Another Eight Incher

This was the scene this morning. It started snowing last night about 7 and it is still coming down lightly 12 hours later.

It is absolutely still out. Not even a breeze, which lends an eerie feeling to the landscape. The snow has accumulated on every branch, wire, fence.
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A Two Inch Nuisance

I had another two inches last night. At this point, don't I wish.

They are calling it a "nuisance" snow.

It is nice and fluffy and is clinging to the trees as you can see below. This is ski weather. Nice new snow, relatively warm, no wind. And here I sit with my skis still at my friend's house in Park City, UT where they've been for the past 10 years. I need to get back out to visit, and I need to get back into skiing.

The deer paid a visit last night. If you engorge the photo, you can see their tracks where they visited the bushes during the night. They (the evergreens) are still recovering from a deerfest three years ago during a particularly hard winter. I've been nursing them back and they're about 80% back to normal.

It's time for me to make my Irish Spring sachets. I cut up a bar of soap, wrap it in cheesecloth, and then place it on the shrub at nose height so the deer get a snoot full of Ireland when they make a run for a midnight snack.

Speaking Of Inches

It is currently snowing at a 1"-2" clip per hour. It started at 10:30am and it's expected to last through 7pm. Not sure why they are predicting 4"-7" total accumulation. Must be the new math.

I filled the gas can yesterday so I'm prepared to fire up the snowblower. The neighbor is out now using his leaf blower to clear his driveway. It is in the 20's so the cold temperature means the snow is fluffy and light.

They are predicting a Nor'easter for this weekend that will bring blizzard conditions.

In more good news, my back has been pain free for over a week, just in time to start shoveling!

Update: They were right. Final tally was 7". It snowed until 7pm but the flakes got smaller as the day progressed.
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It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...Spring?

We got a nice bit of snow last night. If every day of winter was like today, I could almost agree with its onset. The street sweepers came earlier in the week so not only are the roads just wet, they aren't a muddy mess from all the sand. It's hard to believe that the lilac bushes (bottom right foreground of the photo) will be in full bloom in six weeks for Memorial Day. While that's the best time of year, it's a gorgeous day today!
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STORM WATCH 2007!

Fired up the snowblower for the first time today at 10 a.m. About 8" in the driveway. It is really cold out and the wind was whooshing the snow horizontally. The wind chill had my ears numb in no time despite my skullcap knit hat so I didn't venture across the street to do my 90-year-old neighbor's (90YON) driveway. She'll just have to keep her ass at home today!

11:45 a.m. Update
The snow plow had cleared the street so I blew out the end of our driveway and cleared access to my mailbox and 90YON's mailbox. Too cold to do more this trip, I need to warm up. Not sure if the mailman will come today or not. The two newspaper delivery people, one for The Record and another for The Wall Street Journal, both made it in the pre-dawn hours today.

12:15 p.m. Update
The mailman came! "Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." Nor snow either. The storm has been officially upgraded to a blizzard which entails rate of snow, wind, and visibility.

2:45 p.m. Update
I went at the driveway with the snowblower again. The temperature is about 10ºF so the snow is very light. With the high winds, the snow is drifting. The driveway had anywhere from 4" to 10" in spots. The road had been plowed again so that is dense and hard to get through. Shoveled the sidewalk again. My ears are numb.

4:50 p.m. Update
We are at 16" where there aren't any drifts and it is still coming down like crazy!

6:30 p.m. Update
Another round at the driveway. Blew out about 5" more. I was too cold to shovel the sidewalk this time around. I suspect that the driveway will be full again tomorrow morning based on the way the wind is currently creating drifts. They are quite beautiful — Mother Nature's canvas.
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