Blizzard of February 8-9,2013

This snowstorm/blizzard was the first time in a long time. We were well prepared..lots of batteries, lanterns and flashlights, food.

Friday it snowed lightly all day long, a wet snow and it didn't accumulate much until suppertime. Then the snow fell faster and mounted up. We lost our power for about 20 minutes, but then thankfully the power came back on and stayed on thru the rest of the storm. The main roads were kept cleaned but the side/back roads were full of snowy ruts, downed wires, and trees. Many surrounding towns still have no power or phone service. Home temps inside were 40 degrees..not fun. Like I wrote..so thankful our power stayed on.

29 inches of snow

taken thru the kitchen storm door Saturday. As you can see the snow was very wet.

We did lose our phone service/internet/cable TV around 12:30 Friday night, and it only came back on at 8 this morning.

The snow was very wet and heavy so we did lose a couple of big branches from the trees in our yard. The snow was so high on the kitchen steps we couldn't open the door to get out. We did manage to get outside thru the kitchen slider, but before the storm ended I opened the slider and took pictures of the back yard.

We lost a big limb off of a tall spruce tree that we planted from a 6 inch seedling that my dad gave us in 1974.

 the broken limb..that made me sad

Tom's tomato cages covered in snow...waiting for spring and planting time

side yard

bird house covered in snow with icicles hanging from back deck. Lots of birds were at my feeders after I went out and knocked the ice that had coated all of them.

red breasted nuthatch on suet feeder

this snow covered hydrangea had leaf buds that had appeared in December from all of the crazy warm weather we had...frosted and frozen now.

couldn't open the kitchen door...so I opened a bedroom window and took some pictures of the front yard. Ice covered the front of the house.

mountain ash heavy and touching the ground from icy snow. I hang my bird feeders from this tree.

view from my window

normally I can walk without bending under the branches of the huge spruce tree in the front yard. The lowest branches were so heavy with icy snow they were touching the ground.

hope when all the icy snow is melted off the spruce will straighten back up.

leaning spruce

huge spruce in front yard is usually straight and tall, but with the weight of the snow the tree was leaning towards the street. Made me nervous that it would break or become uprooted.

branches from rose of sharon  in front of the picture window

                        another broken limb..pine tree

  bare branches of apple tree covered in icy snow. We lost a branch off this apple tree.

before our driveway got shoveled and plowed out. I tramped thru the snow to get to the bird feeders and sunk to my knees in snow...not fun

Monday morning...front yard

We had crazy weather...Friday wet snow thru late Saturday afternoon, Sunday was sunny, Monday (yesterday) it rained all day so there was some melting. Today (Tuesday) it is sunny again. This weekend they are predicting another 3-6 inches of snow. I will be so glad when spring comes, and I am so looking forward to going back to Florida in March.

Elaine

p.s....this afternoon was the first time I was able to get out. I tried driving to my parents on Sunday but I didn't get far...downed power and cable lines, and uprooted and huge broken trees were blocking roads.

After lunch I tried again and was able to get thru. I couldn't believe the number of uprooted and sheared off trees in some parts of Middleboro. My sister in law just got her power back late this afternoon. My parents still have no power, but are able to have heat and lights by running 2 generators.

uprooted pine trees. Most of the downed trees were huge pines. The heavy ice/snow and high winds was just too much for these old trees.

sheared off just a few of a huge flock of turkeys that were looking for food across from my parents. So hard on the animals with all the snow on the ground. There are usually 22 turkeys in this flock.