Snowpocalypse 2: Electric Boogaloo

[greatbear]

Today was partially spent digging out of over 2 feet of Mother Nature's dandruff. This just might be a record setting snowfall for the area. It was not easy getting started, as Jeff and I shoveled and trudged our way around to get to the firewood and all the way to the garage, where I keep By-Tor the Snowblower. Kodi, despite is small Poweranian stature, loved the snow, despite how deep it is. It was fun dropping him into the deep stuff, with a muted "foop" he would vanish, then start jumping up trying to plow his way through. He would follow us in our footsteps as good as he could, enjoying every minute of it all. We were all dug out after a couple hours work. There was one casualty so far due to the snow, one of my 40ft blue spruces toppled to the ground from the lopsided weight. I expect a lot of broken branches and ruined shrubs as well. but the stuff is too deep. We tried our best to dig out or unburden some of the trees and shrubs, but this snowfall is going to be too much for some of the trees to handle.

Snow for me is almost always beautiful, interesting and fun. Here's my one lamp post doing it's best Marge Simpson imitation:




We have to dig out manully at first, to get to the firewood and to get all the way to the garage (over 300 feet from the front door) to get By-Tor the Snowblower. Kodi can't wait to help either.




This is almost too easy, which is just what I need these days with the bad joints and other ailments.



About an hour after this picture was taken, this tree toppled to the ground. This upset me, since I 'rescued' these trees from the overgrown, weed and vine infested lot back in '85. Seeing this tree leaning over like it was, along with several others in the yard, had me worried that they might come down. We watched this one come down in a white cloud of snow.



This is my front yard, standing at the end of the driveways. There's a house in there somewhere.




The whole set can be seen on Flickr.

Not all of the day was spent frolicking in the white stuff. I fitted a new heatsink to a (yet another) new PC build and did some overclocking action, plus took a nap. The latter was needed since an electrical surge scrambled the alarm clock/radio, blasting us with the local classical music station and leaving us unable to shut it off. Turning down the volume fixed it for the time being, the next little power failure reset it to working normally. At least we kept the power through the whole event.

Tomorrow will be a little bit more digging out and cleaning of vehicles, and, hopefully, the street will be cleared as well. I also got a bit of work I want to do in the attic for the support of plumbing vent pipes in preparation of the new roof this spring. It's always something, being a homeowner.

Comments

[erstexman.livejournal.com]

I used to love snow too. I grew up in it in Western NC and spent my childhood into my early adulthood playing in it. However, the blizzard of 1993 dumped 4 feet in the Boone, NC area and there were drifts from the strong winds that grew up to 30'. My cabin was half covered in it and a generous neighbor with a front end loader dug me out enough so I could get in and out again.

I weathered that storm in town though since my cabin did not have electric heat and I was afraid that there would not be enough wood to make it through the storm if it got any worse than was expected (12-15 inches of snow). 4 feet was MUCH worse than expected and I was trapped in town nearly the entire week.

In a nutshell, that is the reason I moved to nearly snowless Texas...

[redmoonriver.livejournal.com]

Kinda strange to realize that tree was 25 years old. And that, for a tree, that's relatively young. *HUGS*

[ricksf.livejournal.com]

Gad, pictures like these remind me of why I left the snowbelt on the East Coast. My arms still ache from shoveling and my toes are still frozen. And it's been over 15 years!

Glad you all made it with minimal disruption to house and home!

[jacked01.livejournal.com]

Oh I so hate you right now and your huge snow blower!!

[kjvbear.livejournal.com]

thats alot of snow there big guy.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Looking at the photos, I'm just glad that you were well-prepared and had the manpower to clear what you needed to clear. The snow in such volume can be so beautiful, but it is sad that you lost the blue spruce. We had blue spruce in PA when I was a child and they are beautiful; southeast Texas, where I grew up is a climate that can't support them. Fingers crossed that you don't lost any more trees! We're supposed to get about 18" of snow here in Minneapolis in the next three days ... We'll see ... Right now, I'm looking out the window and the world is snow white, but the sun is shining.

HUGS!

[jrjarrett.livejournal.com]

Wow, Phil, you can really blow.....some snow.

[budmassey.livejournal.com]

You should have put pearls on the lampost.

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

Oof. I don't really miss snow like that. I'll take my nice, sunny desert weather, thanks.

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

Damn, that's a lot of snow!

I'm very sorry about your tree. It's always sad to lose a friend.
I love trees, myself. I hate it when something bad happens to
them.

At least that snowblower made cleaning up the snow much easier than it would have been without.

I have yet to get my snowblower out and clean my driveway and sidewalk,
but I will do that this afternoon.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Some very interesting shots there Phil.

It's so pretty when everything is covered in the white stuff but man the hassles.

Looked like you and Jeff did well getting things so you can get out and about if necessary.

[restoman.livejournal.com]

Great photos, Phil!! I looked at the whole set.

I'm glad you were so well prepared to deal with the onslaught. Sorry to hear about the loss of the Blue Spruce.

I will be getting a first-hand look at Snowpocalypse tomorrow when I drive to Northern Virginia ~ assuming I don't wind up buried in a snowdrift in Pennsylvania!

BTW, I love your Walken in a winter wonderland icon!! LOL

[beastbriskett.livejournal.com]

Whoa-- you guys are enveloped!
Sorry about your trees. Hard to see something you invested time and effort into taken down. Such power in that insubstantial powder!
Stay warm!