We just got SLAMMED with our first Nor'easter of the winter. People couldn't even drive up the hill we're on, it was awful. Blizzard conditions for hours, with snow rates that must have hit 2 inches an hour. Down in Dover they only got 3.5 inches, but up here, of course, we got 2 FEET in places! Yikes!
I spent 4 hours shoveling heavy wet snow that did me in; I slept 10 hours that night and was still a hurtin' unit for a couple of days after.
All the fun actually started Friday afternoon 12/04/20 when Sue took The Beau Dog and me for a hike through the woods behind the house. She wanted to give him a really good walk because reports of snowfall for the upcoming storm kept getting worse.
Friday walk in the woods.
Neat view through the trees.
Because it had been so cold the night before, the frosty leaves crunched loudly under out boots as we worked our way through the bare trees and bushes.
It was a really nice treat for me because Sue took us way back over some hills I had never been to before, showing me where she had taken Beau snow shoeing last year.
Looks like that would be a lot of fun, and so — with the pending storm approaching — I figured it wouldn't be long before we'd have an adventure this year.
Little did I know that I wouldn't be taking that first explore with them because the two times they went out over the next few days I was either shoveling snow or recovering from shoveling show. I'll get out there at some point
Anyway, we topped of Friday night with me driving down to pick up a pizza for dinner. We sat in the living room with the wood stove going, and sipping some wine which we played a few sets of backgammon.
Saturday morning 12/05/20 we drove over to Neva Done Farm to get our Christmas tree.
It had been snowing a little most of the morning with only about a half an inch or so on the road when we headed out. It's only about a 20 minute drive to the farm, but even just half way the snow started coming down a little harder, and the roads became quite slick.
Amazingly, as we parked the car, there was only 1 tree left! And it was only the 5th of December! Because it was bitter cold, damp, and now snowing hard enough, the lot guy told me to make him an offer on the tree because he just wanted to close up and go inside!
Last tree at the farm! Notice that there's really not much snow on the ground. Just 10 minutes later, it was a whole different scene....
Sue got also picked out a wreath from inside the shed.
It was a great tree, and Sue also got a large wreath to hang on the front door. But driving home was not fun.
The snow was just awful, and the roads were so slick I was lucky to keep control of the car at 15 mph.
It was even a struggle getting up some of the hills. I joked with Sue as we started up our final steep incline to the house that wouldn't it be something to not be able to make the last 1,000 feet. Not so funny because a car way ahead of us was spinning its tires. If he got stuck, then I would be stuck....
Fortunately, he made it up past our house. I really put the press on for that final few hundred feet and got the car into the driveway. Sue and I scrambled to drag the tree through 4 inches of heavy snow, and into the house.
I tried to shake most of the snow and ice off the branches before it got through the door, but it soaked me by the time I stood the tree up into its stand. Fortunately, I had put down a large plastic sheet and so we just used towels to wipe up that water easily so it didn't get all over the floors, and drip through boards.
But we got the tree home, and inside the house.
Unfortunately, due to the huge storm, the tree sat bare for a week while we dealt with shoveling and clean up.
Picture not long after we got back home! Already 4 or 5 inches, and this thing is just getting started.
Sue took Beau out for a walk back through the woods, and all he wanted to do when she let him out was to roll around in the snow.
She got the wreath up on the barn, and it didn't take long for the snow to pile up on top of it.
And, she trooped through the drifts to get the front door wreath up before all of that area got snowed in. Really a beautiful wreath; she has such a good eye for stuff like this.
A final picture at dusk to compare with the one taken not that many hours before.
I got a fire going in the wood stove to warm things up, and by the time we settled down around 5:00 pm for a glass of wine and some backgammon, everything was nice and cozy inside. But outside was another thing. The wind just howled through the trees, and the snow came down like someone was shoveling it off of the roof.
Around 9:00 pm as we were watching a movie, a transformer just up the road from us disintegrated in a ball of fire. It lit up the living room like a searchlight. And then, right across the street from us, another one blew up as well. Everything went down for about 20 seconds or so until the generator kicked on. But there was no internet, land line, or cable tv.
We decided to just sit by the fire, and read for awhile before turning in for the night. I had called 911 as soon as the transformers blew, and it wasn't long before the police and fire departments arrived to secure the scene, and make sure there was no fire danger.
What a surprise greeted us when we got up Sunday morning!
The Beau Dog up to his chest in snow Sunday morning.
More comparative pictures showing how deep the snow got all around us.
If you look closely, you can see that the snow height is over the seat of our famous 'Snow Depth Chair'. The seat is 17 inches, and in some areas as I walked around raking the snow off of the roof, it was 24 inches. A lot of snow....
The Beau Dog returning from doing his 'bid-ness' out in the woods.
Just around 9:30 am Sunday, 4 electric company line trucks showed up, and we had power restored within about 30 minutes. Sue was texting back and forth with a couple of her friends, and New Durham had many trees down across roads, and lots of folks had lost power. The chief of police had issued a shelter in place request to keep folks off the roads so that emergency vehicles could get around.
Line crews replacing one of the blown transformers.
I'm just glad I'm inside.... It was really cold and windy outside where these guys had to work.
The company that does my plowing had been through the top of the storm about 3:00 am and had done a preliminary sweep of the area. While I was out raking 16 inches of snow off the edges of our roof, they came back and did another pass to clear out another 5 inches that had fallen overnight. What a mess.
After 4 hours of that, I threw a flag on the field, and limped inside. After changing into dry clothes, I collapsed onto the sofa and slept for an hour. Tough getting up, but it was just starting to fade to dusk, and I wanted to get some late day pictures of the storm.
Another view a day later of our famous 'Snow Depth Chair'
Backyard up to the screen house by the tree line.
We're sure to lose some of those heavy snow laden branches.
View out toward the road.
After getting a fire going in the wood stove, I opened a bottle of Josh Cabernet for Sue and I to sip on while we played some backgammon before getting the dinner in the oven — just a simple Tuscan herb pork roast with baked potatoes and pickled beets.
Nice and relaxing dinner after a pretty brutal day of shoveling.
We woke up Monday morning 12/07/20 to bright skies!
The day after, though beautiful, came with hours of more shoveling.
Dusk settling over a long Monday.