Suprise...SNOW STORM !!!!

Wet snow sticking to the trees

What a messy couple of days. Rain Wednesday, Thursday and part of Friday, then snow. The snow is heavy. You know, the stuff that when you try to push it with a shovel you get about 2 feet and it weighs about 100 pounds!. Then you try to blow it and there is so much moisture in it that every 15 feet you have to unclog the blower. Now, I'm not complaining, it was just a very interesting day.

Friday morning at 1am I could see my entire lawn....by 4 am there was 10 cm's of snow on it. By 10 am there was close to 20cm's (8 inches). Buses were canceled, roads were closing, and it was just messy out. The kids love it. They get to make snow men, forts, and have snowball fights. And truthfully, probably by the end of next week, it'll all be gone. Each day the sunlight lasts longer, the temperature keeps rising just by a degree each day and those southern storms are starting to roll through.

Yep, spring is on our door. Enjoy the snow friends :)

Oh What a Night !

Full moon last night

That was an interesting night. A gorgeous full moon. I saw it after I dropped my daughter off at youth. A huge orange globe raising over the trees - rather eerie looking. So I raced home, got the camera and tripod and tried to get  a picture. The winds were blowing at 80km/hr so it was very difficult getting a nice shot. The picture at the start of the blog is one of the ones I took. 

Then, around midnight, the peaceful night was interrupted. For the first time in 15 years, my wife is sick. Add to that, my daughter is sick also. So I got to watch a lot of t.v. last night. as my daughter stayed on the couch and I manned the Lysol spray & wipes. I've been on the roller coaster of feeling good, feeling yucky for the last 7 days. I felt pretty good first thing this morning - then I laid down at 11am. Next thing I knew, it was 4 pm.  Sort of a recovery day for everyone I guess.

My nephew celebrated his 5th birthday today and my daughter and son had planned for the last month to go to Kid Zone with him. Plans changed. My daughter slept the day away. 

Things happen for a reason though - we had planned going for a day away tomorrow, but alas, plans have changed. The weather was terrible this morning. Blowing snow, very strong winds, cold temperatures. Tomorrow they are calling for about 15 cm's of snow and maybe some freezing rain mixed with it. Better to just stay home. We'll go away another day :)

The main thing now is that everyone get rested and healthy.

A mild spell coming our way.

Finally, after 6 continuous weeks of cold, windy, snowy weather it looks like we will be getting a reprieve. Now for anyone that lives a warm climate, -1 C seems cold....To us Canadians that is t-shirt weather. It's been cold here, especially at night. The last couple weeks -24 or -25C at night was normal. Daytime highs -12C to -10C were regular. Economically cold weather means higher heating costs, poorer gas mileage, more snow removal and more time spent indoors. Am I complaining - absolutely not - it's the reality that I am living in, nothing more, nothing less.

The next few days is actually going to push into the positive temperatures....+2 C to + 4C during daytime hours and -3C to -6C at night. Very bearable. It will mean however that the roads are going to get very rough and bumpy. The freezing and thawing is not kind to our highways. Add to that the potholes that are going to start to get bigger. Today I noticed that there is water lying on the streets in town. The salt is working, and the water is starting to puddle. It's not flowing yet because there is still snow and ice blocking the storm drains...It's going to be a messy week. If you are driving - try not to splash the pedestrians :) It's bad enough splashing someone in the summer when it is warm, but when it is cold and the water has a high content of salt and sand in it - that's just wrong. 

Have a great next few days friends, enjoy the warm up - spring is around the corner !!

Clean - up from the snow.

Not as much snow as expected -but there was still a 3 foot high drift the entire length of my driveway. Heard some thunder this morning when it was snowing, that is always cool. Last time I remember thunder snow was December 27, 2007. Then it all melted - fast.
I wonder what my neighbour is going to think when he and his wife get back from the south? I put several stakes with orange on them to  stop snow being blown from the parking lot onto my trees and yard - salt, sand are not very good for blue spruce tree. The branches get broken and when the snow leaves they have huge spaces missing out of them. There is a vacant lot right beside the parking lot and all the operator has to do is make a couple extra passes....anyways, back to my neighbour....He has a small utility trailer in his back yard, or at least he use to have one....between the tractor from the one lot and the blower from the other lot...it is totally buried, so are several other of his items. we'll see in the spring if the axle is still straight, probably not.
I went over to dad's to blow out his driveway and so I had to load my snow blower in the back of the truck. I thought I'd back up to the snow bank, drop the tailgate and drive it into the back...it didn't work. But I want to thank a stranger for helping me. He stopped his car and helped me lift it into the back of the truck. Still lots of nice people around!


The plow just went past...11:30am, so I guess it's time to clean the end of my drive again. Stay safe everyone!

Batten down the hatches....here comes the snow !

A large flock of Snowbirds is often a sign of an approaching storm

A storm is on it's way. A big storm. But we are due. It's been a few years since we've had a large snow storm. Down around London, they have actually issued a blizzard warning - first one since 1993. I remember that storm. I was at Sir Sanford Fleming and I had an early morning class. Mom and dad let me use the Sunbird for that week. I remember driving down the streets and pushing snow with the front bumper. I couldn't stop at stop signs for fear of not getting started again. I actually got stuck at one 4 way stop and there were a couple students walking by...I asked for a push and in return I gave them a ride to school. Good bartering :) 

So what will tomorrow bring? Snow, wind, drifting, canceled buses - those are all a given. What I don't like hearing about is the accidents. If the roads are bad - stay at home. You may miss a days pay, but you'll be alive...and maybe just maybe you'll not take someone else's life either. And don't forget about the emergency workers that have to go and rescue people from stranded, stuck or crashed vehicles...let's not put them in danger also. Stay safe everyone...oh...by the way - I saw one of the largest flocks of snowbirds that I've ever seen before on Sunday...An old wise tale that when you see snow birds a storm is on the way??? I think not :)

Snowsquall - Sunshine - all in a hour

An interesting way to start the day – woke up, snowing out side...then I looked again, I was REALLY snowing outside. I'm not complaining, I like snow and it is January, but this stuff was really coming down. I figure that the school buses would be cancelled – and they were. So I take a look on the radar (http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/radar/index_e.html?id=WSO)    and yep, we were under a large squall. Now for anyone who doesn't live beside a great lake, let me explain a squall to you. Picture this – you are looking outside, the sun is shining and then – within minutes – you cannot see your neighbours house across the street because of the snow. I kid you not. We actually got about 15 cm's (6 inches) of snow in one hour. Add to that strong North winds and the drifts are a couple of feet. Then a half hour later, blue sky. So my daughter still wanted to go to school, so I started up the truck and a way we went. Not a very nice drive. None of the town streets were plowed, but it was snowing hard and it came down really fast. I would not dare venturing out of town on a morning like this. At least in town, the houses block some of the wind so the snow doesn't blow like it does out in the country. And I figure why would I risk my life and the life of the emergency workers that would have to come rescue me? My rule - If it's storming, I'm staying home until it clears up.

After dropping my daughter off I spent a ½ hour blowing out my driveway and I figure by noon I'll have to fire it up again. By then the snow plow would have gone by, filling the end of my driveway with a 2 foot high bank of snow.

The joys of living in Ontario !