I am finally getting around to posting some pictures of the winter season that is shaping up to be one for the records up here in North Dakota - both in temperature and snowfall depth. They say if the current cycle continues, we will have flooding as bad or worse than those that devastated the Grand Forks/Fargo areas back in 1997. That winter there was around 110" of snow, and so far we are at approximately 65", with about 10 weeks at least to go. So here are some pictures showing what we've been dealing with up here. Some times it almost feels like we are fighting our own little war with the snow - my only weapon is a shovel. I'm getting to be an expert at the various types of shovels needed for a particular snow removal task. And now my upper arms and shoulders are in as good a shape as my legs used to get in the summer with bike riding.
December 21 2008
My trusty weather vane was still flying relative high and pretty much always pointed to the northwest.
The snow was still pretty light and easy to shovel - I had lots of energy and made a walkway to the back yard for the dogs and just thought it would be good exercise (seems ridiculous now).
December 28 2008
The snow is getting higher and closer to top of fence. I still had ability to shovel a walkway.
Rowdy is getting a little intimidated by the high walls, but he still tried to climb them when the temps weren't too cold. Snow was still too soft for him to make much headway though.
January 4, 2009
After another snowstorm, it was getting closer and closer to be over the fence, but I still tried to keep the walkway open.
Sam loves the snow and was always around to help me throw snow over the fence.
January 18, 2009
Another snowstorm and this time the wind was so strong, it made the drifts particularly hard. I gave up on my little walkway.
My little piglet is still spinning.
January 19, 2009 - Martin Luther King Day
After chasing the dogs a few times trying to get them to come inside, I decided to make my own little fence and keep them from getting lost out in the countryside chasing something or other. So far it has worked pretty well. But I had to take the day off to tackle the big job of throwing all the snow out and over the fences. My dog-sitter Cindy who lives two doors down the street came over and helped me out. We made the snow 'walls' vertical so they wouldn't be tempted to climb them. The temps had warmed all the way up to 33 (!) that day so it was pretty nice.
Below are more of the neighborhood. Kids in the neighborhood had the day off from school so they were having a great time sledding in the sunshine. I also took a few photos looking out to the western landscape and a couple of the new developments taking shape.
This is kind of hard to see, but down the road from my place was an accident - a pickup hit an icy spot and rolled over. Unfortunately something that happens quite often this winter, usually on the interstate though and not the frontage road because they drive faster on the interstate.
One of the casualities of a harsh winter - I suspect this bird froze in the 40 below temps and then became lunch for some other critter - all that's left are the legs.
This fence was put in by the farmer as a snow fence in this hay field north of my place - the fence is about 4 feet high . My shadow is still pretty long even though it was close to mid day - sun still is pretty low in the sky this time of year.
And finally, below are some mother nature's artwork I kind of liked - keep in mind these drifts are very hard and you can walk all over them without disturbing the design.
