Global Warming and My Garage

January 5, 2018

Near-record snowfalls and frigid arctic temperatures have made things interesting here in the gulley. Yesterday after plowing my driveway (again!), I put the tractor away. Have I mentioned lately how thankful I am for that tractor? A couple years ago when I bought it, I shilly-shallied around for weeks, thinking it was too much money to spend. Linda told me, “We have the money; go get it!” I am so grateful for such a kind and generous wife. That tractor is almost worth its weight in gold. Not quite though. If I had what tractor weighs in gold, I could buy a fleet of them. But I digress. I backed the tractor into the garage and hit the button on the garage door opener. It got partway down and the warning light began to flash. I checked this and that, and finally discovered that the weight of the snow on the roof had brought so much pressure on the overhead joists that they began to sag just enough to hit the rail on the door opener, which prevented the mechanism from traveling along the rail and closing the door. I was able to manually maneuver the mechanism enough to close the door, but I also knew it was time to shovel the roof before more serious problems developed. 

So today was roof shoveling day. But before I could do it, I had to get the tractor out of the garage. All the snow I knew I would be shoveling off the roof had to go somewhere, and that somewhere would be right in front of the door, which would strand the tractor in the garage. I couldn’t get the tractor out unless I could raise the stringer so the mechanism could operate. An eight foot two-by-four wedged under the stringer was the only way I could think of to raise it enough to let the mechanism pass. Unfortunately, the stringer was eight feet and two inches, so I had to block it up. My floor jack was a bit too much, so I had to angle the stud and hammer it under the stringer to raise it up. Then a short piece of two-by-four screwed to the stringer and the rafter gave just enough clearance for the mechanism to operate. Knock out the two-by-four, move the floor jack, and voila! We were in business! It only took me 45 minutes to get to the point where I could start to shovel the roof.

Tractor out, ladder up, and I could begin. And so could the problems. We have had so much snow that it was packed hard. I got the top layer off, but I couldn’t even get my shovel through the snow underneath. So there is still at least a foot of snow on the roof, and even in the four degree weather, I was sweating. That stuff was hard work! I didn’t even touch the back side of the roof. An hour and a half plowing the snow I had shoveled off the roof into the driveway, and we are finally clear. And then there is the house...

I am thankful tonight for global warming, without which I probably wouldn’t have even been able to find my garage, much less shovel it off. Seriously, as I stood huffing and puffing on the garage roof, looking over to the house and wondering if I had enough in me to tackle it tomorrow, I was thankful for strength enough to get done what needed to be done, and for the tools and equipment without which it would have been impossible.