This year's snow has been a shock. We have had 60 cm dumped on the roof in a week. According to Global Saskatoon (don't ask, I don't know why them!): they quoted Environment Canada as saying we are expecting 80cm by Saturday.
"...eight centimetres more than the Muskoka area's average snowfall for the entire month of December.
More than 50 centimetres had fallen this month before the snow squall hit, and the previous single-day snowfall record for Huntsville - 54 centimetres on March 4, 1985 - was smashed."
This kind of snow results in inventiveness. Most are being told to stay off the roads, which we did. Muskoka bloggers are doing their thing!
I shovelled off the deck and the dock - foolish, perhaps, but good exercise in lieu of indoor exercise!
Then, I shovelled around the lakeside benches. Just for fun! It is our favourite place to sit, snow or not!
I threw out some cracked corn for the mourning doves.
I worry about the critters. Some hibernate, others just sleep on cold snowy days like this. The raccoons, for example, will emerge, having gone to sleep with the December cold. No sign of them lately.
BLog buddy Nancy wrote a great post about the wild deer that visit her at Bondi Village on her 600 acres. With their long legs they sink, but their fur is typically suited to this climate, or they would not survive.
They on the other pointed hoof must sleep outside in all weather. This snowfall has left them high-stepping and bounding...
I spotted the Golden Eye Mergansers in the lake. Cold lake, it is.
The cats are happy to be indoors.
A neighbour went down to our next door neighbour's property, to snowblow around the house with his machine, travelling down her unplowed 250' driveway to get there. You can see how close the driveway is to our house!
There is a lot of energy required in living the rural life!
Brian made bread in his bread machine. It was rising. Then - yup, power went off. The power came back on about 2 minutes later but the damage was done. You can't reboot the sucker!
What does one do? I had peeked at the 'remaining time' , and knew it had 48 min. to go at that point. I figured it was in the rising phase, with the baking a further 30 minutes. I turned on the oven, sat the bread in a greased bread pan. I let it rise for about a half hour. Checked my handy Betty Crocker's Breads book (1977). It said 30- 35 minutes at 400' F. and I am grateful for Golden Press; Racine, Wisconsin. :-)
Now, you must learn from your mistakes...I didn't let it rise long enough. I should have let it go 45 minutes, at least. And it would make a good curling stone. But it is soft and tasty inside! Back to shovelling!
I'm having issues with my videocamera...so here is last year's Dec. 14th video.
Last year the lake was frozen over. It is not this year.
Burdened with snow, but grateful for hydro and Internet, here's a video (5:47 min.) you might like! If you have time... I'd forgotten about the sand painting Russian, too! So many things to take our minds off snow!
'Tis official. Muskoka is under a ton of snow. Can't see much of the sky.
Lorac, south of us (Georgetown) has blue skies! As Yogi suggested, I should go out and measure it as no one seems to know the depth of the snow base! I shall. I am dripping wet with exertion, just shovelling a path in and out of the house. I fear something happening and not being able to get out of the house. Once I get my breath back!
The official Muskoka snow measurement, despite snow STILL falling, is 60 cm = 23.6"!
This is what the house (right) and our semi-detached cottage looks like today, Friday.
In the meantime, OPP still want people off the roads. Garbage collection is cancelled. Many events are cancelled, including the Cellar Singers concert. (I used to sing with them!)
School busses are cancelled, there are power outages, snow plows are IN THE DITCHES! It is -9 C. (15.8 F.) and pretty cold to be sitting in a car in the ditch! Tow trucks are pretty much behind in their calls!
And the snow is starting to fall, again. The wind is strong, and this makes driving hazardous.
The Moose FM reports: The plea for drivers to stay off the roads is being echoed by the District of Muskoka, the Town of Bracebridge and the Town of Huntsville. Both Bracebridge and Huntsville have declared snow emergencies."
Their coverage has been terrific. I have been pleased with their information page, especially in the light of this emergency. Hubby figures we can call in the troops any minute now!
Meantime, the cats are pretty desperate. Mitz, fragile as she is, continues to sit under the fire. Oliver has figured out how to get up into the attic, by climbing onto the car and the wood pile. (Yesterday, Brian called him and he came screaming off the attic, onto the car, fell off the roof onto the windshield slippery with snow, then fell off of the windshield onto the cement garage floor! No chumps here!) Sady is not so adventurous. She has been content to sit in front of the fire.
Our snowplow contractor hasn't arrived yet, and I don't blame him! He is usually quite dependable. Retirement in Muskoka isn't for everyone. You really have to be able to look after yourself, and cannot rely on neighbours.
Now, it was a bit of a task to find my snowshoes. Where do you think I left them? In the shed, whose path had to be shovelled before I made it down there!
But I made it. Huffing and puffing. I snowshoed down to the lake. Whew!
Compare this photo, above, with my post a couple of days ago! Our benches have disappeared!
The green pine trees look lovely beside the picnic table, lovingly covered in snow!
I have been faithfully trying to find out our total snowfall. It *is* impressive. I have failed. My weather-hubby (a transportation expert, retired, with a fascination for weather) cannot find the data, either. Considering he is my 2nd-accountant husband, and me, a woman with an M.Ed., both of us appreciate the importance of data. Good, cold, hard facts. But they are few and far between.
All I know is yesterday I walked down to the lake (sans snowshoes - duH) and the snow was knee-deep. I reversed the proposal and returned to the deck. Last night we had an additional 35 cm, today we expect another 30 cm (100 cm = 1 m = 1 yd.!). The snow squalls continue. The cats are PO'd, and we are content to build a fire and look out at the whiteness.
The trees hang heavily burdened with the snowfall. It still gives me the creeps, as I recall Ice Storm '98 when whole trees fell and crashed with the weight of the ice in south eastern Ontario where I lived in Osgoode. We were 10 days without power!
In the meantime, the roads are horrible. The blowing snow dangerous. Everything is shut down. Moose FM has been told by the OPP:
"Highway 11 south of Gravenhurst is completely shut down. Highway 11 north of Gravenhurst has not been properly plowed and has not been sanded. A snow emergency has been declared in Huntsville and Mayor Claude Doughty is telling residents of Huntsville to completely stay off the roads."
Much has been cancelled. Which is the only smart thing to do! I venture out to clear the deck, shovel the snow and feed the birds and squirrels, who still seem to expect breakfast! Can they not spell HIBERNATE??? The raccoons have, bless them. My bird seed storage cans are now safe!
In contrast...a fall photo of the same outdoor recreation building and the sumac!
Well, isn't the snow a shock?! It just keeps on falling.
Here is yesterday
and today.
Do you know the difference between a snow shower and a snow flurry, blowing snow and a snow squall, a blizzard, snow pellets and snow grains and ice pellets? I do. You can find wind speed terms, too. But I digress.
I looked it up at Environment Canada's information page. What, snowbound, bored, me?
After navigating our way into Gravenhurst for appointments...whew, what a drive home.
I shovelled the deck for the umpteenth time, really to appease the cats who need to get under the cottage or they terrorize us and each other in their cat ways: chasing, hunting, pouncing. We play with them, provide cat toys, a huge empty box, and try to keep them amused, but when they look out and see their mouse friends...all heck breaks loose!
The lake has disappeared. But I kept on shovelling the deck as the mourning dove looked rather... mournful. She likes the cracked corn in the bucket and as long as I am there she simply watches me. She didn't move at all, I was just below her on the deck, as she waited patiently for me to leave.
Weather is a darned important item to those in Muskoka. With many in the sales, service, or other industries, workers often travel for work. In Gravenhurst today, one store clerk told me that Environment Canada had actually sent a reporter! Whoo, hoo!
But do you think I can find out how much snow we've had, officially? NOPE.
On a day like this, with Muskoka having a predicted 15 - 25 cm snowsqualls, on top of the same amount yesterday, and more expected today, I keep wondering where I can find information on the total amount of snowfall for this past month.
On the snow.com offers some data, for ski resorts, but shows that Horseshoe Resort, Huntsville, for example, has a base depth of 12" (30 cm) , and no new snow in the last 72 hours. Hmf! I've shovelled that mus snow today.
Muskoka Airport houses the weather sensing data for Environment Canada, but no quick info source.
Online is my choice for information. TV and radio really help, but the major TV stations leave us out. You can find data on the jet stream. Click here for my posts: the First Snow of the Fall, 2009, season!
The Dec. 4th/5th weekend, our 2nd major snowfall.Then, on December 9th and 10th we had another load of snow. Happy shovelling, if you are in such climes!
Huntsville 50 cm (EST'd)
Haliburton 66 cm
Minden 121 cm (EST'd)
Parry Sound 40 cm (EST'd)
Washago 45 cm (EST'd) 
