I had to start twice, but it's done, and the Jeep has joined me closer to the garage.

Now that it's done, it's a balmy 13°F. When I started, it was just 10°F. It still hasn't started snowing, although the forecast put a 15% chance in each of the last few hours.

I poked at the compressor outside. The house uses a heat pump, and I was concerned that the snow may have packed in there preventing the HVAC from working, which would explain why the house is still cold. It's heated up to just over 60°F, although the thermostat is set to 70°F and it says "heat on" in the display. There's a bit of snow in the fan area of the unit, but it isn't packed full. The fan wasn't turning, and I couldn't poke my fingers through the protective screen to see if I could turn it. It's going to be warming up this afternoon and for the coming days, so I'm not terribly concerned today. 

I started the snow job by going out to where the Jeep is to assess and clear some more of that snow away. The concrete apron from the garage ends about 15 feet from the back of the Jeep, right where the drift got too big for the Jeep to pass. I cleared the snow over the gravel part of the driveway with a shovel before chipping away at the drift walls to start in with the snowblower. With the first pass of wall chipping done, I tried to start the snowblower.

There was still plenty of fuel, and I plugged the extension cord into the garage outlet and the snowblower. I couldn't turn the key to "on." There were a few visible chunks of ice on the skin of the snowblower, but the key looked clear. Apparently it froze inside, though. I cursed a little and looked for some isopropyl spray, or something similar,  but couldn't find any. Lots of oil and fuel stabilizers, but no quick-start sprays. I dragged the snowblower back onto the deck I cleared yesterday and brought it into the four-season porch to warm up by the stove. It's 70°F in that room, so it didn't take long.

About 15 minutes later, I could turn the key to "on." I redressed and dragged the blower back to the garage. It fired right up, of course. I had chipped a little from each side of the previously shoveled path, so I made a couple passes with the snowblower. As it had on the deck, it made short work of the shallower chipped-off bits.

I went back up the path, making it wider by chipping away at the leeward wall. Toward the garage, the snow is loose and shin deep. In the middle, it gets thigh-deep and pretty dense. I broke the biggest chunks into smaller chunks. I cleared the bit closest to the wall and returned to the garage with the blower clearing the more middle part, where the excess fell while clearing the other part. I repeated this about five times.

Part way through I reminded myself of two things. The first was that I only needed to clear a path wide enough for the Jeep to fit, so maybe 10 feet. The other was that the Jeep could clear the chunks and occasionally difficult to clear all the way down bits. This let my quality slip a little, but all this snow is going to melt onto the apron and grass and flow down the hill anyway. I also took a moment and made the part where the Jeep would eventually park a little wider, so I could get in and out without mounting the snow.

With the task done, I paused to snap some photos and catch my breath. I returned the snowblower and shovel to the garage, scraping some of the chunks I knew the Jeep could clear out of the way at the same time. I took a moment to loosely coil the extension cord I use to initially start the snowblower (when it's warm, the pull starter starts it on the first try). Then I went back out to get the Jeep.

The door wouldn't open, neither with the handle, glove on or off, or the fob buttons. I grimaced for a moment thinking maybe the battery had died in the extreme cold. I flipped open the key on my fob and used it to open the door. The alarm started sounding. I fumbled with the fob and got the alarm to start. Then I noticed the dash alerting that the fob battery was low. The Jeep started right up, and I backed it smoothly down my ravine, parking it by the house.

I'm finishing the end-of-visit cleanup, which includes some laundry, last passes sweeping bugs off the floor, and packing my clothes and toys. I'll get everything in the Jeep soon and be on my way.