (likely a loose wire to the transfer case) so I had to rock the thing back and forth several times before I was able to get moving again.
 
     There was no way I was going to head back to the farm, then come back to town again in the dark in weather like this!  So I just went back to the bowling alley to get Trixstir and shut it down for the day.  It was 5pm when we left (no customers, no surprise in this weather!) and it was 5:37 when we got back to the farm.  Normally, that trip would have taken 12 minutes, 15 at most.  We were driving quite slowly, and there were many times when the visibility dropped to less than 50 feet.  Down to less than 12 feet in patches!   I had my foglamps on, not so I could see (it was still quite light out) but so that oncoming traffic could see me.  I also had my four-ways flashing so that people behind me would be able to see me better.  As it turns out, there was no oncoming traffic and only one other vehicle heading in our direction.  We made it back safely, but I've still got a monster headache from the eye-strain of having to drive through that blizzard, and we've decided that from now on if we can't see the highway from the kitchen window, we're not leaving the farm.
 
     Other than the headache, everything is good here.  The horses are all happy in their new indoor shelters, the cat is sleeping on the cushions next to me, and Trixstir and the kidling have already called it a night.  I'll be joining them shortly.  It was snowing again when I fed the horses at 7pm, so we'll have to see how things look in the morning.