Thursday, February 27, 2014

Burrrrrr...

I'm hoping this is the last of this...


With this winter being as cold as it's been, I haven't even thought about doing any winter maintenance. I wish I had something at least remotely motorcycle related to share.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

A Little Bit of Winter's Beauty....

...in the aftermath of the latest blizzard.

I finished snow blowing today. The sky was clear and the sun was bright, but the wind was still blowing quite strongly. It made using the snow blower difficult.

The blowing snow has made some interesting patterns in the yard. I tried to photograph them, but between my lack of skill, and the limits of my camera, trying to capture the sand dune look of the snow was a challenge. Click on the pictures for a better view.....



I know that my snow blower just isn't big enough to handle the large snowfalls of the north woods. I happened to find this video posted on a forum I follow... Now this is a snow blower!!!!


Friday, February 21, 2014

Snowed In!!

Well, the last 24 hours have been fun! We had a good old fashioned winter blizzard! It started snowing around 4:00 p.m. yesterday and it has just stopped now. The wind was blowing hard all last night, and it continues to blow! It has made for some huge drifts! We lost power for a couple of hours but it was on before this morning.

I've started to blow the snow out of the driveway, but the wind is still too strong and it makes it tough. The plow has gone by and left a bit of a pile at the end of the driveway. This amount of snow is pushing the limits of my little 5.5HP 24" blower. I have to get something heavier for next winter!


I measured 14" in the middle of the driveway, and 32 at the street. But the best part is the blowing and drifting! The snow is almost up to the dining room window.

This is the back door of the garage. A few feet out it's waist deep...


Looking along the back of the house...


From the bay window in the dining room...


The view out the patio door...


We have no plans to go anywhere today and I'm taking my time at clearing the driveway. Nancy's making some chicken wild rice soup. The whole house smells great!

Not everyone has hunkered down for the day...


Before this latest round of snow, there was over 4' of snow on the edge of the driveway... Once I get it cleared out and it quits blowing, I'll have to measure it again...


Down the road...



Monday, February 17, 2014

Oh the Weather Outside is....

Delightful.... Welcome to Wisconsin where the weather is never boring and predictable, like Hawaii. Could you imagine living in a place with no weather challenges, no variation from the normal and consistent, yet boring, "perfect" weather? Yuck! Give me 4 seasons!

I'd like to say that we have a lot of snow in our area, but it pales in comparison to some places. last week, Nancy and I took a short road trip to Ironwood, MI. The Upper Peninsula (U.P.) area receives a ton more snow than us. They get huge "lake-effect" snows that can dump over 200" of snow in a season! The heavy snow in the U.P. should taper off soon, as Lake Superior is almost frozen over.

Here's a few shots from the yard this afternoon...


I only regret not getting gas for the snow blower before this latest round of winter delight!



I went to town and got some gas for the snow blower. It was a lot nicer today, Tuesday, than it was when I took the pics above!
By late afternoon the snow was melting and the temps were above 33!


The sun shine has warmed the wood piles and all the snow came sliding off!