I don't know whether to laugh or cry....

... but, seeing as we Canadians are supposed to be a tough lot....I better yank on the ol' boot straps.. hike up my britches and get one foot in front of the other...... waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh....I don't wanna!!

Of course, this happens every year about this time.... last year it was April 10....the year before I think it was June 5.... so.... this isn't too bad...........I guess. *pout*.......

It was raining last night so we knew darn well it would look like this when we got up.  It is barely 0C so this new 6 inches will melt quickly...but, the underlying 2 feet or so in most areas...won't be melting along with it.....not yet.  It's all frozen and crusty and icy under this new soggy stuff....

That Elmo...always so ready to help me measure snow.  You'd think as often as I've plopped his bum into freezing white stuff... it'd wipe that stupid smile off his face.

Before I even grabbed a shovel, I grabbed a broom and went out to rescue my poor juniper... knocking off the huge amounts of snow as it was bent straight over from the weight of the heavy wet stuff.

One of the lower branches was already in trouble from an earlier snow fall...it was on the ground nearest the wall.  With the snow off...you can see how far over and down it was pressed with all that weight.  Hope it stands up all the way once again some day.  A couple of the branches are probably going to have to be trimmed off.

I decided to take a walk around the block and see what else got crushed....and...sadly.... plenty.

OMGosh.... this...... well, this was the biggest Mugo Pine bush we have ever seen....and usually the branches are totally upright like raised hands and arms..... oh, dear..... squashed totally.... hope it recovers....

All of them were bent under the terrible weight of the snow....

This guy had the right idea.... shovelling would be a killer today.

Oh, oh........

I couldn't believe my eyes when I rounded the corner to our place..... my sidewalks were clean!!  Oh, thank you, thank you, Dan!!!  He was just crossing the road to the older lady that lives opposite us.  He hollered that he didn't want anybody having heart attacks and decided after doing his own ....he would just do the rest of us.  What a guy!   He's been shovelling our walks pretty regularly all the weeks we were away...and now... he's doing it again.  Says this winter he has used his snow blower more than any winter so far.  So much for global warming..... I still maintain that we are heading back into another ice age.

Even if it is a pain.... I do have to say....it does look beautiful.....

I especially love the look of the drooping or weeping type trees and shrubs....

A poor little robin..... wondering why he came back from Arizona or Mexico or wherever he went for the winter.  They always come home about 2 or 3 weeks too soon.  Just like us.  And...no worms out of the frozen ground yet.  I see them hopping around behind the sparrows and chickadees.  Probably trying to get the lowdown on what to eat before their own food source shows up.... much later now than ever I would guess. They probably lose a bit of weight before it gets nice enough to forage for the good stuff.  All this, after having to fly hundreds if not thousands of miles just to get here.  Not right.  Not right at all.

Well....now...I'm off to bake Dan some strawberry muffins.  He deserves them!  Maybe it's time to invest in a snowblower....even though I usually am happy to do it for the exercise..... or..... save the money to make a downpayment on a tiny house somewhere warm.... so I can follow those robins when they leave in October......