Wednesday, April 1, 2009

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

This is turning into a VERY strange snowstorm! We woke this morning to a total of somewhere around 14-16" of snow. According to Roy it's the heaviest snow he's ever shoveled. (And the guy has shoveled his share of snow in his lifetime thus far.) The snowstorm alert was extended to noon today, but now at nearly 1 p.m., it's still coming down. The unusual thing is that our (always-has-been-correct) thermometer is registering 36 degrees. And the snow keeps coming down gangbusters. Shouldn't it be falling as rain at 36 degrees?



Roy went next door early this morning to check on our neighbors who are due home today after being gone a week. (Welcome home . . . and surprise!)





The lump near the front right of the picture is a decorative post on their deck that stands at about my waist height. That proves the other peculiarity of this wet, heavy snow . . . we've had a lot of drifting with it. There has to be a good two feet of snow on their deck in front of the door.





When Roy was shoveling the path to our greenhouse door, he was a little worried the snow on the roof was going to make like an avalanche and bury him.






This ninebark hedge in front of the deck usually stands even with the top of the railing. The snow has had a considerable impact on it. Ooof.






The bird population is going crazy again this morning. There is a feeder both to the right and left of these two in the center and there were as many birds at each of them. Trying to count the frenetic little finches was a challenge but there must have been close to a hundred out there when I snapped this picture. Earlier I saw our pair of cardinals, a pair of Mourning Doves, some Blue Jays and one befuddled robin sitting in a birch tree. Can you spot the Mallard duck coming in for a landing to check out the seeds under the feeder on the post? We had two pair of them looking for goodies there earlier. One of the females was taking a snow bath which was fun to see.



Reports are that the snow on the ground is so heavy and compacted now from the super-saturated snow falling that it's almost impossible to plow. Too much, too heavy, too wet. Who would have guessed that most of the county would be snowbound on April Fool's Day?



2 comments:

RuthieJ said...

Oh Mama Pea, that really sucks! I saw on the Channel 4 (WCCO) news that Grand Portage had 16". Looks like you had at least that much too. I'm so sorry! That's a very cruel April Fools joke Mother Nature has played on the North Country!

Mama Pea said...

Thanks for the condolences, Ruthie! Roy spent ALL day today trying to move snow. It was unbelievable. The snow wouldn't roll off the plow but just built up and built up until it either pushed him off the roadway or stopped him cold. I had to pull him out with our Suburban three times and he guesstimates he shoveled himself out between 10 and 15 times. Is he tired tonight? Uh-huh.