As most of you know by now, I’ve got a little work-exchange program going with my friend, Boots. In fact, I think we’re in our fifth year of trading time during the winter months.

I agreed to call it a work exchange only because I’m a good friend. But it’s really more like a social service from my end. Because, truth be told, Boots is required to leave the home at least once a week so his partner, Chris, can attempt to find some sanity (read: Boots-free time) in order to focus on her artwork.

I like to think of it as my own little United Way project.

But today was a payback day for me: It was my turn to venture to Boots’ compound in the middle of friggin’ nowhere to offer my labor. It started just fine as we hooked his big Percheron, Bart, to his homemade snowplow for the first time. I had the easy job: Hooking the chain to the goliath of a v-shaped snowplow and then getting the hell out of the way. Boots, on the other hand, had to hang onto the horse and skip across the ice and snow while the adrenaline from all involved skyrocketed from the scraping sound of the plow on the icy undersurface.

But it worked. And with little more than a horse, a wooden v-plow and two batshit crazy horsemen, the driveway was cleared of snow. Piece of cake. And carbon free!

I glanced at my watch and realized after the snowplowing adventure that a mere 30 minutes had elapsed. Oh my, what will we do next?

Well, first we watched the dogs play (my dog is the lab):

And then, after lunch, Chris – a professional photographer – asked me to pose in order to document my very impressive display of facial hair:

Finally, Boots asked me to help carry the laundry inside so it could be hung to dry. It was truly a Brokeback Mountain laundry moment:

Oh boy, it was a busy, busy day. And almost as effective as voting for Ralph Nader.