A brief interruption for SNOW!

Saturday, February 9, 2019

Hi everyone. Yes I know we’re right in the middle of the October/November camping trip to Sequim (“skwim”). But here at home in February real time it has been snowing and it’s so pretty! I want to take a break from the Sequim story-line and share a few snow photos with you.

Sure, some of you have way more snow than we’re having right now in Tacoma, WA. But this is exciting for us. Maybe we are easily excited. 🙂 Ordinarily, we get 1 inch or maybe 2 inches of snow in any one given year … sometimes we get none, no snow at all.

The weather report called for “snow” overnight. I expected 1-2 inches. When I opened my front door this morning to see whether my truck had any snow on it or not, this is what I found …

Holy smokes, that’s more than an inch or two!

I had lifted the wiper blades off the glass windshield so they wouldn’t freeze onto the glass. Pretty cool how they now looked like a pair of white sails.

And yes, I know that some folks say you should NOT pull your wiper blades off the glass. If it’s windy, then the wind can vibrate the arms enough to damage the splines and/or even break the arm such that the entire assembly hits the windshield and cracks the glass. But there was no wind predicted so I felt safe doing this.

With ruler in hand, I measured 9 inches of snow on top of my recycle bin … and that was with the recycle bin in a protected corner … nine inches!

 

My home and my VERY white truck. 🙂

The snow on my mailbox reminded me of a old-fashioned hair-do, either women’s hair fashion from the 1950s or maybe a British judge’s wig. To be kind to the person delivering my mail, I did brush the snow off of my mailbox after I took the photo above.

Above … the view down my street.

Above … my snow boot and lower leg on one step through the snow. There was at least an inch of packed snow under my boots after each step. I certainly didn’t need them, but the thought crossed my mind to get out my snowshoes and keep them handy.

Around to the back of the house … this is my back storage shed, and back patio, and large back deck.

The trees above are just a portion of the trees that grow completely along my back fence. You can see the full spread of them in a couple of the photos above. I get to enjoy this view from my dining and living room windows.

The three lots on the far side of that fence are considered “wetlands” or at least “protected” so nothing will ever be built there. If you look really closely, you can see the nearest house behind me. It’s just below the lowest branches and has dark green gables. Yes, the fence needs a little work, but that’s on the list for a warmer day.

They say more snow is coming tomorrow and/or Monday and/or Tuesday. That’s just fine with me. My pantry is fully stocked. I have books and videos galore from the library. And I have snowshoes … let it snow!

 

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12 Responses to A brief interruption for SNOW!

  1. Nevada says:

    Wow, thank you! Where I live in Nevada we never get snow. My neighbor and I were just talking about that this afternoon. So nice for me to enjoy your snow and not have to shovel it or drive in it. Your right, it is pretty. Thanks! Nice house too by the way.

    • Ann says:

      Thanks Nevada. Speaking of shoveling snow, I just moved to this little house and put most of my garage stuff in a PODS unit for the move. Thinking there would be, as usual, little or no snow hereabouts, my snow shovel was packed away in the bowels of that PODS unit which is itself, in turn, stored indoors somewhere in North America. No snow shoveling for me and I’m ok with that!

  2. Ginger D says:

    Wow, you did get some snow. I think it’s beautiful to look at from inside the house. Lol.
    Good that you are prepared with enough food and good books.

    • Ann says:

      Isn’t the snow lovely? It’s so clean and white and crisp. Especially, as you say Ginger, from inside the house! 🙂 Though the crunch of snow underfoot is nice too, as long as one has good footgear on.

  3. Wow, that’s a lot of snow, even to a Michigander!

    • Ann says:

      Really? I figured you’d tell us how many FEET of snow you have Dawn. I suppose it matters which part of Michigan one lives in, just like it matters which part of Washington state one lives in. Thank you for “Michigander” … I’ve never known what folks from that state are called. I like that name.

  4. robin says:

    On top of a great tour of your new surroundings, I learned that it isn’t necessarily a smart plan about lifting up your windshield wipers overnight! Last year in January we had two ice storms that literally covered our vehicles with an 1″ of solid, crystal clear ice. A lovely sight to behold, and yes, our wipers were literally glued in place, but no car doors could be unlocked (nor opened for that matter!) for several days. I think I prefer a snowstorm. Three cheers for snowshoes and a stocked pantry and some a good book and perhaps a quilt to snuggle under……

    • Ann says:

      Ah, here’s the trick … heat a tea kettle full of water, not all the way to boiling, but pretty darned warm, and then pour that water very slowly over the door handle/lock and into the hinge crack and pour that water into the crack where the door latch is too. It might take 2 or 3 kettles of water, but you’ll be in the vehicle is just a matter of minutes. I know folks who use a hair dryer, but if that gets too hot and too close to the paint, it can do damage. Water that’s good and warm will do the trick. But watch out underfoot when the water you’ve poured then later freezes on the pavement.

      I always park off-center to the left when I know it’s going to snow, so I can then move the truck to the right and have a clear, dry spot to walk in even if I’ve had to pour water on the door to get in. When I’m done with that one use of the truck, then I park it over to the left again to cover the clear, dry spot with the body of the truck again.

      Also, you can take a mix of warm water and antifreeze (don’t heat antifreeze on the stove, just use water that’s already warmed up), and pour that 50/50 mixture over your iced up windshield. That might take a little longer that the door/hinge trick above, but it will thaw out that windshield. In the fall, some folks put a bit of antifreeze in their windshield wiper fluid just for this reason.

      Isn’t winter fun? 🙂 Especially with a great quilt to snuggle under!

  5. Kristin Michael says:

    I love the trees around your house. I agree, this snow has created some unexpected leisure time and lovely scenery. Enjoy!

    • Ann says:

      Snow storms are great for leisure time, aren’t they. What can one do but sit and read a good book and look out the window? It’s the sort of life that I could get used to quite easily, even without the snow. 🙂

      One of the books I’m reading right now is “The Private World of Tasha Tudor”. I’m not sure she sits still for a moment but her love of her home and garden, the birds and her Corgis, is so deep and delightful. And the photography is exquisite. It’s not a long book, but it may have a long-lasting effect on me.

  6. Love the pictures but don’t miss the Salt damage to our Vehicles.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It’s about time.

    • Ann says:

      Good point. I have friends who live out near the ocean coast, and friends who live in mountainous areas, both talk about the damage from salt … either the salty ocean air or the use of salt additive to road de-icing products. The nice thing about where I live is that our snow doesn’t usually last long because the temperature usually warms up and so the snow melts within a day or two, so there’s not much salt used. This year, however, we’re expecting it to stay cold for many days. When I was a FedEx truck mechanic, some FedEx locations stocked their delivery trucks with a bag of sand/de-icer mixture that the driver could sprinkle under their tires if they got stuck somewhere … even back then there were lots of brands of commercial de-icer that didn’t have salt. But yes, drive along the ocean coast and look at the older cars and trucks with holes in their side panels … swiss cheese! 🙂

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