Last Sunday (February 7), it snowed all day without stopping and was quite windy. I stayed in my pajamas all day and listened to the wind howling outside, rattling the storm windows and screen door.
Woke up Monday morning to a foot of snow in the driveway and drifts piled so high on my front porch that I had to struggle just to open the screen door - and still it snowed. The wind continued and it was much too cold to shovel the driveway (we're talking wind chills of -15 or more). By around 6:00 pm it was nearly white-out conditions and I could not even see across the road. Tuesday was supposed to be considerably warmer so I decided that the shoveling could wait one more day. This was not as good an idea as it originally sounded however, because by Tuesday the snow was wet and heavy. But it had to be done, so I bundled up and went outside to waltz with the snow shovel. It took almost three hours to clear half of the driveway - an area roughly 10 by 80 feet. It was enough to squeeze the car out onto the road so it was sufficient enough for me - at least for the time being. A good portion of that time was spent digging out the two foot tall berm of snow left by the snowplow. They tell us not to shovel it into the street, but I figure I'm only putting it back where it came from...
On Wednesday evening I spent another two hours clearing out the rest of the driveway, but at least it was done, and I now have three foot tall mountains of snow on either side of the drive. I was thankful for the wind during this storm, because it blew most of the snow off of my roof, which would have taken at least four hours to clear off with the snow broom. I'll take three foot drifts over heavy snow on my roof any day of the week!
And today?? 63 degrees!! There was plenty of sunshine and in the afternoon a light breeze blew in from the west, that actually felt pretty good. I took a walk out along the trail, and while the ice was melted off, there was still some thin snow and the ground was very wet and sloppy. By the time I got back my boots were soaked through and my jeans were wet from mid-calf down. But it felt SO good to be out in the woods!! I haven't walked out there for a couple of months - at least. The creek was flowing fairly free and there were otter tracks everywhere! Deer, foxes and raccoons have also been active along the creek. Not much in the way of birds today.
Temps are supposed to hang at around 40+ for the next few days, then start dropping again. By Thursday night we'er going to be seeing 17 degrees.
Only 35 days until spring!!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Mid Winter Blahs
The sky was crystal clear and full of stars at 5:00 am, and the thermometer read - 12 degrees....
The days are finally becoming noticably longer. The sun was not yet up at 7:00, but the sky was slowly fading from dark azure blue to pale turquoise. At 8:01 the sun topped Mount Sentinel and splashed it's warm rays across the valley. As the sun beamed through the living room window and settled on my face, I curled up in the recliner to soak it up, like the proverbial sponge. We haven't been graced by its presence for almost two weeks and I welcomed the blast of vitamin D, By 10:15 am the sky was deceptively clear and sunny, although the temperature was still below zero.
I have to say that I am completely sick of winter. This has been the coldest winter we've had for many years. It began to snow on October 18th, and we haven't seen bare ground since. And while we haven't had it nearly as bad as the eastern US, for our little niche affectionately known as "Tropical Montana", it's a hard pill to swallow. For the past two days I've actually had the thermostat turned all the way up to 68, instead of the typical 65, mostly because I'm concerned about water pipes freezing. And if the checkbook doesn't appreciate the extra heat, the ever present bare feet certainly do! This is definately soup weather, and a big bowl of steaming hot, home made tomato soup really hit the spot tonight!
Serious cabin fever has begun to settle in - especially for the dogs, who haven't been on a good walk for a few months. It's just been too icy, and even at 13 years of age my husky is still strong enough to pull my feet right out from under me, especially with questionable footing. So they have to be content with their backyard games of tag and chase for another month or so. But before too long it will be just warm enough to get a some fresh air and exercise - we can hardly wait!
While the sun is welcome, the down side is that the old groundhog (or marmot, in our neck of the woods), will definately see it's shadow tomorrow, and nestle in for six more weeks of this miserable weather. Then again, as a friend pointed out, it might just be so bogged down in the snow that it won't even be able to burrow out to look for it's shadow. Sometimes another's point of view is so much better than our own!
This afternoon as the sun crept ever lower over Black Mountain, it cast it's last rays onto the Black Cat Range to the north, and the snow covered peaks glowed pink in the fading light.
The days are finally becoming noticably longer. The sun was not yet up at 7:00, but the sky was slowly fading from dark azure blue to pale turquoise. At 8:01 the sun topped Mount Sentinel and splashed it's warm rays across the valley. As the sun beamed through the living room window and settled on my face, I curled up in the recliner to soak it up, like the proverbial sponge. We haven't been graced by its presence for almost two weeks and I welcomed the blast of vitamin D, By 10:15 am the sky was deceptively clear and sunny, although the temperature was still below zero.
I have to say that I am completely sick of winter. This has been the coldest winter we've had for many years. It began to snow on October 18th, and we haven't seen bare ground since. And while we haven't had it nearly as bad as the eastern US, for our little niche affectionately known as "Tropical Montana", it's a hard pill to swallow. For the past two days I've actually had the thermostat turned all the way up to 68, instead of the typical 65, mostly because I'm concerned about water pipes freezing. And if the checkbook doesn't appreciate the extra heat, the ever present bare feet certainly do! This is definately soup weather, and a big bowl of steaming hot, home made tomato soup really hit the spot tonight!
Serious cabin fever has begun to settle in - especially for the dogs, who haven't been on a good walk for a few months. It's just been too icy, and even at 13 years of age my husky is still strong enough to pull my feet right out from under me, especially with questionable footing. So they have to be content with their backyard games of tag and chase for another month or so. But before too long it will be just warm enough to get a some fresh air and exercise - we can hardly wait!
While the sun is welcome, the down side is that the old groundhog (or marmot, in our neck of the woods), will definately see it's shadow tomorrow, and nestle in for six more weeks of this miserable weather. Then again, as a friend pointed out, it might just be so bogged down in the snow that it won't even be able to burrow out to look for it's shadow. Sometimes another's point of view is so much better than our own!
This afternoon as the sun crept ever lower over Black Mountain, it cast it's last rays onto the Black Cat Range to the north, and the snow covered peaks glowed pink in the fading light.
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