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26 February 2011

More icicles and snow

I think anyone who reads regularly here must get tired of me marveling at our Southern California weather.  We are 100 miles directly east of Los Angeles, and about 50 miles (as the crow flies) northwest of Palm Springs.  Yet when they are having temperatures of 90F, 100, or more, our temp here can easily be about 70.  The joys of living at almost 7,000 ft above sea level.  :)

Even tho we have winter weather here, it is not at all unusual for us to have snow on the ground and temps in the 40s.  Even when the temps are in the 50s in the valley, there is often still snow on the mountains.  We do get cold at night, with temps in the teens and twenties, and sometimes down to zero.  


But over all, this is a very temperate climate considering we still get snow and cold.  


So, this week is unusual in that the temps have not risen above about 35F.  In the shade and with windchill, it is even more so.  Today so far the high is still under 25 and the windchill has it colder.  This weather this week has grown an incredible crop of icicles.  I know that for most folks who have winter weather they are not that unusual.  They were not unusual where i grew up in Montana, but here in Big Bear where we generally have warmer daytime temperatures, it is a fun change.  


We got 16 inches of snow last night.  The wind has drifted it higher.  I wasn't quite prepared for this.  Earlier in the week the forecast was "possible snow" and i've held on to this idea of a "slight chance" inspite of updates that warned of a heavy winter snow.  


Duane tried to leave this AM about 7.30 for a class at SAR.  That Jeep got stuck.  He is going to get ribbed about this for some time.  He called someone to come pick him up.  


I went out about 10.30 and dug out some of the driveway.  I wish i could have done more.  I really wanted to do more, but i don't have the energy for it.  Even powder snow is heavy, and with 16 inches i was making 3 passes:  1st one took the top 5 inches, second one another 5, third one the last bit.  It wore me out quickly and i didn't get nearly as much done as i wanted.  The snow plow hasn't yet been by on our street, either.  This is definitely snow that justifies a snow blower!

But i did dig out around the wheels of That Jeep and smoothed out the tracks so i thought i would pull it up on what i'd cleared of the driveway.


Hah!


I have it even more deeply stuck.  However, it has me puzzled.  The tracks/dig out are about flat.  There are no steep bits of incline for it to get hung up on.  I just can't get it to go forward.  I was able to get it to go in reverse until it hit heavy snow.  I thought that would give me some momentum to get it running forward, but i thought wrong.  It simply doesn't want to go forward (yes, i had the parking break OFF!).  


Duane may be upset with me when he gets home.


I wish i had pretty new pictures to show you, but i was too tired once i finished the little work i did.  So here are some old pics.   


If you are at all interested, i wrote (rather extensively) of my grandmother's death and my feelings of it on my blog, I Looked for Love.  


Do you have "winter weather" where you live?  How much longer do you expect it will last?  Are you ready for spring?

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7 comments:

Linda said...

Hi Kathryn. Sorry you wore yourself out digging through all of that snow. Get yourself some hot tea and relax!

I am from orange County Calif. and we used to go to Big Bear when we wanted to see snow! It is beautiful there. But 16 inches is a lot! It doesn't surprise me that the jeep got stuck with the drifts.

We have snow here in Kansas, but not too much each year. it is cold and rainy the last couple of days...but we aren't too bad.

Yes, I always look forward to spring too. A New Fresh Start!

Linda @ Truthful Tidbits

lisa said...

They are still some awesome pictures and we also got around 14 inches of snow last night! I sure know how is feels, one year when we got 24 inches of snow and it was just the kids and I, we had to shovel twice a day just to get to the animals and wood stove! That was one of my worst winters ever. now that my neighbor is retired, if the hubby can't be home he will come up and plow us out! You take care.

Lorie said...

Hi Kathryn, I love those pictures, they are so beautiful.

Wow, that is a lot of shoveling. I don't know how you do it. I can't shovel at all. Reading your post (and some other blogs recently) it occurred to me that everyone has such different areas that cause trouble with chronic illnesses. Some of the things I do seem impossible to others but things like shoveling I could never do. hmm... something to give more thought to.

A few years ago we did a cross country trip in the RV to the Grand Canyon. It was late May and HOT the whole trip. Until we got within several miles of our destination which was 7,000ft elevation. We drove right into a snow storm. We were shocked! And we had to go buy warm clothes because it never occurred to me to pack for winter in May. Your weather posts always make me think of that trip.

Blessings

Rosemary said...

You shoveled what you could and I agree with previous poster - that is a lot of snow.

Your pics always make the snow look so pretty, and we had some last week (6.5") that is almost entirely gone now. Today we are having nearly 70 degrees and severe thunderstorms, then tomorrow is expected to be chilly and around 48. So, we're having a bit of a weather buffet as it were.

(fyi - the green tea I had didn't taste very good at all, was cut with white tea to improve the flavor but oh my gosh, felt absolutely NAUSEOUS after drinking it)(that's why I regretted it, lol)

Anonymous said...

Oh I do know about shoveling. My son was away when our last batch hit and I was sick, so it stayed where it was. Then we got more and I hired my neighbor's boys to shovel. It's worth it. Your pictures are so wonderful!

Mali said...

Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!

And no, I am not ready for autumn!

Amrita said...

There is such beauty in the snow, I love the pix.

But i wish you warmth and sunshine. Our weather is lovely. I hate the heat and humidity- nothing gives you relief.

Our Canadian visitors enjoed the sun, soon they will be back to face the snow.