Not many pictures from today, but documentable nonetheless.

We start out early, I am up at 5:30 am, Christy a bit later but not much. Quite a bit to do before our cab arrives at 7:15 am.

Last night I shut down the water system in the dark which wasn’t too bad, never done it at night before. It’s never any fun going underneath the cottage but it’s no different night or day. It was 15 below so a little chilly since had to leave the front door open to drain the hot water tank but that went pretty quickly.

Stoke the last of the wood into our fireplace in the morning and make coffee from the water we have reserved. Shut down the upstairs bathroom, shut off any electric devices and switch off the circuit breakers. I see the cabby lights right on time a few minutes before 7:15 am. We’re ready.

I’m watching the cabby, he pulls right to the bottom of our driveway and attempts to turn around on the lower west side. “He must really know and trust his tires” I say to myself. Uh, no. He’s stuck. This is not good, we have an Ontario Northland bus to catch in town and 7:55 am.

We dig we push we dig we push, we get him out onto the main driveway. He attempts to drive up the rest of the way but it is all ice below the snow and he ends up sliding into the small ditch on the side of the driveway. No way we’re pushing him uphill out of there and he can’t go backwards so we’ll have to pull him out with my truck. (We thought of that before but couldn’t really find a good anchor point but now there is no choice.) We tie my tow rope to a strut on the engine and pull him out easily to the top of the driveway.

OK, let’s go. There is still a slight chance we’ll catch the bus.

Uh, no.

On the way out our driveway the car slips into the ditch. I don’t think it was really John’s fault as I think the ruts drew him in but we’re still in the ditch and the only way we’re getting out is if we get pulled. Back to get my truck, can I get by him? Will I get stuck on the other side of the driveway? Neither. Manage to slip by him by inches, reattach the rope, pull him out, this time I pull him all the way out to Skyhills. Drive back to the cottage, lock up the keys, run back to the cab, it’s 8:05 am, we’ve missed the bus but not by much.

We’re off on a race to Bracebridge to try and catch the bus. Christy manages to find the number for the BB depot, the attendant says he’ll ask the driver to wait. John could drive a bit faster but we get to BB, the bus is there, we pay the $90 (!) fare and get on. We haven’t lost any time.

Hours later, Blair picks us up at Yorkdale, we spend a few hours at his place, Diane joins us for a while, then we go to the Crooked Cue to meet Audrey, Ed and Jeanne Boone. Really nice to see Ed and Jeanne again.