This is the first time since I moved to NY that my parents in MA have more snow on the ground than we do. But that doesn’t mean we’re slacking here. We’re just over average snowfall, and since we’ve not had a single (normal) thaw since the snowfall started its almost all still on the ground too.
Looks so pretty and peaceful doesn’t it…..Well, here’s a photo, taken of the same spot, back on 2-2-15:
Those orange things are the tops of 5gallon Home Depot buckets that mark out my garden patch there (so we can keep the dogs off it in the winter). Now go back and look at the first picture again.
Yah.
There’s a reason all that snow is unbroken and smooth. Its pushing 3ft deep. Might even be over the 3ft mark at this point actually. Its hard to be sure since the wind scours the surface constantly. The drifts are insane.
And COLD. Did I mention COLD?? Syracuse, the closest major city to me, has broken several cold temp records this winter. Last Saturday morning the temperature between midnight and 1am dropped to -16(F) before windchill. And oh yes, there was windchill. Most days the windchill is dropping the “feels like” temperature at least 20 degrees, and we’ve had drops of up to 40 thanks to the “breeze”. Its so bad that EVERYONE has ice dams and icicles on their houses this winter. No matter how well its constructed or what its made of. Even the steepest of metal roofs can’t shed their loads properly when its this cold. The local stores can’t keep roof rakes and the Roof Melt tablets in stock, and folks are out on ladders with hammers and chisels trying to keep the ice on their roofs down.
Even Apollo thinks thats cold. He still wants to go out in it mind, but instead of wanting to stay out he doesn’t argue when we tell him its time to come in either.
Which doesn’t stop him from lounging in the snow when we let him:
Poor Arty disappears completely when he tries to hop into the snow, and I’m pretty sure he frostbit one of his feet last weekend (we’re keeping an eye on it). I have booties for him, but they don’t fit well and he really doesn’t care for them, kicks them off almost as soon as he’s out the door.
The wildlife is suffering for it too. Mind, I’m not complaining, to much, since it means that the insect and rodent populations shouldn’t be as bad come spring. But the local birds are clearing my feeders (2 of which hold about 5lbs of seed apiece) in less than 2 days at this point. We had an American Tree Sparrow strike a window and not pick up and recover like normal (considering it was barely above zero I’m surprised ANY of them pick up and recover honestly), so I took it down to the local wildlife rehabber, who said that she’s got lots like him that she’s waiting for a warm spell to release. This winter has been hard on us all.
In slightly more cheerful news my tomatoes and jalapenos have all sprouted though!
