I too enjoyed the story....

I live in Green Bay and the snow storms are usually small, since the weather patterns are affected by the the
Bay of Green Bay.....except for two winters ago.......we got a a bunch of snow...don't member how much, but I do remember the 5 foot high snow drift across the front of the garage..all 40 feet across the front. AND the 4 foot high drift at the street left by the snowplow.( That was 20 feet across) It took me 3 days to get it all
cleared, with the help of my neighbor....he would knock the drifts down with a grain shovel so I could blow it away with my snow blower.

Then I had to clear the drift across the back of the house to free up the back door of the house in case we needed a second exit. Normally I run the snow blower out the back door of the garage, but that drift was taller
than the service door was high. Plan 'B' was to blow a path around the garage, which is 35 feet deep.

It's a good thing we're retired. In spite of Mother Nature, I like living here because all my 'toys' are here

Eventually I got it all done....I am currently shopping for a skid steer with an enclosed cab and heat. Maybe I can hire out.....

Choose a blade with a maximum of 40 teeth - too many teeth will bog down the motor. Also make
sure the pulleys are sized right as to not exceed maximum blade speed.

The house next to mine had a Sunday open house, FSOB, 2 months ago and had 2 offers that day, one of which was accepted (smaller house, garage) We downsized the lot from our last house....our backyard is 50' deep instead of 225'. I spend a lot less time cutting grass. The attached photo is just out the sunroom door looking into the cemetery.

I have a cemetery in my back yard, which I thought would be a quiet location when we build our 'perfect' house....but it is far from quiet. The grass is being cut up to 3 or 4 days a week, sometimes all day. Then when the leaves fall, the guys are out there up to 7 days a week picking up leaves and acorns. And the guys usually arrive at 7:00 and start the machines about 7:30. The vault truck arrives at about 5:30 AM and the porta-potty truck about 6 AM, both of which have back up beepers. Makes it hard to sleep late. (the maintenance building is directly behind the my house hidden by trees and a ravine) Out of sight, but still close.

The good news is we have lots of song birds, owls, hawks, eagles, tree frogs, toads, and a wonderful view across the Bay of Green Bay, WI. from our sun room.

And then there are the strange things that happen in the house......like the tennis ball I have hanging on a string in the garage so I make sure I get my truck in far enough to close the garage door. One day I opened the garage door to pull in and the ball was swinging like someone had just hit it. My wife had not been in the garage and no matter how hard the wind blows outside, the ball does NOT move when the door is opened....I've checked numerous times. I've got other good stories as well, but maybe another time.

BTW-in spite of my 'quiet' neighbors, we love living in this house.

800 876-6636

I called and requested a refund for my subscription which was good through July/August of 2020. I got a check for $11.22. Hardly worth the effort.

Silica gel packets can be dried out and reused. A Google or U-tube search will offer several suggestions, mostly using a oven. I use two throw-away aluminum turkey cooking pans. The bottom pan has a slot cut in the side for a power cord connected to a 60 watt light bulb to lay inside. I place a piece of 1/4 inch screen mesh over the pan and then place silica gel packs around the light bulb, but not close enough to burn the bag the gel is in. The second pan is flipped over and covers the first pan and silica packs. A couple of cloths pins or binder clips help to hold the pans together. Place some fireproof spacers under the pan to avoid burning the surface that the pan is sitting on. I find that in 2-3 hours the packs have dried out, depending on the size of the pack. In my case, I use a digital scale capable of reading .01 grains or grams weight changes to verify that the gel packs are not loosing any more weight (moisture). This is a lot less expensive than running the stove at 250 degrees, plus it does not heat up the house. Extra dried silica packs are kept in a sealed glass jar until needed.

We did the 3 towns on the inland passage by cruise ship a couple of years ago...there is a great walking loop at the top of the tram ride that has great opportunities to photograph unusually formed (or deformed) trees. The Indian totem pole collection is OK, but there is a path off into the woods on the edge of the bus parking lot that is a great example of what is considered Alaskan tropical forest, which I wish I had discovered before I started looking for photo ops among the totems, as I ran out of time to explore as much as I wanted.