Hi Erika- It's 15 here today. No wind chill as the wind is 3 mph. I need to mail a package at the PO. There is a way to do even that from home but I am not set up to do it. We do have door to door mail delivery M-Sat but they are threatening to take Saturdays away.

I put a cinnamon stick in a half gallon of cider yesterday to warm DH2B when he got home. Delish.

Did you say 2-3 FT! Oh my!!!
ANN

Yes, 2-3 feet by Sunday night. That's lousy timing for those who want to travel around here for the holidays, or for those who have folks coming to visit from elsewhere. We're used to that sort of thing here, but when folks come up from the south, their vehicle tires are often all-season radials instead of heavy studded ones, the treads on the all-season ones fill up with snow in a flash and...voila: into the ditch you go :eek:.

My friend's husband is ready to go plowing again and I'm hoping that I'll be able to in a couple of days, but right now the body isn't cooperating.

With love, Erika

In the 50s for the next couple of days and then back to the 30s for Christmas.
Not expecting any snow?? That means we'll probably be knee deep for
Christmas..LOL.

It's warming up here. In the high 50's today and tomorrow then the 60's for the weekend but rain is expected then, too. 50's by Christmas. No snow and no freezing temps.....I'll take it! :)

Here, they are calling for 56 for Sun. and dropping to a high of 28 on Monday:eek:
Just to remind us that this IS Ohio's winter.http://home.earthlink.net/%7Esal.pal...res/fing17.gif :D

The snow really started coming down yesterday afternoon and there is nearly half a foot of fresh stuff on top of what was already there now...and its still snowing.

The main part of the storm is due to hit by mid-day today and by the time it blows over on Saturday, we're supposed to have around 18 inches of new stuff. That's better than the 2-3 feet that they had predicted, but its still quite a bit for one dumping, even for here.
At least it isn't bitterly cold out; only 28 F, so quite pleasant.

We'll have more snow off and on over the next few days and then another storm coming in on the 27th.
Ah yes, it is definitely winter in the great white north :winky:.

With love, Erika

It's like Spring here. I just counted 12 Robin's in my backyard! :)

Erika, I forget what part of Canada you're in but I think Iowa is in line for your storm. Only expecting 4-7", thankfully, with temps only a little lower than yours.

And Kitty, when it isn't snowing we have confused Robins here. Last winter a few stayed all winter but we had very little snow. There were just a few Robins here a few days ago.

I'm in the north-central part of B.C. (Pacific side of the country), so it is quite likely that Iowa will see some of the storm. A friend from Washington state said that they even got snow in Seattle yesterday, which is fairly rare.

The snow has stopped now but is supposed to start up again tomorrow. I did get out in the plow truck yesterday a bit, and managed just fine, so between my friend and I we got most folks plowed out. I had to do one lady's place because she was due to run out of insulin by this morning and needed to get to her doctor's office for the script renewal and to the pharmacy.

There are a few more to do today, but we had to wait until the roads into their places got plowed out, which hadn't been done until late last night. Either he or I will get them done today.


The only birds that stick around here other than pigeons, doves, crows, ravens, hawks and owls in the winter, are wood peckers, some northern jays (Whiskey Jacks), Juncos, Chickadees, some inland gulls and a few types of northern finches.

Although a lot of folks consider them to be pests and don't like them, I do, and also feel sorry for them when snow prevents them from finding food on the ground. So I feed the pigeons, doves, crows and ravens, with cracked corn, wheat and dog kibble in the winter. When it is really cold out, I get them fat trimmings from the butcher.
Every morning and afternoon they come and sit on the electrical wires, on the roof of my garage and in the trees around my yard, waiting for me to clear the snow in my driveway and scatter their food.
My goodness...what a racket those crows can make when they see me clearing the snow from the feeding area in my driveway.

The crows are especially smart and know both me and my truck. I've had them caw at me when I am miles from home because they follow my truck. They've even landed on my truck when it is parked elsewhere in town and a couple of times they've left a kibble or two on the windshield well below the wiper blade, probably as a hint that they would like some more :D

Over the years, I've taken in a couple of them with damaged wings, nursed them back to health and released them, so I think that the rest of the flock somehow knows that I am not going to harm them.

With love, Erika

We actually had a day yesterday without much snow falling, so most folks were able to get caught up with their snow shoveling and clearing. Today we should only get a few inches but we've had around 3 feet in the last week. Now it is supposed to start snowing in a big way again on Christmas Eve night and right on through all of Christmas Day.

That is not good news because a lot of people will be driving around to go to church on the 24th for mid-night mass and then to go visiting on the 25th. Other than the main highway crews, who will be working, all of the other roads will not get cleared because of the holiday, making for dangerous road conditions.
I expect that I'll be out with the plow truck on Christmas day to plow people out and probably to do some of the roads as well.

I love my dog Willy :). His protectiveness really came through last night while I was in bed sleeping. I got woken up at 1:00 AM by him licking my face. Once I got my bearings a bit, I realized that he had positioned himself so that his body was over my head. He had his front feet on one side and his back feet on the other, and was licking my face between his front paws.
He does that when he is concerned for my safety.

"OK Bud" I said as I pushed his head away from mine. I listened for some tell-tale noise, but all was quiet. "What's the matter?" I asked as I maneuvered to sit up. He was moving aside just then, but then changed his mind, knocked me back down, and was over me again, this time almost smothering me by crouching over my head. Bear in mind that Willy is a big retriever-type dog and weighs around 80 pounds.

Then I heard it too. A large rumbling noise from above, that certainly wasn't Santa & his sleigh on the roof, but sure sounded like it...and then some. The bedroom window by my bed rattled and then the whole house creaked. Willy snuggled down harder.
"Off!" I said, and he immediately obliged, but then snuggled into my side and put his head and a paw over my my chest to hold me down.
"Good boy. Go check it out", and he was instantly off the bed and heading out of the bedroom to do just that. Another rumble came from above and he was back just as fast as he had left, and on the bed again.

Then it gave way, and amidst creaking and groaning from the roof, an avalanche of snow cascaded off of it and piled up outside the bedroom window. Willy growled as it came down and then I laughed and patted him. "Wow, that sounded like the whole lot came down in one fell swoop, didn't it Bud?" Reassured by my laugh, he wagged his tail and licked my face. As I started to get up to go have a look, the opposite side of the roof let go of it's snow in the same rumble, creak and groan fashion.

"Well..that should be about it Bud. Let's go have a look."
I let Willy out the back door while I donned boots and my coat. Although I already knew that all was probably OK, I also knew that Willy wouldn't settle down until we both had checked it.
My suspicions were correct. First the south side of the peaked metal roof had cleared itself completely of snow, and then the north side had. The house is now flanked on both sides by 4 to 5 foot high compressed snow piles that reach up to the bottoms of the window frames in places; including the one that is in my bedroom.

Cool. Willy now has a quick exit and entry through the bedroom window into the garden area:D
He hasn't been able to get into that area of the yard because the snow that has fallen is too deep to open the gates. Of course once we were back in the house, I opened the bedroom window so he could try his new portal, which he did...retuning exuberantly and thoroughly snow covered onto my bed, which is directly under the window.

This is going to be a very interesting, but also very fun winter for both of us. Now I can toss Willy's ball out the bedroom window into the deep snow of the garden when ever both of us need a few kicks :winky:.

With love, Erika