Oh My Aching Back! Part 1

Holy Cow do we have a lot of snow!  When we received our first substantial snow of the winter season on Christmas weekend, it was a blizzard and we thought it was beautiful.  For this storm we received 16+ inches of snow.  It was hard to determine just how much over 16 inches because of all of the blowing and drifting.  Following several hours of shoveling, we had ourselves all dug out and still considered the snow to be pretty.  After all, it was the first real snowstorm of the season and it was Christmas weekend.

Here's a picture of our front tree with its Christmas lights after the snow.

The week after New Year's Day we had another storm that left an additional 15.5 inches of snow on top of our previous snow.  Due to the extreme cold, very little melting occurred from the Christmas storm so we thought we were drowning in snow (it's a good thing we couldn't see the future because we obviously didn't have a clue as to what drowning in snow was really like).  This snow covered the street grunge from the first storm and again it was beautiful.  Another few hours of shoveling and we had our drive, walks, deck, and paths cleared.  So far both storms had occurred on the weekends so we got lots of exercise from the shoveling.  

Here are a few pictures from this storm to give you a flavor for the snow.


Looking toward an evergreen row in our yard.

Looking out over my bird/butterfly gardens toward the wetlands behind our house.

Looking down the path my husband plowed to my bird feeding area.  (Have to take care of all my wild babies!)

Looking out over the front yard.

Three days later we had another storm that presented itself midweek just a few days after the last storm.  This time we received 28.5 inches of snow within a 24 hour period (a record for our area since the beginning of record keeping in Connecticut).  I consider this snowstorm to be the beginning of snow becoming a pain in the butt instead of the beauty of nature.  We began clearing snow at 7:30 in the morning while it was still snowing hard because there was so much we were afraid that the snow thrower wouldn't be able to plow through anything much deeper.  We knew that we would be clearing the areas again after the storm passed.  

Needless to say we spent more than 8 hours of the day clearing snow, and we didn't even get it all cleared.  We worked several hours for four days following the storm to get a handle on things, including raking as much snow off the roof as we could reach.  This was pretty scary because we have a two storied house and we had to drag the large ladder out to get to the roof.  My husband raked and I got bombarded with snow while keeping the ladder stable (I think I got the better job even with the snow bath).   Again, it's been so cold that no substantial melting of the previous two storms has occurred.

Here are a few pictures from this storm.


Getting an early start at 7:30 am while the storm is still raging.

Looking down the street at 7:30 am.  It's still snowing very hard.

Looking through my kitchen window during the storm towards the wetlands behind our house.

Looking out over our front yard during the storm.

Looking out over our front yard toward our driveway during the storm after the first pass with the snow thrower.

Path to bird feeding area 3 days after the storm.

By the time we finished clearing the drive, the snow piles were taller than me!

Look at the amount of snow on the roof.  It's hard to get a clear perspective because of all the white, but there is about four feet of snow on the roof.  This is why we had to shovel it.  The white teepee at the left of the picture is the spruce tree that is decorated with the beautiful lights that I showed you at the beginning of this post.  I think it is safe to say that we won't be able to retrieve the lights and electrical cords until sometime in the spring!

This is what part of our front yard looks like five days after the storm.  We've had to clear paths for the oil man, paths to get the ladder to the house roof, and paths to get to the furnace vent.  I think our yard now looks like a prairie dog colony.  The back is just as bad with paths to the bird feeding area, paths for the ladder, paths to other vents, and a path to the composting area.  Lots of shoveling!!

 

To think that within 3 weeks we received 60+ inches of snow.  We're not used to that here.  We get storms and then it usually melts away before the next storm.  Not to mention, people around here consider storms to mean 6-8 inches, not 15+ inches!!  Needless to say, my crafting time has been minimal due to my schedule of eating, shoveling, and sleeping.  

I'll end this post through the middle of January and share the second half of January in another post as part 2.  Right now I need to go out and shovel.  We just had a 36 hour period of snow, sleet and ice....sigh.

 

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