The icicles are getting longer and thicker. You can almost see them swelling out the front window. Meanwhile, back on the deck, the snow has drifted deeply onto the arbor and icicles that used to only hang off the gutter are now growing from the crosspieces. It's becoming a concern. Last summer's arbor rebuild gives me hope that the whole thing isn't going to come crashing down due to all that weight. The new ledger board et al are secure up there. The old arbor (only held up by nails, not bolts) would never have survived this assault.
Yesterday I posted that I wasn't going to do any 'heavy lifting', and as much as I was determined to stick to that resolve, *sigh* I did have to haul myself outside to clean the driveway again due to 5" of new snow. After that I had hoped I was done as the storm had passed and it didn't snow at all last night. Unfortunately we got some high winds and when I went out to fill the feeders this morning I saw there is a knee-deep drift in front of the garage door. *whine whine*
This stuff didn't use to phase me. But now that I'm, uh, more mature, I don't rebound as quickly from lots of cold hard labor like I used to. I'm going to have to resort to a few ibuprofen and a large dose of comfy chair.
Don't get me wrong. I really enjoy winter. I enjoy all four seasons. Really. But the snow is still piling up and the gutters are jamming up with ice dams again. Pretty, but potentially destructive. These outside the front window present the home owner with one of those brain tricks you see. Look at a picture and it's a duck. But then it's a rabbit. Icicles like these are sparkling and beautiful. Or they can mess up your roof. Take yer pick. LOL
Anywho... I'm walking away from the snow (yesterday dropped an additional 7" !) and the shoveling and the worrying about gutters and roofs. Yep, I am waaaay overdue for a little time out. After I dug out yesterday I braved the slippery streets and headed to the library where I raided their shelves for books and DVDs.
Today I'm off the field, on the bench and plan on nothing more strenuous than turning pages and refilling the teapot as necessary.
Hmmm. Perhaps a nap may be in order too. *ahhhhhhh*
Goodness! Talk about pretty! It got down to almost 0 last night, well past the dew point so this morning everything is covered in frost. It's darn near impossible to take a pic that does this sparkling world justice, but at least you can see from the shot above how flocked the world is today.
Weather channel has issued another winter warning for tomorrow & Wednesday. Perhaps 6 or more inches of snow. Oh joy.... :-/
A big shout out to my great neighbor Craig who spent nearly 3 hours clearing my driveway last night and connecting me to the rest of the world again. The snow was so dense and so frozen near the ground he was having a tough time of it, even with the big machine. Sufficed to say, I can't thank him enough.
So this morning to celebrate being able to get out, I went right over to my mother's house and dug her a path down to the mailbox and, more importantly to her mind, a way back to her bird feeders! LOL
Today the sun is bright and the sky a brilliant robin's egg blue. It's positively dazzling to look outside and with the flocked trees and deep snow it makes one feel like being right in a Currier and Ives painting. Temps are predicted to stay below freezing all week so the effect will last though next weekend.
Mom is settled, the birds are fed. All that is left for me to do is dig my way to my stash of firewood.
Or not! Oh well, maybe just some hot chocolate. Wonder if I've got any marshmallows?
Stay safe and warm, everyone!
Yesterday (Dec 9) must have been heaven to meteorologists. Even the (usually wrong) forecasters scored big time.
Because no matter what might have been predicted for yesterday, it came. It came big time.
In the morning the wind had picked up as predicted at 15-20 mph. Clouds raced across the sky, late for some appointment to the East. But mostly the sun shone, bright and beautiful. The temps hovered in the low 50s. All the leaves still on lawns to the south of me, pinwheeled into my garden beds. I would have appreciated the extra mulch except those leaves were all black walnut - filled with juglone and the bane of tomato plants.
The wind picked up. More clouds came. Bouts of rain, then clearing again. Then, around 11:00 a.m. another band of clouds, dark and heavy with stuff. All kinds of stuff.
Another bout of rain, more clouds. The temps tumbled from 51 to 39 within an hour. Sleet. Then hail. Thunder. Lightning. Then a blinding snow squall. Wind. Lots of wind. 30-40 mph with gusts to 50. The wind couldn't make up it's mind, and kept shifting from south to north. Any the leaves that had escaped my lawn to the north blew back.
The wind howled all afternoon and when it got dark the temps really started to fall. 25 by midnight. Right now it's only 15 out there, but not to worry. It's going to soar up to 19 today. LOL About an inch of snow fell last night and there are flakes coming down right now. And it's still pretty windy, 25-35 mph with gusts over 40 mph.
Quite a day. It was as if someone fast-forwarded a semester's worth of weather forecasting class examples into 24 hours. Wow. What a ride. Gotta love Ohio weather.
It's not for wimps.
After getting all the gardens tucked in, mower et al stored in the shed and the woodpile restocked, it was time to kick back and enjoy doing nothing for a while. (Didn't I start reading a book sometime last February? Wonder where I put it...)
Well, that 'relaxing' thing lasted about a day. LOL
Honestly, it's really hard to just shut down cold turkey like that. So, having put down all the garden gear, I had hands free to take up caulk guns, glass cutters, tack hammers, sand paper and (be still my heart!) power tools. Yes, it's time for the opening of the Melissa Majora indoor winter games! (Commonly known as -- home improvements.)
I figure now is a good time to handle all those household projects that got pushed aside this summer in favor of gardening. I'll have to prioritize.
So I'm making a list
Checking it twice.
Gonna find out what I can make nice.
Oh good grief... ;-D
(P.S. For more Household Adventures, check out the new blog page listed at the top of the sidebar. Thanks for the idea, gld! :-D)
