Van Gogh?.....Van Stuck

Yep, this ice is a real 'work-of-art' and not one that I am happy to keep around any longer. It's been a week since our big New Mexico Blizzard and just about everywhere we drive we see snow and ice still in the streets, cars slipping and getting stuck, and people getting injured from falling on this darn ice.

I've been keeping close to home since Christmas, just to avoid all the wintry weather we've been having, and wouldn't you know it that when I do finally get out, I get stuck....and it's right in front of my own driveway! hehe

Yep. Wheels were spinning, but we didn't move. We were stuck!
We tried the pushing and rocking thing with the boys pushing and rocking while I tried forward and reverse. But it got us nowhere, but more stuck.
So, a shovel was brought in and we dug our way out. That ice was hard as a rock!
Interesting thing happened while we were stuck. The first time we've seen anyone come into our neighborhood to de-ice our roads and it's a dirt truck and it backs up onto our own street, spreading dirt about 35-40 feet. It stops when the driver sees us in his rear-view mirror.....and then quickly drives off our street and is not seen again.
Yes, it was 15 minutes before noon, and possibly this person's lunchbreak was arriving....but gosh! It's a shame when a man sees a mother and her children struggling to get unstuck from the snow and he doesn't even offer to help at all. Even if it was just dumping some dirt around my tires.

And another odd thing, was how our street was deserted for the 20 minutes it took us to get ourselves unstuck, but the minute we were rolling free again, a QWest truck drove past us and then two of our neighbors arrived back home. Weird!

Maybe getting stuck was a test. A test for us to see how tough we are and if we could manage on our own without help. We definetely were a good team getting the van unstuck and it felt like a great accomplishment doing it ourselves.

In this picture, you can see our street looking north. Notice the dirt area just a bit past the stop sign.....