“…stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

We live a the end of a bumpy gravel road at the top of a hill. My old trucks like it just fine but it can be challenging (or impossible) when covered with snow and/or ice.

We have two weeks’ worth of trash out front because the trash service driver doesn’t want to risk the hill. You do not want to get halfway up and start sliding down backward because there’s a pond at the bottom (see video above). So no UPS, no FedEx. No problem.

We have a community mail box at the entrance to our neighborhood but sometimes we get packages via USPS that are too large to fit.

That’s our mailman who tried to drive his little USPS van up the hill and when it could go no further, he got out and humped it up the hill to our house. 

Tomorrow I’m going to track down his supervisor and share this story. This is me pleading with him to never do this again.

UPDATE: November 5, 2024

Our propane tank sits at the bottom of a small –but steep– hill near our driveway. In hopes of reducing erosion, back in 2015 I covered the hill with rocks.

When the propane company comes to fill our tank, the driver has to drag his hose down this hill which is usually covered with weeds and brush. A perfect place to twist a knee or break an ankle. To make this task a little safer I’m running a safety chain from the tank up to the driveway. Something to hold on to while going down and coming back up.

I needed something at the upper end heavy enough to support the driver’s weight. I was stymied until I spotted some concrete blocks at a nearby cement company. Two feet square and eight inches high, with a handy rebar attachment. I bought two so I can stack them and get the chain off the ground a bit.

A guy driving a front-loader dropped them (gently) into the bed of my pickup truck but getting them out proved something of a challenge. Too heavy for me to budge so I used a winch to get them off the bed of the truck and lowered to my rock sled. I’ll use the Jeep to tow them into place.

UPDATE: Getting the blocks out of the truck was almost as difficult as getting them in. Used the come-along to ease it down the ramps.

The final step would have been nearly impossible without my friend Andrew and his skid loader. Yes, he put that monster on a trailer and hauled it up our hill for this silly little project.

The propane truck driver will weep with joy this winter as he safely (?) tugs his hose (sorry) down this ice-covered slope.