Monday 29 November 2010

November Snow

It really is no joke having snow this early in a winter - well, still officially Autumn I suppose, until 1st December. The temperatures have been perishing too - at least minus 11 a couple of nights ago and quite possibly colder since. It began snowing on Friday morning, just as we were driving our son into town for work. In no time at all we were in the thick of a blizzard, and it carried on, unrelenting, whilst we dashed around Tesco's, stocking up on anything we thought we might get short on - though we do carry a good storecupboard.

It really DOESN'T take much snow to cause total upheaval here. On Friday for instance, it took us HALF AN HOUR just to get out of the Tesco car park. In fact, it took ten minutes to actually join the queue to GET out as for once we were parked where we would have to reverse out. It took us, in all, an hour and a half to get home as town was gridlocked. Crazy. Even then we had to abandon the car at the bottom of our hill as we couldn't get up it.

The side roads still aren't good - frozen compacted snow for long stretches where the winter sun never gets. Passable if you drive very carefully. Normally we would just shut the front gate and wait it out, but now we have to try and get our offspring into work. I sat up until 1 a.m. on Saturday morning waititng for our middle daughter to get home safely from her pub job. Our son is supposed to be going on a course in Bristol tomorrow and has to be in town for SIX A.M. to meet the chap who he's going with and will be driving them there and back . . . As there is supposed to be more snow tonight, that may not be possible . . .

As for how cold this house is, well, suffice it to say that unless you're by the wood burner, outside clothes are necessary (hat included) and life is rather miserable. The kitchen was 9 degrees Celcius this morning and the cats looked very disgruntled . . . We kidnapped the kittens last night and they spent the night in the shower room, and were SO happy to be in the relative warm (it has been at least minus 11 and below the last few nights). They were purring like grampusses . . .

Now we have a section of pipe frozen, which is causing problems, so my poor husband has to go and dig it up. It's a fresh junction he put in this year, so we are going to use the poorest fleece I was given for spinning this year (I had 6 in all) and use that in a bin liner to try and insulate the pipes.

The birds are desperate for food, and I am glad we got a sack each of seed and peanuts in just a few days before. Someone was writing somewhere about NOT feeding the birds as it encouraged rats, made them a target for cats and sparrowhawks, spread e-Coli and stopped the birds being good at foraging. I am sorry, but if we hadn't fed the birds last winter dozens would have died - I used to come down to up to 26 blackbirds each morning, plus countless Blue- and Great Tits, Chaffinches, Sparrows, Robins, Wrens et al.

I used to love the snow, but the last couple of winters have shown how difficult it makes life and right now, I would be happy to return to warmer and wetter winters . . .









9 comments:

  1. There seems to be an age beyond which our love of snow diminishes by the year.

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  2. My friend in Clunderwen told me they had lots of snow and here it is!

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  3. Snow is a pain, BB, where I live in Nebraska, we can and have gotten feet of snow. Last year we had 65 inches, I'm not sure what that would be in meters for you.
    Just keep the wood burner going, bundle up the kids and the cats, keep feeding the birds, (I do) by my neighbor's complaining that I am bringing in the vermin, though that is not my fault, its my neighbors dumping their garbage on the ground not the dumpster.
    I am sending you warm thoughts. Grab a cup of tea and make your awesome scones.

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  4. denim - 65" is SOME snow! (I'm still a feet and inches gal, being an "oldie" now!) Just a couple of inches here is enough to reduce the entire country to chaos as it seems we are never prepared. The birds give me so much pleasure, watching them on the feeders, and I don't begrudge them some food to keep them alive.

    Kath - I fear it is laying about, waiting for more to join it . . .

    WoG - I think last year sealed the knot on not enjoying snow any more . . . Even the sides of the river are starting to ice over now as temperatures stay below freezing . . .

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  5. We have been fortunate and missed the snow thus far, but I'm sure we wil get some. The country grinds to halt with the snow, take care x

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  6. Good books, good tea, food for all when time is free. Snuggle close, yet button up, winter's here but Spring's next up! Warm and cozy wishes for you BB! Stay safe!

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  7. Thank you for calling by at my blog and your kind words. I am so glad to have found your blog. I agree with all you have written regarding the cold as it is just the same here. Think I will go and put my hat on!
    I will call again.

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  8. It looks beautiful in your photos BB, but it is not so pleasant when you have to be out in it, either driving for work or essential supplies, or feeding outside animals.

    We had a light covering this morning but it has thawed a bit, thank goodness. I`m off to stock up at the feed store and the supermarket. There are heaver falls forecast for later this week.

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  9. Poor you BB, snow is beautiful to look at but its miserable to get around in. The moor roads are closed here, we get snow, sleet and hailstorms, plus a freezing east wind as well ;) But not all is lost, found a small pretty cottage and everything seems to be going ahead!

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