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Malvina Winter RiderDecember 27, 2010 We have been having Some Weather, like right now (6 p.m.) it's 24°F and the wind is barreling around corners like a runaway freight train. Ordinarily (whatever that is) I might be curled up inside with Travvy, Morgana, Hekate, and Sierra Nevada, but I'm looking after the puppyhorse and her Dales pony sidekick, so I'm out on the road shortly after 7 a.m. and again around 5 p.m., rain or shine. Both rain and shine have been in short supply since the day before Christmas, when I brilliantly, presciently did my laundry. Take yesterday afternoon, for instance. The weather was getting worse and worse, and as it did consensus emerged via e-mail that writers' group wasn't going to happen last night. I, however, had to feed the ponies, so around 5 p.m. Travvy and I set out in the valiant Malvina Forester. I'd barely got past the West Tisbury School, meaning I was less than a mile from home, before I started to think that this was a Really Bad Idea. Ahead of me looked like the view from the deck of the USS Enterprise as it goes into warp speed. Branches were down, the power lines were drooping low, low, low, and it took serious concentration to keep track of the right side of the road. Had I missed my turn for Buttonwood Farm Road? Where the hell was I going to turn around if I had? Turned out I hadn't, but a monster pickup with snowplow attached was blocking the entrance. After a very long 30 seconds or so, the driver got the idea that I wasn't going to crash through the snow barrier and he really did have to move. Fortunately nothing came along State Road while Malvina was waiting broadside to traffic headed up-island. The single-lane dirt roads were mostly invisible under the snow. We took it on faith that the road was somewhere in the gap between the trees. The ponies got fed. Getting home wasn't as harrowing as the voyage out, but I sure was glad to get there. This morning the snow had stopped, but the wind was just hitting its stride; Old County and State Roads were clear, but the side roads, including the one I live on, were up to four inches deep in slippery slushy snow. Once again we made it to the barn, and we made it home. Malvina Forester is a total all-weather trooper. Uhura Mazda wouldn't have made it, any of it. All-wheel drive rocks.
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