Whew, we just are NOT used to this in the great North Wet. The ground has had snow on it for two weeks now! My husband's Christmas present is sitting at a fedex facility because they cannot bring the truck down our road due to the icey mess. There are some incredible stories of roofs collapsing, including a horse facility that my husband has done a bit of phone work at (the horses are okay, the whole riding stable is gone). A friend of mine lost an outbuilding and over 2K of yard equipment that was in it, and our little post office lost it's porch. I've had some serious cabin fever since my pickup has no tire chains, but at least I can work my way to the end of our rural road now, the main road was plowed finally a couple of days ago. But, a heavy rain over the last 24 hours or is washing away quite alot of the stuff, my husband's best friend is in town for the holidays, so what do they do this morning? They've gone golfing, of course! Golfers are clinically insane, I'm quite sure of it now. One of my favorite trees, the one out my kitchen window, that shelters my bird feeders, lost so many branches I fear that my view will now be terribly altered. It is, or was, a big healthy Douglas Fir (Pseudosugia menzesii) But the goats will enjoy disposing of the fallen limbs. Sigh. On an up note, I had thought that my digital camera was lost forever, but I found it yesterday in my sketching case, so now I go back to having no excuse for not posting pictures here! Ah, status quo, lol! OK, the news just reminded me that we have a Big Bad Wind Storm blowing in later today so I must get in firewood and find all my candles. Anyone got a spare ticket to Tahiti they aren't using, hmm?
We had warm air and rain last weekend and the grass was spring green. Now we have a dusting of snow mixed into it. I have a friend that lives near Spokane and she has about 30 inches of snow all over everything. But me personally? I would just as soon as it stayed out there! Nothing personal!
My youngest son lives in Oshkosh Wisconsin and he said they had record breaking snow in December. The most at once was about 15 inches but even that is too much for me. The little bit we got back on Dec. 10th was all I need for the winter. We've been having little bits of rain and some gray cloudy days but the sun is shining now and we can see all of the grass. dooley
We've had snow on the ground for almost 2 months now, until the other day when we had a day of rain and mild temperatures. Then 2 nasty wind storms. I just don't know WHAT to expect anymore!
Gosh you've had some dreadful weather haven't you Mary?!! Here am I bemoaning the fact that I've not seen any green in the garden for weeks (everything is covered in frost day and night) and you've had things so much worse that I could ever imagine. I hope the wind storm that's due isn't too severe and that nothing else gets damaged. Take care and I hope that 2009 is a really good year for you.
Oh it's not that bad, I'm just that whiney! It was a record for snow, though. Went clear up to my knees. The up side is that we had thought about going to Mt Rainier like we sometimes do this time of year (there's a coffee shop there that sells local trout and wild-blackberry pie!) just because it's often the only snow we see in winter. No worries, the snow came to us! Sounds like plans are still on for the Space Needle, though they could cancel at the last minute if things take a turn. The delivery truck came through like a champ just now, and delivered DH's Christmas present, a bunch of new pastels from me. He got a commission from someone who missed out getting a piece he did for a local fundraiser, and some of the new colors will come in handy. I'm actually hoping the wind storm will pull down some limbs that are broken but still hanging, otherwise we will have to climb the tree and cut them ourselves as they are hazardous. More firewood for next year! Netty, I've heard about how your area is getting pounded, I know winters are more extreme there but, whoo! We should go visit some of our growing number of Texas Stewbies!
Mary, come on down... I have a spare room!! Your winters sound so treacherous! I like a little bit of snow, :-| but gosh, that sounds terrible. Hope the weather will start clearing up for you and others that are swamped with snow.
I'd love to have some of your snow here! We're used to having thight deep snow on the fields, and everything that goes with it, but the last couple of winters have been green and frosty. No fun at all. I'm glad your husband finally got his present. And I'm even more pleased that you found your camera. I'll go pop some popcorn and sit myself down to wait for the snow damage photos.
Droopy, I've been telling folks I know about your lack of snow and they don't believe me. It's just so weird, no snow in Norway and we are supposed to get another two inches tonight (though it's looking like it will hit further east now). Nature does keep us on our toes...
We've got snow now, but not much. However, it's just enough for the girls to go skiing and tobogganing in, so they're pleased. The Norwegian north and inland has had plenty of snow, so we're not totally snow-less. It's just here on the west coast that snow's been slow in coming.
Gosh, reading this thread has made me all cold. Burrrrrrr. The coldness has broken here and now everything is dripping wet. It rained last night and the sun is out and warmiong up the ground even more. We went out to the lotties yesterday to do some work but werre thwarted as the ground was frozen hard as a rock! CPO, your snow and weather woes really sound exciting and irritating. I was sorry to hear that your man's x-mas gift was held-up due to the weather. That must have been hard to take. The snow damage there was alarming--was it purely the weight of the snow or was there ice as well that added to the weight? Anyway, now you can see some gradss that was safely protected under the snow. Green is known as the colour of hope here....it is wonderful to see after a long period of white, isn't it. Thanks for the news posts. Hang in there!
We just got a dusting of really icey snow last night, and it looks like "just" windstorms and downpours on the foreseeable horizon. DH and I spent some time getting the downed fir and pine branches piled up, wow my trees look denuded. Completely lost two small ones. The goaties are happily stripping all the greenery off the branches and next summer we will spend some serious time cutting the wood down to woodstove lengths. Guess that's an up side to all this. I went by another house near me with a totally collapsed porch. The high school just north of here that had the roof cave in can't open any time soon, it was just decided. A very old tree in my tiny town, probably was planted when the house was built (originally as a nunnery) over a hundred years ago, the tree is splinters now. The damage was a combination of the heaviest ever recorded snow, and rain that turned to ice that fell later. I think there must have been some shortcuts taken by the company that did the remodel on the high school, it was nearly new and this should not have happened. It's all rain now and the snow is giving way to grass and mud again. Hopefully the windstorm that's supposed to hit tomorrow won't bring down all the broken-but-dangling tree limbs in a bad way. Green is a dominant color year round here, it's like a familiar cloak that my state wears to every possible occasion. Our spring color is yellow, the color of the daffodils that are the first to insist that spring actually begin!
You don't paint a very pretty picture of your situation, CP. I also hope your winds won't do additional damage. Poor high school, without a roof. Heavy snow falls are always a security risk, especially if it's followed by rain before people have a chance to shovel their roofs and porches. Some cabin places in the mountains get so much snow the cabins are covered with it and look like white mounds, but they're built to take the weight. I hope you'll have the windstorms and rain for the rest of winter now. *hug*
