Thursday, November 18, 2010

It's officially winter..

For me it always begins with cold weather and snow... and it has been snowing since Monday.  And... it is cold. ( -15C right now.)

It began innocently enough.... a few inches of heavy wet stuff ... pretty on the red branches of the barberry ... still plenty of colour on them because we have had such a nice long autumn.















I love how they droop so gracefully under the weight...


















The spirea also still have plenty of colourful leaves...





























I shovelled for over an hour... ooooh.... heavy and wet and it was sticking to my scoop... I almost threw my arms out of the sockets with every scoopful. We have a long expanse of city sidewalk because we live on a corner lot... and I got fed up with that half way up the side of the house.
I was resting on the shovel handle, grinning at a huge flock of geese trading places in their formation as they flew over .... ... I love the geese.  They were honking away and doing all sorts of weird maneuvers and then, all of a sudden, they were in a perfect V.
 I was thinking how clever they were.

And... all of a sudden.. I, too, had a bright idea and thought how clever was I !  Marched myself straight back to the garage and found some silicone spray.  Sprayed it all over the scoop shovel and went back out there.  It worked like a charm!  Snow slid right off every time instead of clinging to it.  Whew.... that made things a lot easier.  When it is wet like that it is the worst to shovel...it sticks in huge blobs and is just too heavy to shove or to throw.  It's also the worst to drive on.  It fills the cleats of the best winter tires and makes it like driving on slicks.... there were hundreds of driving accidents in the past few days. And..it's still snowing..... my van is sitting in the driveway covered in snow...and it can just stay there.  It doesn't get around well enough to chance it.  If I need to shop or have an appointment...I'll just wait til Greg gets home.. and use the 4 wheel drive ....



















Yesterday... it was this deep.  The squirrel who buried his peanuts in this pot will be tunneling through about 8 inches of snow to find his stash..if he remembers where he put it.  Personally, I think it is just instinct for them and they immediately forget where they put things. I'll be digging up peanuts in the spring when I turn over the dirt before planting my pots.

Elmo decided we could measure .... and, apparently it's only 7 inches...

my calibrated eyeball was off by an inch...



















....as soon as I finish my second coffee....I'll be out there...shovelling.












































... ...... ..... Jingles Bells anyone? ..... Now I'm thinking my Christmas Cactus knew exactly what time of year it is....no wonder it bloomed.

16 comments:

Judi W. said...

the only saving grace for winter .. it is beautiful!

Anonymous said...

It looks very pretty ..... but I hope we don't get another winter like last year! Can you not get groceries delivered - our major supermarkets now all offer online shopping, delivered to your door!

Dolores said...

Mine is blooming early too and my friend has several with tons of blooms. We, however, have rain. High of 10 yesterday and 6 today. Oh well, one day the white stuff will come. Sorry to hear yours is the wet heavy stuff. Good idea that silicone spray - must get some in preparation...

Serena Lewis said...

Such pretty pictures, Vee! I'm not liking the idea of the snow-shovelling though...did enough of that in Wyoming. lol Instead, I have sweltering, unbearable hot and humid temperatures to look forward to over the next few months. Admittedly, it's been a mild spring whereas we're usually sweating out the heat by now so I hope that's a sign we will have a mild summer too.

Jennifer Rose said...

don't miss that at all ;p very pretty tho!

julietk said...

Clever you with your silicone spray :-) Lovely to look at but not so lovely to shovel.
Come and join my giveaway for fun after your hard work, sorry couldnt resist the plug.

Abi said...

Snow? Oh my god! I think we got a couple of days in Texas last year... wonder if Oklahoma will beat it this year!!!

Maria Vaz said...

Hello lovely, I´m back! Sorry I missed so many of your wonderful posts ... they are always a great read. Great pics on this post ... beautiful ... winter wonderland! Keep warm and be gentle with yourself ... don´t over shovel (even though it has to be done). How is your hand doing? Miss ya! Hugs.

Shashi Nayagam said...

It all looks lovely especially on those red berries. The weather men here are saying we could have some by the end of next week. We may not get it as we are too far inland but the East coast is likely to get it if we are going to get the cold blast from Sweden

Draffin Bears said...

Hi Vee,

Your snow pictures are so lovely, but must be a hard job shovelling all the snow. I laughed at sweet Elmo on the job!
When I was in Saskatchewan, I remember seeing the geese heading down South for warmer parts.
The sky was black and the formation and the loud honking noise was amazing.

Happy weekend and stay warm
Hugs
Carolyn

Sue said...

So pretty.....but yeah, that wet heavy stuff is not human-friendly.

Smart thinking on the silicone!

Hoping that your weekend is snowfree!

Hugs

Gretel said...

Sweet Lord above!!! I am shuddering just looking at this - I'm assuming this is normal for your part of the world (over here snow this thick would be a national emergency). Just you be careful of wrists and ankles!

(BTW, the vintage postcards on my blog were rescued from a job lot in an antique stall, I hunted for more but could only find the three)

JudiA said...

No, no, no... it's too SOON for winter. Fortunately we don't get much snow, but I can do without the cold as well. brrrrr...! Lovely photos though. Love your new header too!

Norma Soulet (AZArtist) said...

Hi Vee,
Wow love the lovely photos of all the snow. Yes, your Christmas Cactus knew exactly when it had to bloom! LOL
I have been very busy but hopefully soon I will upload something to my blog.
Hugs

Unknown said...

I like snow, cute photos ;)

Louise said...

Lovely photos. Winter has arrived here too. It is very unusual for such early snowfall over here in the UK. Trouble is, everything in this country grinds to a standstill. Supplies are not reaching the shops, and would you believe no milk today and definite evidence of panic buying. Madness!

PS. I like how sweet Tucker sits in your sidebar!