Oops, sorry, that post title was a
typo. It should have said "An Unprecedented Amount of Snow."
But, honestly, unprecedented is not really accurate, I guess it's an alternate fact. (In case you're one of those people who is confused about what an alternate fact is -- it's. a. lie.)
Maybe I should just start over.
We had a lot of snow this past weekend, which is unusual around here. The last time we had this much snow was December 2008, when we first moved here. (See NY Times story
here -- hey, you know if the NY Times wrote about it, it must have been pretty spectacular.) It started snowing here sometime early Sunday morning, continued off and on most of that day, without sticking to the roads. But then, in mid-afternoon, it started coming down in earnest, in big fat fluffy sticky flakes, and by evening there were 5 inches out there. It continued overnight on Sunday, and on Monday morning we measured in several spots with a ruler and found a little over 9 inches out there covering up the garden.
I found myself surprisingly calm about it. Most of my Facebook and blogger friends already know I despise snow, having lived with it for more than 55 years in Massachusetts. I've coped with my share. PNW natives ooh and aah about it, because it's rare here. Bugger them.
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| The front garden on Sunday morning |
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| Paving stones with snowy "grout" -- they're completely covered now |
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| Mexican feather grass in the gravel garden |
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| Trachycarpus fortunei |
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| The view from the upstairs bedroom window just before bedtime |
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| The front garden on Monday morning under 9+ inches of snow |
In the photo above, you may be able to make out my footprints in the snow heading toward the door of the greenhouse. We lost power at about 2 in the morning, so I got up, got dressed, went out, and turned on the propane heater to keep it warm out there.
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| Partly shoveled driveway -- note the cap of snow on the yard waste bin |
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| Somewhere under that layer of white are a couple of rosemary bushes |
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| Culvert planter with a cap of snow, covering up a handful of Agave havardiana, Chamaerops humilis, and Nolina 'La Siberica' |
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| Greenhouse with snow starting to slide off the roof |
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| Obligatory shot of patio furniture covered in snow |
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| Bent over English laurel |
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| Broken and partly broken Douglas fir limbs hanging over my 'Pacific Fire' vine maple |
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| Just enough room to open the greenhouse door |
When I ventured down in the middle of the night to start the propane heater, I managed to push the fluffy snow back just enough to get the door open and slip inside. Since then, of course, there's been lots of melting, and it's no longer fluffy.
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| Lilac limbs bent down and leaning over the road. Once things have melted, I'll probably cut most of those off at the base, I doubt they'll straighten up. |
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| Broken lilac branch |
There's rain heading our way and warmer temps, which should melt the snow. I'm hoping it won't lead to flooding.
