We're finally out of the deep freeze! It's gone up to about -5C/20F which is a huge improvement. And the wind chill is negligible, so I called the teenager down the road to come and shovel me out. The wind always deposits the biggest drifts right in front of the front, back and garage doors, plus the dryer vent! Go figure. So now, I'm all set until we get more snow and wind or until spring, whichever comes first.
The Big Biscuit - this pile of snow on the patio table isn't a drift, it's straight snow!
In my back yard there are drifts up to my knee in places. I like the way the snow has collected on my neighbor's porch finials. Looks downright jaunty!
Fellow blogger Avid Reader asked me for a fireplace shot. The gas heater fake fireplace I have now isn't as nifty as the old field stone wood-burning one I had back in High Country, but with the amount of bugs and spiders we have here on the lake, I'm not sure I'd want to bring in pieces of wood anyway, even in winter! One bitter cold winter in Alberta, I got a load of spruce logs that had big carpenter ants in them. I discovered them when I split a piece of wood with my axe - there they were, all lined up in a channel they'd eaten into the wood, and frozen solid. I took the log inside and tapped the ants into one of those covered clear plastic deli container
s and set them on the kitchen floor in the sun. In just a few minutes they had thawed and were ready to get on with their lives. I took them back outside and dumped them back on the woodpile. I couldn't quite kill them outright, and figured if they cold stand another freeze then they deserved to live, if a woodpecker didn't spot them first.
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24 comments:
Deb---Glad you are thawing out a little. It has been a hard year for many folks, hasn't it??? We finally are getting a little snow today. It's pretty--and exactly what I wanted (just a little). I'll post pictures tomorrow.
Stay warm!!!
Hugs,
Betsy
I'm glad you're thawing out, too! That's amazing about the ants! We're having another gorgeous day here -- three in a row! Unheard of! but I'll take whatever I can get. I was looking for an excuse to get out today instead of the other way around. I love your fireplace and the dapper hats on your neighbors posts. Stay warm!
Well, I guess I can't complain. We finally did have snow last night, but only a trace. Could be more today
well it's 60 degrees here today but goes down to 28 above at night. i feel for all those who are getting snowed under. good you have someone who will come shovel you out...on to spring or the next snow storm which is probably more probable.
I am so happy to read that you are thawing out. We are too and it feels good to be in the 20'sF now.
I love your fire place. It looks as if it can keep you cozy and warm.
How neat that you could thaw out the ants. You must have felt a bit like God, did you? (At the very least a cryogenics expert!) That is so cool!
I'm really trying to keep loving snow. Really trying.
Kat
I hope this is the last of the big cold snap! Glad you're going to be dug out. Those ants owe you their lives!
So much snow! We really have no place to put it when we clear our driveway and what an adventure backing out onto the street between 7 foot banks. It looks pretty in your yard though.
I think it's a bit sad when it feels noticeably warmer and it's still below freezing. At least my next door neighbor assures me that this weather is atypical.
Stay warm, keep rescuing ants, and don't forget to pack up some of your snow and send it to people who don't have any.
Hi - I've just found your blog ... amazing deep snow! It looks great fun on screen - less so in real life I expect! I haven't been in snow that deep since I was really young.
Pleased to hear that the temperatures are soaring... will okay, creeping up. Every couple of degrees helps, eh?
My husband informed me today that we only have about two feet of snow in the mountains above our home. Unless we get a good four or five feet more up there before spring, we are going to have a very, very dry summer. The farmers crops will be severly effected. The water companies will have to begin to ration the water in early June. The city will wring every drop out of water out of our creek and little stream leaving them parched and dry. It will not be good.
Sooooo... as anxious as I am to start playing in the dirt and planting my garden, I think I'll start praying for a month or two of hard winter snows before the crocus and hyacinths pop up.
Hope you warm up a bit. Those drifts are like hills!
Incredible snowfalls! So hard for me to imagine the hardship of all this when I have only expereined snow a few times in my lifetime and for very short periods!
Amazing ant story! So re-living to tell past tales is quite possible if you are on friendly terms with a good freezer and a warm-up scout!
Enjoy the heatwave! May it last. That is some pile of snow.
I like that picture of your neighbor's porch....how much snow have you had so far? Looks like a lot.
Heroic! Aloha, Deborah
Brrrrrrrrr.....
Happy digging !!
amazing ants!
I'm hoping its spring that comes first! I have this formula each winter that carries me optimistically through winter. My first sign of spring is the winter solstice for that time signals the return journey of the sun northward, and the days get longer!! I don't really accept that winter is here until the cold, windy, chilling days of January fall and I stay inside to watch it all. But February is almost here, and that is a short month so it will soon be over. March can be full of surprises, often snowy ones, but sometimes the groundhog doesn't see its shadow and we're on our way to an early spring!!! Hopefully. Meanwhile, love the fireplace and its promises against January's cold.
What a great location you have for majestic drifts!
I love your hearth. You know it's probably more efficient than the real deal, and you're right about buggish wood.
today has been emotionally draining in an exceedingly joyous way. it's early and I am already (happily) exhausted. It still feels dreamlike.
I like what you've done with stones. and decor. How exactly are the stones attached?
@ Avid Reader
Thanks for the compliment on the fireplace. The stones all have natural holes in them, and are strung with synthetic sinew.
This looks so familiar but now nearly all of our snow has vanished. I really like the last photo. Very welcoming place, lassie.
That sure is a lot of snow. Stay warm. :-)
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