End of Year 2016 Nor’easter Dumps Almost Two Feet of Snow

This one was a doozy. I was prepared for the impending snow, but I don’t think I was prepared enough. I just got back inside from hours worth of cleaning up. I’ll tell you, sometimes I wonder if anyone is watching me. I fight and make faces and wrestle equipment. It sure would be entertaining (for them) if someone did watch. Especially as I try to rake the snow from the edges of the roof. That’s a bear.

Laura and I headed up to bed around midnight last night. It had been snowing since about noon, but there wasn’t that much accumulation. Maybe around 4 or 5 inches. I actually told her that they may have exaggerated this one. I predicted a total of about 8 when the storm was said and done.

Apparently, some stuff happened while we were asleep. Between midnight and 4:10AM, it snowed. And it snowed heavily. The reason I know this is because when we woke up, we had a grand total of just under 21 inches (of new snow, not counting what was already on the ground). I measured multiple spots around the property and this was the lowest anywhere. Our neighbor up the road claimed his lowest was a straight 2 feet. Speaking of him, he woke up at 4:10AM (and woke his wife up) to start shoveling. I asked if it was still snowing then and he said it wasn’t. So over the span of 4 hours, around a foot and a half of snow fell. That’s just crazy. Makes me wish I was awake for it.

Here is a measurement from the front walkway. Just shy of 21 inches.

Take a look at this. It’s our car. Having it totally covered like this hasn’t happened in a while, that’s for sure.

And here’s a quick photo of some planters we have screwed to the top of the fence in the back.

They look like freshly baked loaves of bread, don’t they?

Anyway, I asked Laura to keep tabs of what was going on outside as I cleaned. She graciously shoveled and took a boatload of photos. Here’s the very first one she grabbed. It’s me walking out to the garage to get the shovel.

After I got everything I needed, I cleared a bit of snow from the roof. This is, by far, the most tiring chore to take care of after it snows. I could hardly move because it was up to my waist and it’s all arm work. Totally exhausting.

Of course, she had to veer to the right a bit to take some nice shots of the snow covered trees in front of the stream. I expected this type of behavior.

I’ll give it to her – it’s a nice shot.

I knew the cleanup was going to be tough. If I have trouble getting out of the back yard, I fear for the worst. The chute of the snowblower wasn’t tall enough for the snow. As I pushed, the blower dug under it.

Here I am trying to make it out of the last of the back yard. I need to get through the garage and the house.

I don’t care how big your snow thrower is, it’s a pain in the ass pushing it through this stuff, especially when there’s a layer of ice underneath everything.

At least, once the first cut is made, I was able to repeat the process, but only take half of a bite each time. That lessened some of the struggle.

I told you in my last snow post that my body gets really hot when clearing snow. I tend to get rather annoyed when this happens. Today, I was ready for it. I wore only a hooded sweatshirt jacket with a short-sleeve shirt underneath. When I got hot, which only took about 10 minutes, I simply removed the jacket and finished in short sleeves. I think the trick is to not wear a hat. I’m fine when I don’t do that.

This time, she’s hiding out in the garage. She got a photo of the snowblower in action, with me still behind the wall.

And here’s a better picture of my Cub Cadet snowblower.

I’m glad I got the big one. Especially for the larger engine. This thing cranks through the snow. I’m not sure the Ariens snow thrower I had back when I lived in Connecticut would have handled this nearly as well.

Here’s a fun one. Check out how covered my truck is. That’s a Ford F-250 under there, so this is rare.

I think our mailbox needs a little help. This is the backside of it. I’ve been meaning to put up a new one since we got here, but for some reason, I’m attached to this one. No matter what mother nature throws at it, it remains standing. It’s leaning, but standing.

And for my final photo, here I am continuing on. The whole thing lasted for a few hours. The good thing is, it’s over now, but the bad thing is that it’s supposed to snow another 3 inches in a few days. That shouldn’t be too difficult to manage though.

Happy New Year!