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| Some use the sandy beach...we use snow to do some drawing. |
Some weather shockers:
Running in -negative temps is interesting. I had to go in due to cold and losing feeling in my legs and toes, not because I was tired or exhausted. This may also be due to being at sea level as opposed to high mountains of Denver. AND- your jacket will get coated in and icy frost from your heat radiating and freezing on contact with the cold air. So you come in feeling dry just in time for everything to melt and you to start dripping an icy sweat. It is pretty funny actually. Your hair is hard and icicled and then it is dripping all over you.
Driving on ice-ALWAYS. Since we have been here we have rarely seen the pavement. Never dirt; except for the dirt they put on top of the ice to give your tires some traction. We are always driving on ice/snow pack. It is quite adventurous seeing cars slip and slide everywhere. I have learned to be a very aware defensive driver. Our first week here we got our car stuck in the snow. Now, I skid out so much that it is a variable of normal. Sometimes it catches you off-guard so quick reactions are essential. I have learned to be pretty good behind the wheel. (I know this may be a shocker to some of you.) This is the highway...much "safer" than the neighborhoods that don't get plowed as often.
How they keep the roads clear. So after a large snow fall they roads all become very narrow with tall burms on the sides. So large that a warning letter came home from school asking children not to make snow caves in them. Then when we get a break in the weather they have a system that re-widens the roads. FIRST- A set of two plows...cat plows...scrape the sides of the road (blast right through the burms) and turn it out into the middle of the road. Yes it makes it a very thin one lane highway. Then they have this other machine that looks like an enormous CAT size super duper snow blower. This thing is HUGE! It runs down the center of the pile that the plows left. Just the churns are as high as my SUV. It sucks up the snow and shoots it out of a chute into semi-trucks that are lined on it's right side(where the burm was). They send the semi's through filling them within a few minutes. Where they dump all this snow I do not know. But they continue to do this for abour a week until they get all the main roads cleared and widened. It is quite amazing to watch. So driving on the ice remains the same, but now you can see what is around the burm. This IS a good thing.
I wish I had pictures of this...I just stared in utter amazement and never got a picture. I know...I should have, but eventually the udder amazement will fade and I will be able to get a picture. So this will have to do for now.
For the smaller roads, they have a mid sized snow blower like the size of a small tractor that goes along the sides of the road to widen it blowing it to the sidewalk area. Then that tractor is followed by another tractor that does the same thing to create a sidewalk area that is like a rat track. Sideswalks are about tummy high on me. If a small child is walking in one...chances are high that you will not see them. This goes back to being a good aware defensive driver. Go slow always.
Oh and our culdesac has a huge pile of snow in the middle of it. All culdesacs do at this point. It is like a mountain of snow. Our pile is up to the light on the lightpost. Almost totally blocks our house in the view. We play king of the mountain and sled down it. Yes, it is crazy dangerous for our grandparents who are thinking that right now, but we have a lot of fun.
Shovelling a driveway is tough work. Our driveway now is much longer than our driveway in Denver. And the amount of snow is much greater also. It is rare to get only a few inches. Usually it is around six at a time. I have tried to keep on top of the shoveling. It is really hard to do. I finally got to the point where I just could no longer chuck the snow above my head to the top of the burms on my driveway. I could have my car parked in the driveway and my neighbors would not even know.
One day while shoveling my neighbor down the street came over in his snow shoes. He explained that after 3 years here he has cracked the code for getting your driveway clear. His solution to help me flatten my now 6 foot burms. He went behind the burms and dug a trench. Yes, this is back breaking work. Then he came to the driveway and pushed my mountains over into the trench he dug. This made my mountains turn into hills. So instead of being high it became wide. BRILLIANT! I can now see my neighbors house for the first time!
After completing all of this, my hubby decided to relieve me of the shovelling for a day. He went out and returned way too early for the task he had. I couldn't believe it. It takes me so much .onger. When we questioned him further...the neighbor next door was out with his snowblower and blew our driveway for "us". Where was this help for the last month! My response...who needs a gym when you can shovel snow daily for an hour?
Single digits feel so warm. I know this sounds crazy, but after enduring -20 and below when we hit those single digits it is so warm. I find myself going out in a small fleece jacket and gloves. It feels so good. I have gotten to the point that I can tell on the first breath if it is in the negatives or above. Once you hit the negatives there is just a different "sting" in the air. It is tangible and hurts everything it touches. As it continues to drop the sting increases. The other day we hit "0" and the kids said..."Wow, this is really nice and warm." I believe we have climatized well. Our cheeks are always red chapped and dry from the wind/cold burns. The hubby has gotten some slight frost bite from being out chopping wood. This leads us the the next shocker.
Digging paths to get to things. I love the fact that we have to dig paths to get to the wood pile, the shed, the front door. Better yet is that everywhere you look it is the same. Then you can see animal tracks where your paths are now being used by the animals also. It is quite funny. Sidewalks and everything everywhere are little rat paths.
WILDLIFE! I am still shocked daily by the wildlife that is everywhere. We have seen many moose now. Some were in the culdesac last week. The kids have had indoor days at school because of the moose on the playground. And yes, they go to recess outdoors unless it is below -10 degrees. And all kids where snowpants, jackets, gloves, hats and boots when outdoors. Bald eagles are everywhere. We have seen golden eagles, owls and moose regularly.
Heating and energy bills. As you can imagine. Heating your home costs money. I was amazed at how much it costs. Then I realize...it is -20 outside. I have my home at 66 degrees. That is a huge temperature exchange. So I will be grateful that I can have a warm house at whatever the cost. But I still look forward to the summer break and decrease in the bill.
Darkness vs. Light. I was worried about the darkness. It truly wasn't that bad. We are now gaining light and I did not feel that it was bad. Granted, we did come near the peak so we didn't have to see our daylight disappear gradually. It was already gone. So it may be different next year. But it didn't seem to bother us much. Now I am beginning to fear the 22 hours of daylight and trying to get my kids to sleep when it is daylight. Perhaps I didn't anticipate this being as scary until I thought more upon the sleep cycle at our house. The kids regardless of when they go to sleep can barely make it to 7:00. If it is daylight...this could be bad. So, in the next month we will gain over 5 hours of daylight. This leaves us little time to ponder our plan of attack.
I have never seen a moon that shone as brightly as the sun. Magnificent. I would have to say just the sheer beauty of this place takes my breath away daily. I hope I never grow accustomed to this. I want to always appreciate the beauty. I can get used to the snow, ice, temperature, but not the beauty of daily life.
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