White Friday

 The west wind howled all throughout Wednesday night and shifted to the north by daybreak.  Thanksgiving morning we awoke to only a light dusting of snow and then around 7am the Lake Effect Snow Machine turned on like flipping a switch.  It snowed all day and then blew all night.  It is still blowing a gale and snowing on and off.  We have at least a foot of snow.  It's hard to tell with the wind blowing everything around, but everywhere we walk the snow is "tall boot depth."

My husband took a pass at the driveways with the tractor and then went for his morning walk.  He returned with such a bad road report that I traded my four mile walk for half an hour of shoveling before breakfast.  It wasn't particularly pleasant as the weather continues to be awful.  I don't mind digging out when the sun is shining, but you have to stay on top of things.

I shoveled the walkway to the neighbor's and a path to my compost.  Then I checked on the Strawberry cages.  The 1/2" hardware cloth blocks a lot of snow and that means that sometimes the bed itself is bare when the temperatures are freezing.  That doesn't seem to bother the plants much, but last year the wooden frames that the hoops sit on heaved right out of the ground.  They needed the insulation of the snow to keep the ground from freezing and expanding.  I did not enjoy digging them back in and leveling everything, so this year I vow to stay on top of snow distribution.  I knocked as much of it as I could down into the bed.

My husband suggested removing the hoops for the winter, but if the deer or rabbits find those green strawberry leaves they will eat them right down to the roots or at least dig around enough to damage them.  That's one reason why we needed the cages to begin with.

I also shoveled off the Cold Frame to keep the weight of the snow from sagging the polycarbonate panels and found some of the walkways and steps around the garden shed.  We try to keep the doorways clear because the snow melting on the threshhold tends to rot the wood.  

My husband has already repaired this door several times in the last fifteen years and this past spring he put in a new threshold and painted everything up nice.   One year this corner heaved badly enough that the doorknob wouldn't unlock and turn.  We had a bugger of a time getting in to get the tools we needed, so now digging out garden shed doors is on the regular snow removal list.

See those light, blurry streaks against the brown of the door?  That is sleety snow blowing and stinging my face.  Brrr!  I also took the opportunity to get the old runner sled out of the shed and stick it into the snowbank next to the house.  I ordered a box of greenery that should be here on Monday and I can start making wreaths and decorating.

Last year's wreath

In my heart our entryway is always sumptuously decorated for Christmas...

But what would be the point?  It would all be buried in snow anyway.  There isn't any expensive, well thought out or AI generated decor that says Christmas spirit more plainly than a big ole snowbank on your front steps.