It's the damned sidewalks.
This really is one of the most severe winters we have had in a very long time. It is quite a typical winter for Wisconsin, actually; we have been spoiled by milder weather for the last ten years or so.
This year we have had snow.
and subzero temps.
and more snow.
The City has been wont to keep up with it all and thus we have streets that resemble Little Beirut rather than MidAmerica, USA. Holy cow. I'm told we're running low on salt, but apparently only in some parts of town (mainly because the road have become impassible, perhaps?) Doesn't help much that the leaves which should have been picked up BEFORE December weren't and are now into the streets obstructing the storm drains. Doesn't help that people park in the street...IN THE STREET...during a declared "snow emergency". Doesn't help that snow is being tossed out in the roadway by thoughtless citizens because "the plow will move it"...nuh-uh. That's Problem One, a brief thumbnail of it at least.
My problem involves the sidewalks. Somehow someone has it in their head that *I* should be removing snow and ice on the RailRoad Right-of-Way. I have for the last 34 years, but now due to age and illness, I cannot. CANNOT. I spent all day Saturday and Sunday chopping ice and attempting to remove snow...on all of it...because that's what a good neighbor does, right? I dumped 80# of solar salt (meant for water softeners, and a bit pricey) to assist in said removal, to no avail. Four inches of ice is fairly well impenetrable. My hands are so swollen that I have to type with my thumbs, and it is slow and inaccurate. My wrists ache. My shoulder is broken from a previous injury and aches. I am getting over this winter's variety of influenza (my shot didn't work, I'm on my second week of yet another antibiotic for a respiratory infection), and a probable adverse reaction to the recommended shingles vaccine for people over 60...yes, I am over 60. I allegedly have fibromyalgia (unconvinced it's REALLY a disease), but I do have multiple orthopedic limitations from a variety of auto accidents, and then there was the thyroid cancer and radiation from November that I am still recovering from. I am tired. I am sick. I am old....and yet I am expected to maintain someone else's responsibility? Oh. I don't think so. Send me a bill for the 7 1/2 feet that is mine...Check your GIS, it's there... and then in the Spring, have the City Engineer put down his donut long enough to come fix the problem created when they changed the grade of the street and the unshovelled slop from the neighbor on the east merges with the unshovelled slop from the RR on the west and pools on my 7 1/2 feet... I've been complaining for YEARS about this (and many other things, as you shall read).
I sent the City a "report" again on their website.... hahaha.... this ought to be good!
Similar situation in the warmer months when the WEED COMMISSIONER (ooo, I'm afraid!) crawls up my ass, but that's a whole 'nother post/rant. I posted a "report" and was assured that the RR was on a schedulae and is mowed, and guess what? NOT ONCE last year...and not for FIVE YEAR before that. The only reason it was mown was because they had to do work on the tracks...and when they were done, all the crap lay right there...old track, ties, plastic water bottles, rags and a galvanized bucket. It's all still there...if I could find the cables for my digital camera, I'd post a pic. AND...most of the front lawn, which I care for because I don't want critters in my house because of the proximity of tall grass and trash...is theirs (RR) and my daughter and SIL who live in MI provide the lawn service because they know how crippled up I am and the difficulty I have. How many lawnmowers have I broken and had repaired taking care of someone else's weeds? I do not know. Many. and now I can't anymore.
and this is just the beginning. wait. It truly does get better!
And so now I wait for the red ticket on my door from the City, threatening me...or a visit from the Police...already the USPO (neither snow, nor rain, etc) has stopped delivering my mail...but also stopped writing crappy notes ON my mail, which is probably a good thing....funny how the postal carrier canwalk across my lawn in the summer, but he needs a sidewalk cleared to the bare pavement in the winter.....
You gotta love this place.
