Snow Stories

Yesterday was time to clear snow around the house.

After the Snow

I took a few nice pictures of the House and the East Lot. Snow-covered fields look good. If you're curious, the snow covered-vehicle tracks at left are from the NVEnergy meter reader coming by between storms, while those at right are from Lisa's Small Orange Pickup and the utility trailer that was carrying the last load of firewood.

East Lot in the Snow

The birds took cover, but did return later in the day when I set out more birdseed.

Sidewalk Clearance

When the snow subsided the previous evening, I cleared the porch and the sidewalk that runs between it and the garage. I salted the concrete sidewalk to prevent if from icing. Lisa applied grit (Oil-Dry absorbent) to the porch and other wood surfaces to make them safer without destroying them the way salt would do.

Pending Clearance

I had left this section of sidewalk uncleared, which left the 6-10 cm accumulation to freeze overnight. This was an unfortunate decision by me that made my work harder, as chipping the icy snow away with the snow shovel is more of a hassle than moving it when it's still relatively powdery.

Front Sidewalk

However, I did eventually get it cleared, despite nearly slipping several times on the icy sidewalk. I put down salt here, of course. I'm close to running out and need to go buy another bag of the stuff.

Pre-Dawn Snow

I left the front yard to take care of itself. This is what it looked like early this morning.

Old Broom

I broke the heavy push broom while clearing wet, icy snow. I might be able to replace the handle if I can pry out the part the broke off inside the broom head.

New Broom

However, as Lowe's didn't have any replacement handles that looked to be the right type for the old head, I bought a new heavy-duty push broom to deal with the next storms.

The forecast is for another 1-2 cm of snow overnight, after which we should have a run of clear but cold days. It was very clear last night and the temperature went down to around -10°C. I know that's nothing for some of my friends, but it's cold enough for me.