Yes. It snowed today. I would say we got about 2-3″ – not much, I know, but damn it sure adds up!!! How many times do I have to re-re-re-reshovel the same path? How many pieces of wood did I lose in the latest snowstorm that dumped 2.5′ last week Monday-Wednesday? Man, last week sure was killer, and I’m paying the piper dearly… So, without further ado, here is a tale of the 4 Hikes of the Last Week of March 2023…

Monday: It’s gonna start snowing heavy at night. Jake (UPS driver) says he doubts he’d make it on Tuesday with my package (dog food, 30lb bag). However, he did have another package for me – training pads and a brush for the puppies. So, I hiked 2.3 miles down in 31 minutes… met Jake, got my packages, hiked 2.3 miles back up in 38 minutes. The snow was all firm and solid, almost as if I were walking on solid ground. Meanwhile, I’m frantically texting a bunch of folks to see if anybody could get me dog food, as I only had enough to make it to Tuesday… Fortunately, Boris was able, but not til later at night. Unfortunately, this meant I had to hike out right around sunset… when it started to snow and the winds were blowing hard. My glasses became SO CAKED with icy snow, I had to take it off. It took me nearly an hour to get down to Boris, where he was waiting with a 40lb bag of dog food and some provisions for myself. The trip home was killer – the wind was more fierce (70mph winds were reported) and it was white-out conditions – I couldn’t see more than 3-4′ in front of me even with powerful headlamps! It took me a bit over 2 hours to return home.

Wednesday: Jake tells me the road is clear and he has two packages for me. Dog food, and 6 boxes (120 count) of Earl Grey teabags. Not too bad of a haul today. Oh! He met up with FedEx (cellular tower was out, and Tim (FedEx) couldn’t text me) and grabbed a small package – dehydrated dog food from the Honest Kitchen. Still, the snow this time was deep, wet and soft on top of the ice-hard snow below. One hour down, 1 hour 46 minutes back home. I think I lightly pulled a muscle in my right thigh, but it’s not too bad. My back is starting to hurt, and it’s time to put the knee brace on my left knee…

Friday: Due to lack of coordination from a buddy, I headed out to hike down and meet Jake to get a 40lb bag of puppy food and a 20lb bag of adult dog food. I unexpectedly ran into my buddy and his mechanic friend, who were hauling some tools, beer and shovel to dig out a snowmobile and fix it. He told me he had to unload a gas tank as it kept falling over, could I grab it on my way back? I’d try, no promises… but by the time I loaded the sled with the dog food and started on the journey back home, I realized I couldn’t handle more weight – I was hurting and falling apart. I texted him that I couldn’t, and he got mad and flipped out at me (entitled buddy much?)… even though earlier he kept saying how jealous he was of all the workout I was getting, yet he couldn’t manage to go back and get the gas tank he dropped off as he had originally planned. I had to ignore him, as it wasn’t just the 5 gallon gas tank but also some oil, some tools, and a heavy duty strap. NO WAY – and in the end, I did pull a muscle pretty bad in my right thigh. My knee was aching bad. To top things off, I stubbed my right big toe BAD on an cabinet in the kitchen at night Friday walking to the bathroom, and it is black-blue-purple bruised and has been the primary cause of a major limp since then.

Putting shoes on is PAINFUL, and still… I have to go outside, shovel snow, cut wood, chop wood, and haul wood inside. I still have to take care of my 2 adult dogs and take them outside to go potty and play… I still have to clean the puppy pen flooring once or twice daily and run laundry twice daily. It doesn’t make things easy that there’s only me to support myself and the dogs. It pisses me off that somebody could be so selfish and callous to ignore all of my texts explaining my injuries, how exhausted and sore I am, and demand I do things for him.

Yeah, winter has been testing my mettle. While “memento mori” has been an ongoing motto in life, and yes – today IS a good day to die… I ain’t giving up – I’m fighting to survive Winterfell, and I ain’t gonna let them White Walkers get to me!