Hope springs eternal. Springs springs next week. I hope.

Today we were supposed to have a service day with teams from the community coming. But the partner decided she didn't want to work on Saturday and called it off. It was snowing, she said. That was Friday.

 

Well, it’s Saturday, and, just like the weather forecast said, it’s sunny and cold. It’s really beautiful and it would have been a great day to work. But no, essentially, she didn’t want to work on the weekend and canceled it all.

It makes me so mad, but I'm just so tired of it I can't get too wrapped up about it anymore. I'm not even surprised she did it. They flat-out are detrimental to the rebuild.

Is it cold? Duh. It’s North Dakota. And we work inside.

Is there snow on the roads? Yes. Big deal. The teams were local, not traveling in from out of town.

Can we reschedule? Sure. But the fact is, the teams would have come today and the next day. We lost yet another week. And why? Because the partner didn't want to work on Saturday. (She left around 11 a.m. yesterday.)

 

I talked to my supervisor about it and he's just so optimistic I want to scream. Rebuild is their department, so it's their decision, he says. Yes, I know. But how can we be assured that it was the partner's decision, and not just this person's? Who makes the call? And does that person – or process – take all factors into consideration? How can we, as the collaborative, be assured of that?

Honestly, if I believed that who made the call ran it by her supervisor, giving her all the facts (meaning the gorgeous weather forecast for the day), and her supervisor agreed to cancel it, that would be OK. However, in that case, we should have a documented process, in writing, that shows that happened.

 

Instead, an email came saying “It’s snowing. I’m calling off the work day tomorrow and going home now.” At about 11 a.m. on Friday.

This person is the same person who flat-out told some teams they could not come because they weren't "skilled" enough. And there is no one within the partner that will say, "Tell me why you think that." Or, "These people want to come and serve in the rebuild. Can you try harder to fit them in somehow?" or "Screw you; I think they're skilled enough, they're coming."  It's just her call and there is no accountability.

Sadly, there’s no surprise in any of this. It’s almost like this particular arm doesn’t want the rebuild to happen. That stinks.

There is snow all over. That’s normal for this time of year, though. The snow hasn’t dissipated since October, when it started coming down. I’m just so over it.

The boot is to show scale. 
Photo taken from front door.

It snowed a ton on Friday – maybe 5-6 inches – and it’s supposed to come down again tomorrow. It looks like this continues until next Sunday, after which my 10-day forecast is up. I am hoping that it turns into spring, but despite that being on the calendar next week, it doesn’t look really hopeful.

We did have two days last week of over-freezing temps and it was pretty good. I walked to work without the pumpkin pants and my Timberlands instead of my snow boots. It worked out just fine, but the walk home was a mess. Rivers of melted snow and brown slush.

It doesn’t make me look forward to the spring, but it’s just got to be better than the snow.

When I got home last night, I found the two drifts outside my front door had moved, with one now somewhat overhanging the footpath. Normally, this path is several feet wide, but right now, it’s the length of my shovel blade. That’s it. I’m just so very tired of shoveling.

My little triplewide is on a corner. I’ve given up all pretenses of shoveling the sidewalks. I started out with good intentions and these lasted through my visit to South Carolina. But when I got back, it was just not worth the effort.

The dude in the Bobcat who clears snow (he’s outside my window right now), clears up to the sidewalk, and sometimes over it.  (There aren’t real curbs here, the sidewalk just rises a little from the road.) It had been when I was clearing, he would then clear and kick up a bunch of snow right where I’d just shoveled.

So it’s just not worth my time. Earlier in the winter, I liked having the sidewalk clear so I could get to the wheat field and make my way to Walmart. It’s a shorter path than having to double back down the little roads to get to the main road and go down the sidewalk.

I tried to walk there earlier this week to pick up a few things and didn’t get far. There’s a snowdrift that’s at least four feet high and is the length of the entire neighborhood. No way I’m going through that thing. I took the long way.

So, with there being no reason to need the sidewalk, I’m just not going to deal with it.

Next week, spring gets here. I am so ready.