Ninety-five inches and not over yet

The Boston Globe reports that Boston has received 95.7 inches of snow this year (16 in this latest Saturday-Sunday storm), and with more on the way Tuesday could top the 1995-6 record of 107.6 inches.  Another storm this weekend--if it is snow--will surely push us over.  Of course, eight inches here and a foot there are all in the normal course of events, but getting nearly all that snow in a three-week period is not.

We are relatively lucky, since significant snowfall always means school is cancelled, so we can enjoy a more prolonged, relaxed shoveling schedule.  On the other hand, if school is cancelled a substitute teacher does not get paid.

I am continuing the time-lapse series of photos I began a couple of snow-storms ago.  And I will paste in most of today's journal entry.

Sunday, February 8, 2pm

 This snow was stickier than the others.  Pretty!

Monday, February 9, 9am.  No school.

Monday, February 9, 2:20pm.  Snowing again.

 2/9, 1pm  Surprise was looking pretty seaworthy a few days ago; now it appears to be sinking

2/9, 3:30pm.  Snow has ended for now.

2/9. 5:10pm

Tuesday, February 10, 5:15pm.  No other pictures today because Rochester

--with much less accumulation--was open and I was on my way before dawn.

10:13am on Valentine's day after FOUR ENTIRE DAYS with NO SNOW.  Of course, 

there's a snowstorm due this afternoon, and a blizzard warning beginning overnight.

11:35pm.  I like the tracery of branches against the white sky.

 Sunday, February 15, 8:30am the snow is still falling, whipped by gusty winds.  My tripod is still out on the back deck, but now its legs are nearly buried.  No tomato stakes visible in the garden.  Beatrice's decision yesterday to cancel church (for the second time this month) was not a struggle.

2/15, 12:21pm the snow has stopped falling, but gusty north winds

continue to frustrate shoveling, and fill in the paths I am making.

 The dogs are getting very tired of white; they haven't seen anything but walls in days,

and haven't been around the block in far longer.

Twenty-four hours ago this was a fully-cleared sidewalk.

 10:30 this morning.  The photo series is being taken

from the large first floor window near the middle.

Today, 1:47pm.  I cleared a path to the tripod.  Th wind has revealed a bit of two tomato stakes

in the garden foreground left.  The snow on top of Surprise's cabin is about four feet deep.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Thermometer this morning showed it had gone down to -4 F last night; all-time low still showed -5 F from a few days ago.  When Bea got up it was a few degrees warmer.  When I went out to shovel a bit before 9am it was 5 F.  I didn’t stay out long, since I only had my driving gloves on.  (The rest of me was warm enough in long handles, trousers, fleece jacket, and my wonderful knit aviator-style (Russian-style?) cap with ear-flap buckle.)  There were still wind gusts from the north, but it was calm most of the time.

Yesterday, needless to say, there was no church.  The snow was still falling and blowing and visibility limited until afternoon.  In the afternoon it took me about two hours of shoveling in gusty winds in the high teens merely to clear a shovel width path all the way from the front door around the front, and down the driveway to the corner of the garage.  There are few places to throw the snow, since the piles are mostly 7 feet plus. 

When I tunneled to the garage, I had visions of improvising snow shoes from plywood and other scrap materials from the garage: the wind went out of my sails when I realized that almost all my materials were trapped on the other side of the boat, with no room to maneuver even if I could get to them.  But as soon as we get through the berm today, I am going to Lowe’s for materials for proper diy shoes to a nifty design long popular in a Colorado Scout troop that often does winter camping in deep powder.  The binding alone is very impressive.  The design, done right, involves a jig for forming a frame from softened pvc pipe, and other parts from professionally-worked sheet metal, plus stuff mail-ordered—all very reasonable when mass-producing the shoes well in advance of need, but I’m hoping I can adapt it into a two-day home project resulting in two pair of shoes.