Digging Out Again And Again

Ever have one of those things that keeps repeating over and over again, drivng you nuts? Like a song you can't get out of your head? Anyone remember "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood"? Or perhaps the Barney theme song? Or any other preschool ditty that just popped in to your head? Or how about a commercial that lacks intelligence and yet you can't get it out of your mind? Or some activity that you must do over and over again even though it just may drive you slowly crazy? Or perhaps someone who just keeps following you around when you want some privacy? Yeah. Me, too. And my nemesis is snow. It just won't stop. It keeps coming, and coming. In spurts from a spit to a foot or more. And then more comes the next day. And so on, and so on. You just can't get away from it here.

Here's a picture of the tree in front of the house a few weeks ago. Pretty, isn't it?

And our bush by the driveway fence. I just liked it at that moment. Of course it was the beginning of days of snow so I was feeling generous.


Here is Laura's climber on the back deck. She was amazed with how much snow it held. Little did she know it was only the beginning.


Jonathan went out that afternoon to help the men shovel.


Matthew started on one side of the driveway.


And Don the other.


He worked his way down and around


And here's the whole, beautiful mess before we started to dig out.


It was a beautiful snowfall. And I enjoyed it, if only for a moment. Soon another inch or two joined it. And then even more. And more. It just kept snowing. It snowed so much that January was the second snowiest month ever here. As in all of recorded weather history. Oh goody.

But soon it warmed up. We had two whole days of above freezing temps and sunshine! The snow melted off the roof, the icicles dripped themselves almost dry, and the streets and driveways that had been shoveled and plowed dried up leaving them very passable once again. And all of the snow piled up everywhere started turning that lovely shade of brown. It actually seemed like spring might be early this year. Perhaps Puxatawney Phil knew something we didn't. Perhaps we might dodge the bullet this year! After all, we'd already hit our average snowfall amounts for the whole season and we were only halfway through it.

Alas, it was not to be. Two nights ago and just as the new month got under way, a storm that was only supposed to drop a few inches in a general snow fall hit a newly melted spot over the lake in its way in and picked up steam. Lots of it. Before it ended, this little 'clipper' would drop over a foot of light, crisp snow on a few select counties in the area referred to as the secondary snow belt. Trust me, anything that has the words 'snow belt' in it can't be good. Apparently winter isn't done. Spring isn't near. We are only halfway done. And here's all the evidence you need:

Here's a view from the front porch. The bushes are buried!


And a view from the other side of the bushes. The bench is buried and the windmill is getting close!

The poor bushes! I'm not sure they'll recover completely. But then I feel that way every winter yet they stand majestic once again every spring.


And here's the boys sledding hill they made after the last snowfall and used again last night.

And the mound by the mailbox is growing...

Here it is from the other side. Our poor mailbox. It may get swallowed before long.

And here is Laura's climber and the snow piled up on the deck. Even I was amazed at how much there was.


And our house this morning. You'll note that we have yet to clear the sidewalks. We'll get to that soon. Or it will melt off all by itself. Yeah, that's it. It will melt. Someday soon. Really. Even here. :)