What a sight for sore eyes!
The pic says so much. Snow is melting. There are shadows (2 days of bright sunny skies). And though I've fretted about the bulbs this Spring because of the hard winter, the daffs and crocuses didn't seem to mind. They are all pushing up through the snow and leaf mulch.
These past 2 days sure have brightened up the house as well as my spirits.
Spring isn't that far off now, so I'll be heading down to the basement this weekend. I've procrastinated far too long with regards to my winter sowing. I've got all those jugs, all those seeds and all that potting mix just waiting to meet up with each other. And the deck no longer has 2 feet of snow on it. Plenty of space for WS jugs now.
Time to get this garden stuff in gear. Stay tuned.... ;-D
Now that the weather has settled down and some melt has taken place, the deer are coming out of the golf course behind my property.
These four browsed on the pine tree tips and paid much attention to a spot under an evergreen where the turf was exposed. They've been back there now for a couple of hours and we gaze at each other through the kitchen window.
I enjoy watching them this time of year, but I do not encourage them. I've had summer's where most all of my veg plants were eaten to nubs by these tawny beasts.
Still, they are beautiful, graceful creatures so I cannot feel ill toward them (unlike groundhogs - honestly, don't even get me started! ;-D )
A trick of the light this morning. The camera caught this rosy sunrise through a quick flurry. The result - pink snow. Just beautiful!
The weather has been relatively mild for the past few days. A couple of sunny days. A rainy day. Temps in the low 30s. The snow has been shrinking from the top and from the bottom. (Honestly, the ground is not frozen under there! I can still push a sharp stick well into the lawn.) As you can see from the pic, the pots in the garden have re-emerged from the drifts and the 12" of snow has melted off the arbor.
I took the opportunity to work on the monster ice dam next to the front door. It took me several days up on a ladder wanging on it with a small sledge hammer and a hatchet. (Honestly, I really need supervision!) Anyway, yesterday I had at the last holdout - a knot of ice bigger than a bushel basket. It had encased the entire gutter and pulled it half-way out of the house. The downspout had given up days ago.
Eventually I got the ice down, but for the life of me could not get the gutter off so had to hammer it back into the house. The gutter itself is filled solid with ice - kind of like sourdough starter for the next dam. Oh well, Spring is coming. Right? RIGHT?
As for the leak from the bay window - it trickled for 2 days, easily filling a couple of buckets. Then it stopped. Obviously the ice melt over that bumpout found its way off the roof via other routes. When the weather warms I'll climb up there and try to caulk that seam. Meanwhile, in the off chance the seam leaks again, I've strategically rearranged some potted plants in the bay window. When ya get lemons.... ;-D
I had moved all the snow by noon yesterday. But it kept snowing. All day. All night. Still a few flurries even as I type. Another 4-6 out there to move around today. Thankfully no wind so no drifts in front of the garage to dig out. I've been in this area for 30 years and never have we had such deep, persistent snowfall. This winter is one for the record books for sure. And no end in sight. *whimper*
But even with all the work, all the cold, and all the ibuprofen, you can't escape the fact that the view, the snowscapes are just downright stunning.
Later that same day -- OK, now it's lost all it's charm.
The front bay window is leaking from the seams where it attaches to the house. I dragged out the ladder and standing on the highest step I used a hoe to scrape off as much of the 15" of snow and ice on the window overhang roof as I could. Don't think I can do much more than that.
Inside - some plastic containers to catch the dripping, while I myself am slipping into angst mode..... *fume & worry*
We got about 8" of snow since yesterday afternoon. It's snowing right now. It's supposed to snow off and on all week. It's getting a little old. I'm getting a little old!
And check out the icicles. Monster, just monster. After I took this pic I tried to knock down as many as I could with a hoe. Hoe hoe hoe, boy that was fun - not.
I always get a big ice dam right next to the front door. The original builders designed it so that maybe 300 square feet of roof drain into a 16" length of gutter. (You can't even see the thing under that mass of ice.)
But this year has been the worse. I'm seriously considering taking down the gutter and let the rain/snow/etc just sluice off the edge of the roof. Trouble is, then the stoop might channel water toward the house. Again - decisions, decisions. But really, could it be any worse than this.
Anyway.... I've blown off the driveway, shoveled off the deck and even dug a path from the driveway almost to the front stoop, stopping right in front of the gas meter. A lot of work, but then, if I didn't have to take a meter reading today those icicles would still be there, turning into glaciers. *sigh*
Now where was I? Oh yeah. The comfy chair.... ahhhhh
Daytime temps aren't getting out of the 20s in the foreseeable future so the icicles just keep growing. (Wish I had a bank account like that! ;-D ) I know I should have dug my way out to the front door and began knocking those at the side of the door a couple of days ago, before they got this big.
Now the issue is that it would probably take a sledge hammer to break those up and with all that weight hanging from the gutter the gutters could be dislodged in the process. Parts of me could be dislodged in the process! *sigh*
About the only thing I can hope for is that the ones that now reach the stoop now might actually support the rest due to their pillar-like effect. Decisions. Decisions.
I guess I can take some kind of comfort to know that as far up and down the lane I can see that every other house have ice sculptures like this. Wish I could just send it all to Vancouver where they really need this stuff! :-D
On the brighter side - local stores have put out their seed racks and I've been unable to resist their siren call of Spring.
This year I'm going to grow more herbs so succumbed to pretty packets of herbs, spring greens, bunching onions, an assortment of radishes (although I've never really had luck with them - still, the 14th time may be the charm!), and some hyacinth beans.
Y'all know, too, that the basement plant lab is calling out to me where lay my seeds for wintersowing in jugs as well as seeds to start under lights. Hmmm.
Tempting, but not an overpowering urge yet....
What a sight for sore eyes!
