09 January 2024
Hello everyone I'm off again from work due to the weather. Yesterday I enjoyed the day off as a storm missed us. Today I woke up to a text message saying the base is closed due to inclement weather. I looked out the window and seen why. Now this is a decent amount of snow but what is most dangerous about it is the roads contain sheets of ice below the snow. I'm not quite ready to go outside so these photo were taken through an inside window. Sorry for the dots on the photos, those are snow flakes on the outside of the window.
Don't you just love the look of trees holding snow? I know I do and I hope I can share more of them later in this post. The first one is mostly covered at the bottom. The top of it would be as well if it weren't for a stiff wind.
The snow covers everything. The roads,side walks, decks, yard, automobiles and many other things are covered. It looks beautiful seeing that but some things have to be cleared off.
I got some outside work to do today. So I decided on a smaller breakfast because I want room for something warm for lunch. So I just had some cut up strawberries, bananas, and half of a Maple French Toast bagel. I decided to drizzle some chocolate over the fruit. I can tell you the strawberries tasted so delicious doing this. It was like having a dessert for breakfast. Using a tooth pick to eat the fruit led to only having to clean two knives.
Above is what I have to look forward to shoveling. I was prepared and motivated to shovel. I have been wanting to see a decent amount for quite some time. Plus shoveling snow is kinda like working out. I walked out through the garage and grabbed both my snow shovel and a broom. The broom was for pushing snow off my wooden deck.
The sounds in the neighborhood were what I am use to hearing after a decent amount of snow fall. Sounds of snow blowers could be heard nearby and from blocks away. Than sounds of shovels scraping across the concrete could be heard all over. The wind howling could be heard and it sounded like a big deep breath let go magnified by 100. The one thing that caught my attention was hearing geese honking above. I am almost sure in there dialect they were saying let's head South it's too freaking cold here!
I'm not exactly bundled up. I have a hoodie on underneath a wind breaker jacket. Underneath the hoodie is a dry fit shirt. I was also wearing tight fit gloves. I had just a plain pair of jeans on while wearing some sneakers. Not exactly sure of the temperature at this time but it was cold.
Why didn't I wear more? Well at this time of the selfie I was about half way done shoveling and I was warm. I had water nearby and drank some as I was shoveling. Every year there are cases of someone getting dehydrated from shoveling. Many bundle up too much and don't realize there body is producing a lot of heat because it is cold outside. It's easy to get confused you may have a cold face or cold hands but the rest of your body is warm and probably sweating. Even I have made this mistake. What happens is you may become dizzy to the point you feel like your going to pass out. It's always a good idea to take a break every so often and get a drink.
A job finished once I moved my car over to the other side of driveway. I of course went over some areas again with the shovel so more concrete was exposed. Leaving too much snow on the driveway will surely turn into ice. I got the most I could using the shovel as a scraper as well. The side walk is important as kids will be walking on it tomorrow heading to the bus stop.
Here's a nice warm lunch for a cold day. Soup and a sandwich. The soup was Campbell's Chicken Dumplings and the sandwich was a ham & cheese on a pretzel bun. It was just enough to satisfy my hunger after spending nearly two hours shoveling outside.
There wasn't a lot of trees covered in snow but I found some that were close or partially covered. I tell you again that wind was just enough for it to not happen completely. A lot of parking lots have piles of snow like above that were pushed by plows to the edges and sides.
The roads contain packed snow and ice. Most have tire track paths that need to be driven in. The roads are improving as snow plows are clearing snow and dumping chemicals & salt on them to combat the ice. The snow crews are busy and have been working around the clock. I'm very thankful for them, I can't imagine what the roads would be like with our them.
The forecast calls for more snow on Thursday and Friday. Also the temperatures are suppose to get even colder. I've been hoping for some snow it may be soon that I don't want any more, hehe. Back to work on Wednesday and I'm sure I will be doing more snow shoveling there.
That's all I have for you this time. Take care, stay safe and enjoy the rest of the week.