snow – Page 3 – New England's Narrow Road

This is A Lot Of Snow!

lots of snow — This was before the last foot of snow fell.

I took this picture looking out my front window toward the steps leading to the front door. That was a few days ago and we have since had another 8 or 9 inches fall and then a couple inches of slushy stuff today. Not to mention that the roof dumped it’s load just this afternoon. In fact I am heading outside with my son to shovel, even though I am not quite over the flu. This is the most snow I’ve seen here in a while.

The problem is that there is no easy way to shovel it when the mounds are as high as me. In fact I usually throw it and then watch it tumble back down into the path behind me. At this point I am just trying to keep the doorways clear and a path shoveled for the oil guy to make his delivery hook up at the side of the deck. I always find it difficult to show snowfall well in photos. It helps to have a person standing beside the piles I suppose, but there was no one to do so.

The new plow guy did do my mailbox this time, which was a very unexpected surprise. Digging out the mailbox is one of the most difficult jobs. In fact my son is annoying me so he will be shoveling alone while I make supper. That is an even better idea.

I Love the Snow, But Not Today

I do love watching the snow fall and it sure is falling today, February 25, 2011 in New Hampshire. South of here there has been a mix of rain and freezing rain, but it’s been all snow – all day – here. I was out earlier to shovel off about 5 inches since they say it is heavy (yes, it is) but I am under the weather today and certainly don’t want to go back out. It’s warm enough for the snow to also be sliding off the roof, so I have that to shovel on top of the 5 or 6 inches that has come down since I was out before.
Also the plow guy will show up at some point and I’ll have to move my car.
So I usually don’t mind the snow, but when I am sick I would rather not have to deal with it.
My side of this duplex gets lots of shade and I’m looking at this snow and thinking it will be here until June.

At Least We Have a Roof Rake!

Trees bending under weight of ice. — The ice pulled my tree over

I got up early this morning like I always do, and flipped on the outside light to see this little birch tree in the back yard all bent down. Its the tree where I hang a couple of my bird feeders and I had to go out (later) and move them to a new place.
I was up at 3am and about 15 minutes later (thankfully I had made my coffee!) the power went out. Actually, I was surprised it was on at all the way the wind was blowing and after seeing the coating of ice outside.
Surprisingly the lights were back on about an hour later. When it got light enough to get some pictures I went out to see how icy it was. The trees are glistening in the sun so it looks very pretty and once the ice melts off the little birch I am hoping it will straighten back up.

My landlady bought a roof rake a few days ago and we have all been busy getting as much snow off the roof as we can. It turned out that the storm yesterday became more rain and freezing rain than snow, but we still needed to be ready.
She told me that people were coming up to New Hampshire to buy roof rakes from as far away as Connecticut and that the store only had a few left. So she was lucky to get hers.
Getting the snow off the roof is not too bad, but then where do I put it? As you can see (above), shoveling my deck is not easy now that the snow is so high and more WILL be coming off the roof – where will I put it?

Raking snow off the house roof — Getting the snow off before the next storm. 1/4/11

Richie (my cat) is very bad. You can see him in his favorite spot for hunting birds (in my first picture above). Yesterday while I was cleaning off the deck and shoveling out my woodpile, he caught a little chickadee. I hate that! I have set up three areas where the birds can eat so when Richie is outside the birds don’t have to eat near him, but they sometimes still get too close and he is very fast.

When I was uncovering the wood to lug some inside, Richie was climbing on it and fell head first into a deep pile of snow. It was hilarious. I should have had my camera – but I was working – because he was a sight with his butt sticking up out of the snow and his head buried. He managed to turn his head to the side and look up at me and I grabbed him and pulled him out. Pretty funny.

One day this overhang of thick ice will come crashing down off the roof. Yikes.

Ice Dams – what to do (agordonins.wordpress.com)
Timesunion.com: Roof rakes a commodity as snow piles up (timesunion.com)
Roofers busy in snowy Northeast with leaky roofs (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
Cop saves Vt. man trapped up to neck in snow pile (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Two Days of Snow On The Way

Well, I have kept the path cleared to my front door this winter and it hasn’t been easy. The plow guy pushes all the driveway stuff right up into the front of the house which means I have to shovel through that. Then the roof emptied it’s load onto the front steps and that was a heavy bunch of stuff to shovel. Now up to 2 feet of snow is expected over the next 2 days and I’m wondering how high I can pile the stuff and what will happen when the next batch falls off the roof?
Winter has come all at once to New Hampshire.