January 29, 2018 Snow & Grooming The Road

Ice & snow slipping off
back of wood shed roof.

MAX & the tree across the road.

On our way back up the road,
 JB:"Gateway to Heaven"

Friday 1/26. That wall of snow never did arrive today, except for a couple hours of very small, intermittent flakes during mid day.  JB drove MAX up and around the south ridge a couple times to make better paths.  I shoveled the path to the generator/battery shed, then cleared off the back of the wood shed roof from the ice so more snow could slide off.

After lunch JB used the tractor to clear in front of the house and by the vehicles.  I drove the snow blower up to the north ridge and back, then groomed the tractor ridges.  I also shoveled off the deck - very easy this winter with our new snow shovel.  We wanted to get this all done before the "big snow event" that is supposed to arrive about 10:00 pm tonight.

We finished season two of The Americans this evening.  Very good!

Saturday 1/27. It was 23 and snowing heavily when I got up at 8:00 am, but the snow quit falling just a few minutes later after leaving another 5-1/2".  It looked more like 7" or 8".

JB backed the snow blower out of the shop and somehow the tracks came off.  Couldn't get them back on, so I brought them inside to warm up and hopefully become more pliable.  Will try again tomorrow.  He used the tractor instead to clear out as much of the new snowfall as possible.  And I did a little shoveling.

Late in the morning the wind popped up as predicted.  It moved in at 23 mph and worked its way up to 38 mph for several hours, causing white-outs with snow off the trees.  Very nasty!  After lunch, JB insisted on driving MAX down to groom the road in the midst of it all.  About a mile down there was a tree across the road that he could not move by himself, so he came back up and baked some banana bread.

The wind continued until around 7:00 pm when it finally calmed.  No snow left on the trees by then.  Our high for the day was 37.  And it was a 3-egg day!

Forgot to mention that on Thursday I used the last of the wood in the fourth row and started on the fifth of seven.  Still plenty of fire wood left, especially considering what is on the porch.

This evening we started watching season 6 of Game of Thrones.  Love this series!

Sunday 1/28. It was 30 and we were fogged in this morning.  Received another 1/2" of snow overnight.  The Mission Ridge avalanche canon was booming, keeping the dogs inside.

After the morning walk, we drove MAX down the road to groom it and move the tree.  (Did not take the dogs.)  A very enjoyable drive.  Back home, JB drove up and around the south ridge to pack down the new snow.

The sun tried chasing the fog back down into the canyons and finally succeeded around 3:00 pm.  A very nice day with a high of 38.

Monday 1/29. It is a warm 38 this morning with overcast skies and fog lake lapping at the foot of the mountains.

Thought for the day: There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.  Roger Stauback