Blizzard Aftermath

It's officially over - for now. My area got 13" of snow. But the winds have not abated, so I'm getting a lot of blow-off from my neighbors and my drifts are getting bigger and bigger, arggghhh! Roads are being cleared - not mine yet, so I won't even bother to start shoveling the front driveway until the plows have been through again. I'll start on the deck. The bluejays showed up about 30 minutes ago, I threw some peanuts out for them and "called" them in my croaky "jay" voice and they came right away, diving for the peanuts in the snow on the deck. I am now doing research on snowblowers, I've got to get one, I just can't do another season of shoveling this kind of snow. I hate the thought of another smelly, big heavy gas-guzzling machine that I won't be able to handle. Where are the kids who go around house to house looking for shoveling work for $$$ when you need them? I've lived here nearly 20 years now and I've YET to have a kid come by and ask if I need help shoveling out! Back to consumer reviews of snowblowers.

View from My Front Window

Right after I took this shot someone dressed in black and yellow cross-country ski gear (complete with goggles) glided past the house - the flash was recharging on my camera so I could not get the shot! It's now 10:38 AM and I hear snowblowers going all over the neighborhood, but it's still snowing. I'll wait until it stops before attempting to shovel a path for myself. The small part of the deck that I shoveled out earlier this morning is covered now with at least an inch of fresh snow, so it has slowed down, no longer snowing 2" an hour.

Blizzard! Views from the Front Porch

Photos from my front door, taken about 10:00 AM. You can barely make out the tracks I made earlier in the morning going to the road to fetch the paper, about 8:30 AM.

Intrepid Squirrels During Milwaukee Blizzard

He's well camoflauged, but he's there - one of the squirrels that had gathered around the base of the big Chinese Elm out back, on the tree trunk on the left near the top of the frame. The snow in that part of my backyard isn't as deep as on the deck (see prior post photos) - you can see tracks from the honeysuckle bush in the background leading to the tree, and nearly filled-in tracks in really deep snow from the top of the retaining wall headed toward the deck!

Blizzard!

Right on time, the snow started around midnight. "Officially" we have about 9 inches at the moment, with more at the lakefront and downtown because of strong northeast winds off the lake. It's supposed to mostly taper off by noon, but there could be lake effect snow (I'm within five miles of downtown so I get it) until 3 PM. Winds are gusting up to 35 mph but are to "calm" to 20 mph as the front moves to the east. I'm taking a few pictures, figuring they're the best way to convey what I'm dealing with here at the moment. I didn't sleep well last night, I finally gave it up at 5:15 and went downstairs to look out the front door. At the time, there was a large drift where the driveway curves to head toward the road from my front porch, but the porch itself had only about 5 inches of snow; later, about 8:30 AM when I ventured out to get see if Sue, my intrepid newspaper deliverer, had made it through, I had to shove the storm door hard to open it through more than a foot of snow that had piled up since 5:15 AM. I had my tall boots on (they come up to my knees), and they weren't tall enough to keep the snow out. I managed to get to the mailbox and paper box at the road. Am totally plowed in, and the plow has only been through once. The road is already covered again with snow, so he'll be through again. There is probably a 18 to 24" of snow in my driveway, drifts are higher. (Photo: This is as much of my deck out back that I managed to shovel. Tell me, do you think this is a "mere" 8" of snow??? That little speck in the middle of the shoveled area is a hazelnut that fell out of my pocket as I was shoveling. You can see some of the tracks of the squirrels who had ventured from the big tree, looking for food). I dialed the office employee hotline after I put coffee on at 5:15 AM to hear the official announcement - our Milwaukee and Waukesha offices are closed today. Milwaukee County government offices are closed; Milwaukee City government offices are closed; all schools are closed. Last I heard, buses were still running, but many are getting stuck in high drifts. Plows and salters have been out all night but they cannot keep up with the snow that continues to fall, let alone the blowing and drifting. Entrance and exit ramps to the expressways are clogged shut. White-out conditions exist in many open areas. (You can hardly see him, but if you look to the left of the big tree below the top of the retaining wall, you can see what looks like a grey lump. It's a squirrel emerging from deep snow, where he had been digging for something to eat). I had my coffee, turned off the lights and settled down in my recliner with a toasty down throw. When I awoke from my doze about 8:20 AM I checked the patio to see - to my absolute astonishment - squirrel tracks in the deep snow! So, after I fetched my newspaper I attempted to shovel the deck. I didn't get very far. There were several squirrels gathered at the base of the big Chinese Elm, the base of which is sheltered by an old railroad tie retaining wall so the snow wasn't too deep there, so I threw several hand-fulls of hazelnuts there for them, and watched them scampering up and down the tree, fetching and eating the nuts. The older squirrel who has that "dropsy" disease was there - it is amazing to me he is still alive; it's been a tough winter, colder and more snow than normal, although this is the second year in a row we've had these bad snows. It was months ago I pointed out this squirrel to dondelion because he kept falling over whenever he stopped moving. Presently, the forecast for tomorrow is another 6 inches of snow starting tomorrow night into Sunday, and more on Tuesday. Three guesses what I'll be doing all weekend...