Snow & Ice

Another snow day, and no power

We got a few more inches of snow overnight. This morning we lost power… still off a couple of hours later as I write this, though predicted to be back on soon. Hopefully. We have UPSes powering our internet, but no water, since we’re on a well. One day we want to get a whole-house generator, or Tesla Powerwall, but those are expensive. We do have a portable generator, but that doesn’t help with the water, and isn’t needed unless the power stays off for a long time.

Anyway, this morning Jenn and Rory joined me on the rounds, and I took a few more snowy pics.

This is the tree by the chicken run. The branches are usually high enough to walk under, not touching the ground:

The pond is frozen today; unsurprising with the temperature below freezing:

The brown gazebo and chicken coop:

Jenn taking a picture of the snow by the pond arbor:

Rory:

A view of the frozen pond from the pond deck:

Rory enjoyed some off-leash scampering in the field; she loves to run in the snow:

The apple orchard in the field, with the white gazebo in the background:

Rory sniffing deer tracks by the bird feeders:

First snow of 2019

Although much of the country has had lots of snow this winter, we haven’t had any… until now. Yesterday morning we had a brief dusting of snow, then overnight we got about three inches, with a forecast of more throughout the day.

Naturally, I took a bunch of photos while on my morning rounds.

Here’s the brown gazebo and trees covered in snow:

Snow on brown gazebo

The pond wasn’t frozen, yet anyway:

Snow on the banks of the pond

The flowerbeds, with the pond deck on the left, the brown gazebo in the distance, and the veggie garden on the right:

Flowerbeds under snow

The chicken coop:

Chicken coop with snow

As usual, the bird netting on the roof of the chicken run collapsed under the weight of the snow. I plan to replace that with welded wire, like the berry cage, but was hoping to defer it; now I guess I need to either repair the netting, or do the wire after all:

Chicken run

The welded wire on the berry cage held up just fine:

Berry cage with snow

The beehives:

Beehives with snow

The cat house, somewhat sheltered by the trees:

Cat house with snow

A bit more snow

So much for spring; we got about an inch of snow overnight.

The feral cats are used to it by now:

The bees probably aren’t too thrilled, but have been pretty active recently, working on restoring their supplies, so will probably stay bundled up for now:

The chicken coop:

The white gazebo; the pond is still liquid: it hasn’t been cold enough to freeze:

The brown gazebo and coop:

More snow

Yesterday it snowed pretty much all day, though didn’t start sticking until evening.

Firstly, here are some pictures of the cat shelter from the last couple of days:

Cozy inside:

A nice picture of Portabella emerging from the shelter:

On to today; some interesting light early:

Rory following a cat (or bunny) path:

The pond is frozen again (it did mostly defrost yesterday):

Reverse view from the pond deck:

That interesting light again over the apple trees:

A cat track in the snow:

The cat shelter; the camera was buried again, and the deck steps look more like a ramp:

The fountain garden (looking from the back deck):

I measured about 7″ of new snow, on top of 2″ remaining from the previous snowfall a couple of days ago:

A bunch of icicles off the roof:

Several inches of snow

Yesterday was predicted to have 2 to 5 inches of snow, but nothing much eventuated during the day:

However, in the evening it picked up a bit:

And continued overnight, culminating in almost 8 inches this morning:

The camera that watches the front of the cat shelter was buried:

Another angle; the front of the cat shelter is in the middle of the photo:

The chickens were not impressed:

And once again the chicken run roof netting didn’t fare too well:

We took Rory out for a walk in the snow; she loved it. Here we’re checking on the beehives; her one chance to get so close to them:

The chicken coop:

Frozen pond:

View of the pond arbor, brown gazebo, and trees:

Snow on a tree near the white gazebo:

Our new apple trees might be regretting coming here:

Rory really loved scampering in the snow:

Bird feeders:

The cat shelter again:

Snow!

It unexpectedly snowed overnight. Apparently areas above an elevation of 1,000 feet around the Portland region received some snow… and we’re at 1,100 feet.

Only about an inch, and it’s raining now, so it’ll probably be gone later today. But still fun to enjoy it while it lasts.

The feral cats are cozy in their heated shelter:

But the weight of the snow tore down the end of the chicken run roof netting:

So I went out with a staple gun and ladder to fix it:

Snow on the brown gazebo and trees:

Snow on the white gazebo:

The pond deck arbor:

The beehives:

Notice the clearer patch in the center of the roof, from the heat of the bees clustered inside:

Gallery

Powder, no power

About four inches of snow fell this morning. Which led to a power cut, no doubt due to snow on trees taking out a line.

Since we’re on a well, no power means no water, which can be a pain. We do have UPSes to keep the internet going, so at least the most important thing is covered. 😉

One day we’d like to get a whole-house generator that we can hook up to our big propane gas tank, but those suckers are expensive. It’s usually not off for too long, so we just stick it out, and often prepare by filling containers with water if we think a cut is likely (due to high winds or snow).

Oh hey, the power just came back on, after being off for almost exactly two hours. We’ll see if it stays on.