Snowmageddon 2025

 The city of Ottawa, our closest big city, had 200 collisions over 24 hours. School busses weren't cancelled! They were cancelled here in rural Ontario. Thursday, after two days of snow, it's a bit of a mess. As I wrote this the temperature went from -9 at 5:45,  to -10 by 6:45. 

💊We are OK. I neglected to request refills of my blood pressure pills. I ran out two days ago. We aren't getting into town until the roads are cleared. Joe is on the identical prescription, so he donated some to me. The power is on, no worries about that. It's just a matter of pacing ourselves. Sidewalk, back deck, driveway need doing. The TV Satellite needs to be brushed off. Bird feeders, same. 

I stuck my snow stick in the ground Wednesday. There was 20 cm snow cover,  Thursday morning, 28 cm.

NOTE TO SELF: with a storm warning get gas for the snowblower. In the cold wear a long coat or sweat pants, my knees were killing me with arthritis in the cold. What is good for arthritis? Exercise! The blower had to go in 1st gear, though in the deep snow. It's not fast enough to work up a sweat.

Squirrel #75, or his friend, were looking for scattered seed.

AC would be proud of me, I thought. I played with it a bit.

Poor birdies! 

The two of us worked on the snow. Joe did the front sidewalk, three times. It just kept falling!

I used a long-handled tree saw, tapping it gently.

I couldn't do it without this machine!

We had some wind, after the storm blew over. 

Some of this snow came off the weary trees. I'll have to shake them off. The roof rake works well. 

Here is Joe's updated, tweaked decor.

I put my creche out. This dates back to 1987 or so.

More to come!

⛄Snomageddon 2022!

 We knew it was coming. We were warned. 

It was bad all across southern Ontario. The 400 series highways were a mess. Some spent 8 hours stuck on the 401 in Toronto in various locations.

  

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It was dark, and the flakes were falling at 6:30 when I arose. It was a bit warmer than a few days ago, it was  - 6 C., but the wind... By 8 a.m., it looked gruesome!

feeder in snow:

My trusty snowblower. Note the height of the snow compared to the tires. Also note that by the time I went down with it to the end of the 100 m driveway, back to the house, and back down to the road, the lovely black asphalt was covered up. I knew it would be a long haul!

Having made it to the end of the driveway, I admired my crooked, but crisp clean lines! You can see where the snow had fallen on the left side, while I worked my way up and down.

Driveway done, I had to explain to the birds, who hadn't dug out the feeders, that I would do it later. 

'Later' was after lunch. I took a break. The snow was (I thought) up to the first step. There was a step hidden. If you look down the sidewalk, you can't see where the steps are. I forgot about them. I fell off the step! (How long have we lived here? Since 2010. 😅)

Highway 7 was closed from Kaladar to Perth, and then from Perth to Ottawa!

I had to change into a whole new outfit for shovel #2. It's hard work! My coat, pants and scarf were soaked... I threw my poor soaked gloves on the heater vent. They dried out. Almost! 

I don't know if you remember the 3 crows who nested in the backyard for the spring. Three crows flew over as I was starting again. They are a Rorschach test, I think!

It was a job that required a few breaks. Happily, we've lots of places to put the snow. In the city we used to run out of front lawn for the snow. This afternoon I had help, though. 

Cinnamon on snow:

Once that was done, an hour and 40 minutes later, I checked out the laneway. Not good. The snowplows had been by. I couldn't face it, though. That will be Tuesday's job. I got rid of a lot of it, though.

I had just cleared the end of the driveway. I shall have to go back out today. It snowed all day, giving us a total of 45 cm.

Back up the driveway, they were watching me. They've been around since 3 p.m., when I started shoveling again. I suggested she come help and I might find some food for her, but she declined.

It's a bit of a pile. 

The mourning doves had the right idea. The wind was whipping snow off of the roof, and it was miserable for the little critters. Blowing snow : 

 

Snowmageddon clean-up

This is my new terrarium. Look closely. A few sprinkles of dirt on the table. "Hooper, Down!" has been at it, again. He's not happy with the snow.
I'll have to think about where to put it. I need a wall!


That was a task and a half! We had ~30 cm. The driveway is bare in the middle, but the sides still have ice on it.
Someone went out to feed the deer and turkeys. Said 'someone' slipped on the ice and fell. He was forbidden from doing the driveway. This is some of the ice, prior to the storm.

The deer were in pretty deep.


That was hard work. The end of the driveway was really bad, but the worst are the shoulders that are icy. I couldn't use the brakes to make it turn, as there wasn't traction. Coming back up the berm was sheer ice. I slid on the way down to the highway.


We are fortunate to be in the country, since we have somewhere to put the snow.


In Ottawa, the kids had another snow day. They have a metal roof and the snow falls on the patio. They shoveled a path.

 Ottawa has an app called Touch Plow. They can order in a last minute plowing of their driveway. Many people have regular contractors. Part-time contractors can sign up for odd jobs. 

Contractors sign onto this, and you are charged according to the size of you driveway, and how soon you want it done. From 0 - 4 hours, or a longer time frame. If you are away on vacation, you can order it up. The contractors take a photo of it when they are done!

They cheered when they saw their snowplow!

JB did part of the back deck.

You can hear the birds even as the snow flies! 
snowmageddon from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

After we shoveled, the snow began to fall, again!
Bird feeders from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

There are so many ways to check out driving conditions. Thank goodness for Ontario 511. It was quite a mess, and a lot of places were simply closed.

Buster loved the snow! This is my favourite photo of him. Daisy May loved following me using my snowshoe tracks.