We have retired in Arizona and appreciate your support over the years. Stay tuned for our new creative adventures! – Mike & Pat

You’ve heard it before, but is “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger” really true?

What Doesn’t Kill Us

Not a lot of metal work has been happening in the last two weeks.  We’ve been struggling with Snowmageddon 2019 in Central Oregon since February 23rd.

The phrase “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger” really took front and center stage during this time.  I knew trouble was brewing when I found myself shaking my fist at the sky and cursing two days into it.  Thankfully, we don’t have too many neighbors close by!

The Pineapple Express

We knew we were in trouble when the weather forecast talked about the pineapple express aiming it’s “hose” at the west coast.  For those who aren’t familiar with the Pineapple Express, it’s a big lineup of storms that funnel storm after storm towards the west coast.  With California getting the brunt of the wet stuff, it flows northward and hits Central Oregon particularly hard.

The last big storm was in 2016 right before Christmas.  The skiing crowd loved it.  But, anyone having to deal with the regular chores of life it wasn’t necessarily welcome.

We appreciate that drought conditions are bad (fire season), but getting all of our snowfall within a few days is a bit much.

Constant snow removal

So, we’ve been plowing, shoveling, pushing, blowing, raking, chipping, and any other verb you can think of to snow and ice this past week and a half.  Mike needed to return to the shop this morning.  Of course, it snowed a couple of inches overnight.  And, it’s still snowing.

No more whining

Okay.  I feel better now.  This too shall pass, and we’ll (hopefully) start getting warmer temperatures soon.  But in the meantime, we’re working at altering our attitude to getting back to work.  It’s hard.  Especially when we’ve been having so much fun in the snow…

Not.