Snow, ice, and the beach

 That was a snowy adventure. The bird bath is holding up well. Thanks, John. There was snow to brush off. The trick is, when doing the bird feeders, that you don't get the snow in your sleeves!

The frozen goldfish pond with a layer of slush.

🍁Fall Chores

Waking up to snowfall, I began going through my chore list. Tuesday, knowing a storm was coming, I'd put the snow blower in the garage, and put the shovels there, for handy access. It's a heavy snowblower, but it is a delight when I've a ton of snow to move along a 100 m driveway. We only had about 5 cm, and I shoveled the sidewalk, but the driveway melted over the day. The ground is quite warm.

Here was my morning project. I'd totally forgotten to detach and drain the 2nd water barrel. My bad.

Managing to get the top off, there was a layer of ice! 

Draining it with a hose as syphon (the spigot was frozen), I'll have to go back out today and remove it, tip it over, and lay it beside the house. I'll have to go and buy a new drain spout, non-mental note. This one has cracked, and broken where it should attach to the drain pipe below.

I tried to find a nice snow photo, but my heart wasn't in it. 

I should have posted this prior to the snowfall! Butch and Peter are loving the pumpkins.

Butch raccoon from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Peter from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I was busy enough yesterday that I din't check the trailcameras at all.

We'll leave you with this. I am warmed by Caitlin's beach photos! She is enjoying her Punta Cana trip with her friend. It's a relatively quiet and a smaller resort, unlike the one we went to together in 2017. People would 'reserve' beach loungers all day, coming back after meals. They weren't supposed to, but they would hoard their spot. Caitlin is enjoying her time there.

"I do love a beach! The waves are lovely, very little seaweed, it’s warm… Heaven!"

Forest walkies in the snow

 Poor JB. He was going into the drug store, so I asked for some eye liner, just for fun! I looked it up on the drug store website and found a brand. As if I care, but it points him in the right direction. He's really good at women's products. They usually pounce on him to give him help. I think he ought to tell them he is non-binary and it's for himself! 

Where am I going to wear it? OH, I know. The hair salon called, I'd missed an appointment in January, due to our shut down. I have an appointment in two weeks, in March. My regular young woman is off on Maternity Leave, so that will be fun. I'm not doing too badly with my scissors, though. I did a practice run, for fun. 

I'm having a massage today, too! I am spoiled rotten.

🎶🎶🎶It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood!

I still have my crisp edges! I met JB, returning from town, it was a bit tight. Can you see him?

I thought I'd help JB and tamp down his walking path. I gave up on that part. We may get another storm at the end of the week! It was really good exercise... 

Scott's arbour!

Picture this, I'm walking down the path and Otto and Stan turkey were on this dead tree. They grew quite irritable with me walking by. They flew before I could grab a photo! When they fly, they are massive, and the sound of their wings is amazing.

The frog pond...

It struck me that these are a pair of photos that Anvilcloud could fix. I had no idea if it was in focus or not, at the time. It's just too bright, and I didn't have my reading glasses. The first is foreground focused, the next, background. sigh. 

It was hard slogging. It's pretty deep snow!

Home and safe. Nutmeg was on the railing in the sunshine, to the left of the door!

When I arrived back at the house, my t-shirt was soaked with sweat, my pants were soaked from snow, snowshoes were snowy, and I put my boots on the floor vent after my hot shower. 

Well, despite overnight temperatures, Oregano Feb 16  was back for a bite of food. He was back last night around 8 p.m., too. 

 

 There is more snow on the way! What the heck. It helps keep an even temperature for our plants. The freeze and thaw is the worst for our gardens. Our farmer neighbours down the road are happy with the snow cover. It protects the land. They wrote on Facebook:

Although some of you may not be happy with all the recent winter weather, it is a blessing for us farmers. We suffered a severe drought last summer and went into this winter with very few water reserves. With no ice cover on the hay fields this year and this blanket of snow, we shouldn't see too much winter kill on the crops. Farmers always referred to a good snow cover as poor man's fertilizer, it has nitrogen in it. An added benefit is when it melts it will soak into the ground and give our soil some much needed moisture. In the end it will help us continue to put good healthy food on your table and everyone will be happy.

Also,

It is also really good for our maple sugar bush. And it helps keep the ground colder, which can help prolong the season on a year like this with little to no frost in the ground.

That was a storm!

Hubby did a fine job clearing off the driveway. It's 100m long, and requires a machine. The front walk was done with the supervision of Daisy, she was having much fun. In the dark. He was anticipating going into the city to see our son, but that was cancelled with the snowfall.
 How much snow? Ottawa had something like 20 cm. and we had 13.9 cm (about 5 ½"). I love it! It's so pretty. It's protects the sleeping plants and animals.

I even like shoveling! Here I was in Bala, Muskoka, after we have a big dump of snow. It was thigh-deep. It's pretty and it's something to embrace, winter. I love the change and I like tracking who has been in the yard.

The tree is decorated, and presents are wrapped. We expect the kids on Saturday.
I'm still coughing. I get what they call viral-induced asthma and Ive been sucking away on my puffers. They really help. I cannot do much, or I start coughing. It's frustrating, but I know it will pass.

You can see from our front yard tree the 'before and after' of the snowfall! The doe and yearling have been by, checking out the bird feeder. Dorah doesn't want to go out. She and twin, Daisy, couldn't be more different!

 

Just so you get a sense of the storm!
Snowblower from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

February 2014 precipitation

American sparrow in snow

2014
FEB	snow
2-Feb	12.7
5-Feb	7
9-Feb	2
10-Feb	3
14-Feb	3
16-Feb	2
18-Feb	3
19-Feb	4
21-Feb	3
27-Feb	2
groundcover		56cm
	Total: 41.7

Mostly, cold temperatures, with a skiff of snow overnight. Not enough to truly shovel. The warmth of the sun has melted it on the dark driveway. We had a massive melt Feb. 23rd, and the snow cover was reduced by quite a bit. I drove down to the lake, and could see where some had brought in their ice fishing huts.

Holy Hannah - that was some snowfall

Here is a photo from Tuesday!

Yes, after the snow fell overnight Tuesday, I dragged out the snow blower. My shoulders
are somewhat out of practice, lifting that sucker about, but sidewalks are clear, and the driveway fairly bare. I went outside around 8:30, happy to play in the heavy, deep snow. Whilst we slept, the snow came in.

She didn't like the snow machines,
400m across the lake.

Hubby and his cat, Sadie,
 our for walkies on the lake ice, 2009

Here is Sadie in Feb. 2010
in Bala

Then, I remember the good, old days when we walked cats on the ice in -20 C. temperatures!





But back to our Wednesday morning...
I knew I had to get it cleaned off before it froze. I used the blower on the driveway and the steps. Then went to fetch shovels and the roof rake.

About to clear the side walk, first, before footprints packed it down and made it more difficult to shovel, I realized that all of the shovels were in the backyard shed. Crikey. What was I thinking?

Thermometer: 4º C.

 It's a shame for the Americans who celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow. There are hundreds of delays, many accidents across many regions.
They estimate 30 fender benders in Ottawa. Dummies, and those who cannot afford snow tires.

Heavy winds are on their way to the Maritimes, perhaps to exceed 100 km/h. It's quite a time across many areas, with a 40-car pile-up near Edmonton due to the fog. I'm not complaining at all with 20 cm (8") of snow!

After getting soaking wet, with sweat and melted snow, I went to the back, and removed snow from the trees, as best I could. There is a trick to that.

• Firstly, wear a coat with a hood. 
• Next, run around the tree and do the lower branches first. 
• Then, grab the roof rake. Yes, sounds silly, but it works well. I found that out last time we have heavy snow and lost more than a dozen branches off of my huge, old pine trees. 



Here are the heavily laden trees at 7:49 a.m.

• Keep your head down!

Here are before and after shots!

Here they are 'after!' 

Hopefully, we'll get some winds that will blow the snow from the tree tops, but they won't overload the lower branches this time.

Next, thinking I was done, I went indoors to warm up around 11:15. I popped on the CBCNN, to check out the news. Bad news everywhere, the satellite dish was covered in snow. Put on wet coat, grab wet gloves (why get another set of clothes wet?!) and back outside.

My angel looks pregnant!

My angel a month ago!

Back out I went, up the ladder with the snow rake to clear it off. Finally, a hot shower and maybe a coffee. Where did the day go? It's about 4º C., and I hope the snow melts a bit more from off of the dish.