Slipping into the ditch

I shoveled and shoveled snow today. I cleared a path to my pile of firewood. But I didn't get my entire driveway cleared. It was cold and the wind was blowing. I know... excuses.

It is 20 fence posts to the road. I shoveled the length of 14 of the 20 and have six left to do tomorrow. The last six posts have the least amount of snow of the twenty.

Here is a photo of the shed over my well and pump. I tossed extra snow around the building to insulate it more. A few years ago I redid the inside of the shed and insulated it well but with the wind and below zero temperatures, extra insulation is so much the better. Right now I am able to heat the interior with just a light bulb on.


While I was shoveling the driveway late in the afternoon I noticed my neighbor had stopped his red pickup on the road. Only then did I notice the other pickup in the ditch along my hayfield fence. I had been so busy shoveling I never noticed when the pickup slid into the ditch.

The pickup in the ditch was a four wheel drive and that was the only reason he was able to move about. The ditch is steep and narrow and he tried backing up to my driveway but couldn't quite get up that last bit. I watched closely as his pickup was right next to my fence as he drove. I was afraid he was going to break my fence.

Since he couldn't get up out of the ditch the last bit to my driveway, the neighbor asked his son - who now had come by on the road in his green pickup - to pull the pickup out of the ditch. The pickup in the ditch had a long chain and the owner attached it to the green pickup and the neighbor's son easily pulled the pickup out of the ditch and away from my fence. I was surprised at how easily the green pickup pulled the other pickup as the road surface was covered with packed snow and somewhat slippery.

I looked over my fence and it looked like nothing was broken. The pickup owner checked with me on the condition of the fence. He seemed like a nice guy in his late 20s.

How did he get into the ditch? By cutting the corner as the road bends in front of my driveway. With the snow he misjudged the edge of the road and slipped into the ditch.

It may be a little hard to tell, but I took the photos to try to show you the bend in the road. You can see the tracks in the snow where the pickup came out of the ditch. I couldn't tell where he slipped into the ditch but I imagine it wasn't much past the driveway before the road straightened out.

The last photo shows where the pickup's tires rubbed up against my fence posts. I did a visual check for damage and didn't go over and try to wiggle the posts to see if there were broken. I didn't think of it but I should have done so.