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Peace and power with the heater on With last Wednesday's snowfall, I finally had a chance to put our new tractor-mounted snow blower through its paces. The Sidekick and I rolled out of bed at 6 a.m.-- she headed for the shower, I headed for the driving shed, primed to do battle with Ol' Man Winter. The Sidekick was wired for sound, wound so tight about getting to work on time, that I swear I could hear the wires creaking inside her. As I pulled the tractor up to clear by the garage, she ran out the front door, motioning for me to open the tractor cab door. Now opening the cab door is NOT something I like to do. It's warm and cozy inside-- opening the door lets the heat out, and the cold in. I opened it a couple inches. "I'll follow you out the lane," she said, stress showing on her furrowed brow. "It's 6:30 a.m.-- I wanted to be on the road by now." "I'll do it now," I said, quickly closing the cab door to contain the escaping heat. As she went inside, I settled back into the `armchair', checked the gauges, pointed the tractor east, looked out the quarter mile driveway, and took a deep breath. Testosterone flowing, I was `ready'. For those who have never sat in a tractor cab in the early morning darkness, with the snow whippin' `round ya, the diesel motor talking, and the warmth of the cab heater lofting down over you-- well, there is nothing quite like it. It's a feeling of power, it's peace, it's being all alone in the world, a solitary super hero, doing battle with the evil powers of nature. Man, it's freakin' great. A glimmer of early morning light dancing on the horizon-- I flipped on the quartz halogen field lights, threw the PTO into gear, and grinned an evil grin as the snow blower sprang to life. 7 VISION 2000 EXCLUSIVE BONUS: US $50 per stateroom Onboard Credit & Pinnacle Grill Lunch for 2 Independent & Free Press, Thursday, January 20, 2011 Ted Brown Theme music from Raiders of the Lost Ark played in my head. I started out the lane, the snow pouring out of the blower spout, a huge white column spewing waaaay out into the field. All of a sudden, the SUV pulled in behind me. My eyeballs were seared as its headlights hit my rear view mirrors. It pulled up closer! RIGHT BEHIND THE SNOW BLOWER-- WITH THE HEADLIGHTS ON HIGH BEAM! I was in a huge white void, unable to see where in hell I was going. Almost blind, I made it to the end of the drive, pulled out onto the road, climbed down from the tractor cab, and stomped back to The Sidekick in the SUV. By then I didn't care about losing the cab heat-- I had lots bottled up inside me. The window whirred down. "Can I get around you on the road?" she asked, like a race horse at the starting gate. "I expect so-- it IS a two-lane road," I replied sarcastically, "But before you go, I have two requests, should you ever follow the snow blower out the lane again." "Fine," she quipped, her impatience showing, "What?" "First, can you just stay back a bit, like maybe 50-60 feet?" I asked. "Okay, fine, what else?" she snipped back. "Will you turn the !#$%* headlights off!?" EXPLORE THE PANAMA CANAL 10 day Panama Canal Sunfarer April 2, 2011 Roundtrip Ft Lauderdale aboard the Zuiderdam Highlights: Half Moon Cay, Aruba, Curacao, Christobal, Gatun Lake, Colon & Puerto Limon Balcony stateroom US $1,299 p.p.+ taxes of $311.32 p.p. Georgetown Fare is in US dollars, cruise only, per person, based on double occupancy and subject to availability at time of booking. Based on category VH. Government taxes & fees are additional as stated. Fare can be withdrawn without prior notice by the Cruise Line. Vision 2000 Exclusive bonus is subject to availability and can be withdrawn without prior notice. Ship's Registry: The Netherlands 905-873-2000 328 Guelph St. Georgetown, ON TICO Reg #50018501 Open Saturdays 9am - 4pm w w w. v i s i o n 2 0 0 0 t r a v e l . c o m LOOK FOR UPCOMING DEALS ON PAGE 18 OF REAL ESTATE! The Regional Municipality of Halton www.halton.ca NOTICE OF CONSTRUCTION Zone 5 Reservoir Construction, Town of Halton Hills CBS and Links2Care get assistance Halton Hills Community Affairs doled out municipal assistance dollars to two groups at its recent first meeting of the 2010-2014 term. Approval was given to Canadian Blood Services for facility fee waivers amounting to $4,784, to hold blood clinics. Committee also confirmed the Town's partnership agreement with Links2Care to provide funding, about $13,200/year, for the youth centres for 2011 and 2012. While L2C had requested $17,000 each year over the four-year term of council, committee members settled with giving the group a 10 per cent increase over the $12,000 annual allocation. L2C employees reported to committee members that the L2C youth centres-- Off the Wall in Acton and Open Door in Georgetown-- are seeing a steady growth of new youth attending the centres. --By Cynthia Gamble, staff writer GIVE ME A CALL AND WE'LL CHAT DIRECT: 905-702-4426 REMAX REAL ESTATE CENTRE INC. 905-877-5211 1151 Bronte Road, Oakville, Ontario *M *1 k "ial 11 or 05Ì25Ì000 k Toll $ree 1ÌÌ2Ì5 TT7 05Ì2Ì k www.halton.ca 200111 DOUG MEAL Sales Representative !ontract ,umber 1cheduled 1tart "ate 1cheduled !ompletion "ate ProHect Manager 5Ì2BÌ10 January, 2011 pril, 2012 ndre Poirier ext. 1 Please let us know as soon as possible if you will have an accessibility or accommodation need at a Halton Region hosted event or meeting.