Vegetation Management Crew & storms!

It's a Christmas Miracle! We have power! It was flickering Saturday morning. The wind was howling outside. We are hunkered down. There are power outages all around us. Mysteriously, we still have lights. I cranked up the furnace at 6 a.m., and I've a fire ready to light, just in case. 

cardinals in the storm from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

There was 24 mm rain Dec. 23 (1"), followed by a freeze, and more snow the 24th. It's not just snowing, it's a blizzard, with horrible winds. People are stranded in all sorts of locations. People have been on a train from Ottawa to Toronto for 12 hours, radio peeps are interviewing them as they run out of food and the toilets aren't working. It's just a mess. I cannot complain, snug as a bug here.

These are the Ontario Hydro outages. Quebec is even worse, with 357,000 people without power.

 

I heard a spokeswoman talking about the B.C. storm and deep freeze. She said that they are fully prepared and their Vegetation Management Crews are ready to go! That's what I've been doing for days! I have a title! B.C. has it bad, too. 

The deer have begun to gather. We had eight Thursday morning. We seem to have a winter yard.

There were lots of branches under the pines. I decided to clean them up.

I ran of of energy, both me and my reciprocating saw. I moved the branches aside to be cut up later!

 When we had snowman snow, I could have made one, but felt too tired after shoveling. Since I pulled all the branches down, I felt I had to mark the occasion. Do you know how easy it is to make one? The trick, however, is getting back up without wrecking it! 

Dec. 23 – The temperatures, in Celsius, dropped like a stone. Bombogenesis was here, the jet stream pulling down cold Arctic air. It is still snowing, Dec. 25th. I didn't venture outside at all, other than the deck. 

It is awful everywhere, right across Canada, as well as the US. Someone sat 18 hours on a VIA Rail train trying to get from Ottawa to Toronto. A tree fell on a train, you see. And there is a derailed freight train west of Kingston. That held things up. Flights are cancelled across the continent. This is why.

The train corridor from Quebec City to Windsor is a mess. The media are finding all sorts of people crying, and upset, to feature on TV news. It was pretty sad, but there had to be some clever people who cancelled plans to remain safe and not stress out crews trying to mitigate the damage. Police, fire, ambulance, as well as those clearing and cleaning up the damage, like Hydro crews, are working hard. Bless their hearts.

Dec. 24th, I woke to blowing snow. Baby bear was blown to the ground, and the lovely baskets, purchased at an auction, blown across the bench, the red one on the floor. I've left them there, as the wind is wicked. 

snowfall & wind from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I ventured on the back deck, and shoveled.  We're up to 33 cm (13") there, but that isn't an accurate measure of snow fall. The winds have whipped the snow everywhere. 

Just one more branch down the 24th.

I worked so hard getting rid of the slush. It paid off, as the snow didn't stick. It is accumulating from the merciless wind.

I kept on bird watching from my chair. It was amazing seeing three male and one female cardinal. They were bullying the others away from the feeder, greedy lads. That was some fine entertainment. Today, I MUST refill the feeders!

Yesterday afternoon, I made a fire, as power was a bit worrisome. JB and the cats watched football there in the basement, while I enjoyed a couple of Christmas RomComs upstairs with my wine. Nutmeg plunked herself right in front of the fire. A happy trio. 

Cinnamon looks forlornly out at the blowing snow. I haven't shoveled, so he can't even sit on the deck. 

We shall keep hunkered down. JB is fighting a cold. Season's greetings to one and all.