My Aching Shoulders!

We were out of town and got back Saturday.  We had more snow.  So far, we've had about 3 feet just in February.

When we pulled into the driveway, I was VERY disappointed.  I had called someone to plow us on Friday, but it wasn't done.  Our driveway is paved, but shoveling 1 foot of wet heavy snow was not something I wanted to do.  The driveway is over 200 feet long, so I had a lot of work in front of me.  I started on it, and at got a spot shoveled out to allow me to get the car off the street.

I looked at the roof over the back porch.  There was now about 4 feet of snow on the porch roof, with another 4 feet on the deck!  One of the bad things about the new metal roof on the house is that all the snow slides right off the roof, dumping itself onto whatever is below.

I dragged a ladder out from the garage and climbed unto the porch roof.  It is a flat roof, so I wasn't too concerned with slipping (but you still have to be careful).  I shoveled most the snow down onto the deck below.  I then climbed down and shoveled the deck back down to 4 feet.  I went to the front porch and shoveled it's roof.  My clothes were soaked.  The stove got a workout drying my gloves.

On Sunday I shoveled more of the driveway (I would have plowed it, but my yard tractor doesn't have the traction to move 1 foot of wet snow).   I then heard a rumble, and the remaining snow on the main roof dumped itself on the porch roof.  I climbed back onto the roof, and shoveled the 2 - 3 feet of snow onto the deck. I then climbed down to the deck and knocked it back to 4 feet.

Being a glutton for punishment, then went inside and jumped onto the rowing machine.  I needed 17,000 meters to row to finish the 1 million meter goal I set for myself (I row 1 million meters between September and February).  Boy, my shoulders and arms were tired.  I am proud I did it!

I then took a break.  The weather forecast showed it was going to warm up to over 40 degF on Monday, with up to 1 inch of rain.  I then climbed back onto the porch roof to get right down to the thin ice layer to make sure that any runoff would not pool on the roof.

I went around the yard and checked out the scenery.  It was very beautiful.  I checked on the barn, and it was dry inside.

Snow was sliding off the barn.

There was quite a pile next to the old chicken coop (the largest I can remember).

It was quite beautiful outside.

It started to rain this morning.  The water ran off the porch roof with no issues.  We are expecting warmer weather most of the week.  My shoulders need the break (I really don't want to be shoveling the snow off the deck)!

Just another week around the barn . . .

Winter - Part Deux

Well . . .

We are expecting around 1 foot of snow tomorrow.  Just 1 week ago I was cycling.  Now I'll be shoveling snow for exercise!

March is nearly here.  We can expect more storms over the next month.  But I know spring won't be far behind.  Stay Safe!

Got 'Em!

Okay -

If you are faint of heart, read no further.

If you have been following my posts about those sneaky red squirrels, you know that I surmised they were getting into the house.

The wife and I have been spending some time in Vermont.  We had set some traps recently.  Today, my nephew was checking on the place, and found a red squirrel had been caught (yes, I am trying to keep the details to a minimum).

Still don't know how they were getting in, but I strongly suspect there is a gap under the crawlspace on the old addition.  I'll have to find it once the snow is gone.

I ended up catching the red squirrel using a larger trap.  What I still ponder where the other smaller traps I set are . . .

Vigilate semper!

Cabin Fever

We've had warm weather the last few days . . .

... but it didn't last.  I went bicycling the lasy two days.  I even washed my car.  Today we had highs of 20 degF with winds gusting up to 40 miles per hour.   We decided to just go out and have a little road trip.

We drove down to the Vermont Country Store in Rockingham, VT.  On the way, we stopped at one of our favorite taco places.  It has some of the best overstuffed burritos (sorry I didn't take a picture of the food - I was too focused on eating!).

It was a pretty drive.  The snow was just swirling around, though it would become a whiteout when the winds gusted very high.  We visited the Vermont Country Store and looked at their various unique and unusual items.

The trip back was slower.  The road conditions through the mountains were worse, but nothing too terrible.  I actually like driving in the snow.

Based on the weather forecasts, I don't expect to be cycling any time soon.  I guess we'll still have a few more weeks of winter.

I just wish it would stay warm and dry enough so I wouldn't have to wash the car again . . .

Flocks of Robins

As I previously posted, I heard robins about.  Over the weekend we saw a few robins by the side of the road.

I decided to go for a bicycle ride at lunch today.  I went home, put on my riding clothes (and being only 40 degF I still had to wear several layers).  I jumped on the road bike and went out.  It was great.

One of the best things about the ride were the robins.  There were literally dozens upon dozens on the sides of the roads.  As I would ride up to them the would take flight and fly down the road.  I was riding around 18 miles per hour, while the robins would fly about that speed.  This went for miles - me following flocks of robins.  I have never been in a situation like this.  It was pretty magical!

I even saw some turkeys fly across the road.  As I came by the river, there were ice fisherman on the ice.  Pretty crazy - me cycling with a foot of snow on the ground, ice fishermen out on the rivers, flocks of robins.  Mother Nature seems really confused.

Punxsutawney Phil Might be Right!

I heard it yesterday.

The melodic "Peek, tut, tut, tut, tut, tut"

It was the call of the American Robin.

Even though we have 2 feet of snow on the ground, and the highs are only around 20 degF, they are here!

I haven't seen one yet, but I'll keep looking.

Are the robins out where you live?

. . . Wait 5 Minutes!

You've heard the saying . . .

"If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes."

Yesterday was one of those days.  It started out sunny.  The highs were around 32 degF.  We were going to go out, but then it started to snow like crazy (about 2 inches per hour).  We stayed in.  Then we could hear some rattling by the windows.  It was sleet.  We then had some rain.  A few minutes later, we saw flashes if light, and then could hear thunder.  It seemed the thunder just went for many minutes, rumbling through the sky.  It turned back to snow.

This morning we have about another 6 inches of snow to clean up (we had around 1 foot earlier in the week).  Last night's snow was wet and heavy.

I am glad we put a new metal roof on the house and barn.  The snow slides off pretty easily.

I came across this picture yesterday about a barn in Vermont that collapsed due to the weight of snow!

Getting the roof on the house has been a real pain (contractor issues - ggrrrrr!).  But it is done, and with all the snow we have had this year, timing was good!