Day 7.052: I'll get it in the spring

This is one of two (or maybe three) bicycles I've seen completely swallowed by snow banks this winter. This one looks almost ready to be rescued, but I suspect it's still quite well held by the icy snow.

It does make me wonder how this happened - did someone ride it to work one day and then leave it when the snow closed in later that day and just think, "I'll get it in the spring"?

Day 7.040: Our daily snowstorm

Yesterday it was an amazingly quick 8 inches of fluffy snow between 3pm and 11pm, today it was a quick couple of inches of wet sticky snow - also around the evening commute. Still, it did make everything look pretty again!

Day 7.038: No Bob, but sled!

Yesterday, I went out with the kids to fight our way through thigh-deep snow to try to get a sledding run going in our regular spot in the backyard.

The deep snow made the run a bit heavy-going at first:



but after some course improvements (sadly you can't make a good sled-run without burying the odd child)...

it got going rather well:

Day 7.034: Oh - Deere!

This is why and how we have a mountain of snow at the end of the parking lot.

Day 7.029: Icicle when I drive

This is my car, but it could have been any car in the parking lot at work on Thursday - some taller vehicles had even more impressive ones.

Today, I ran, slept and lazed around the apartment. Very nice and much needed, but not much to write about!

Day 7.020: Sea and sand

Well, sea water in the cove anyway. This was earlier this week.

The real story is the sand though - there is sand everywhere. This is the parking lot at work:

but it could have been anywhere around here.

It's put down in large quantities to provide some kind of grip on ice and packed snow - I make that sound like it doesn't work, but it's actually very effective.  I guess it's cheaper than salt and probably works better when it's really cold.  I actually remember this being a thing in my youth - I suppose it never went away in Maine.

Day 7.010: Bobbing along

Remember Bob? He was the snowman we made on Day 6.346 (or December 22nd if you prefer). Well, he's still here. Just. 

We actually had a nice afternoon out today. Maybe I'll tell you about it tomorrow. 

Day 6.362: I see...

I ran again this morning - picking my way over sheets of ice in places - wishing I'd allowed for the wind in my clothing choices in others.

One thing I can report is that the cove is open water once more - all the ice gone except for around the shoreline.

Here are a few more pictures from Sunday, when the ducks were weaving in and out of the ice and the ice submerged by the tide would occasionally break free and float to the surface creating some dramatic turbulence.

This may explain yesterday's picture if you didn't get it!

These two were diving - rather them than me.

Splashdown!

Day 6.360: Venturing out

I managed to get out of the apartment not just once but three times today. The first was for a run - in daylight for once (I nearly left it too late to be back in time for my second outing - to church). There was no sunrise for me, but I was able to see (and capture with my phone) some things more clearly than is possible at dawn.

Firstly, Back Cove is very icy:

Here's another view - with a bit of elevation provided by the bridge:

Secondly, there is quite a lot of ice in the actual bay (this is the beach just north of downtown Portland):

And thirdly, someone has some serious snowman-making skills (I thought this snow was much too cold and fluffy to manage this):

My third outing was to photograph Back Cove again with the tide a bit higher and with my real camera. I'll have to share those another day once I've picked over them a bit!

Day 6.357: Winter with a side of strange

That's the view outside my apartment this evening, but that car looks like mine did when I came out of work.

It had been snowing all day, but it's bitterly cold (-5°F now, that's -21°C) and windy so the snow is like the little polystyrene balls in old Hollywood movies and is just blowing around. The top of the car is clear - the front has as much snow as it can hold.

In fact we've probably had at least 6 inches - but there's nowhere in the normal outdoors where you could measure it accurately.  I wonder what the morning will bring!

Day 6.354: Five Rivers - plus 3 minus 1

With E5N1 at a birthday party for a couple of hours, the rest of us decided to show our visitors some upstate hospitality by taking them for a bitterly cold walk in nature.

We actually had a great time - brief (cold) hike at Five Rivers followed by a thaw-out in the visitor center.

Here are a few moments.

We waved them goodbye this evening - for their late-night drive back to the city. Sad to see them go, but so glad they came to visit!

Day 6.346: Bob & Fred

At lunchtime we had a discussion about things that we all wanted to fit in during the next week or so. Exile #4 said that she wanted to make a snowman since she'd missed out yesterday. With the temperature expected to get up to something like 60°F today, we thought we'd better make that a priority.

So, Exile #4, E5N1 and I spent the early afternoon doing this...

Bob with his dog Fred and Fred's kennel.

I suspect that Bob's face and Fred's raisin "dog-food" will go the same way as Bob's predecessor's similar face - eaten by wild animals in the night (it was deer yesterday) - but we were pretty happy with our work in the rapidly melting snow.

Day 6.345: ...actually in New York

I came home to be greeted by these three:

One of them wasn't exactly what I expected - but was rather impressive.

Exile #4 did join us later in case you were wondering.  Now I'm back with the family for a while - hopefully I can bring the blog some New York adventures over the next few days.

Day 6.344: Less is more

It's been a short spell in Maine this week. I'm heading back home tomorrow. The week has been an eventful one though thanks to the foot of snow that fell just before I got here and the six inches or so since then. Yesterday daytime temperatures just crept above freezing for the first time in well over a week.

My morning runs have given me the opportunity to assess various snow clearance efforts and I've decided that less is more - to a point.

This was the view on one of my runs.  Since we're right at the eastern edge of the Eastern Time Zone, the sun rises relatively early (and sets early of course!).

Most of the trails and sidewalks I run on have been cleared like this:

Which, when packed hard, makes a pretty good running surface (especially with my Yaktrax).  I've encountered  two less-desirable variations.

1) The complete clearance - which, with insufficient salt and very cold overnight temperatures result in what looks like clear ground, but is actually a perfect sheet of ice.

2) The not-bothered-to clearance - which with this much snow is effectively impassable.

Now, with the temperatures rising, the hard packed snow is getting soft and mobile which is much harder going, so maybe the balance will tip in favour of option 1, but probably not as I doubt this 'warm' spell will last too long.

Day 6.341: It's that time of the year again!

Wakey wakey! It's a perfect morning for a run!

I actually think it was a little colder than this - by the time I left for work the current temperature was reported on my phone as -6°F (zero is -18°C for the metrically inclined).

If anything I was a little overdressed in four layers on my top, three on my bottom half, three pairs of gloves and two hats.

My cheeks still felt the full impact of the cold air though and made me glad there was no wind!

Day 6.340: Running in an autumn wonderland

Yes - I managed to run this morning. I think my Yaktrax have had more outings so far this year (with a few days to go before winter's official appearance) than in the previous years put together. They may not have more snow here, but it seems to hang around more.

Not that I'm complaining - the snow-blowers had cleared this trail and some of the sidewalks making them easily passable, if not quite ideal underfoot. The plows had thrown up snow-banks (up to six feet tall) in unexpected places turning the city streets into an early-morning maze - but I found my way around them to have a pretty good run.

And, once the sun started to rise, a glorious view.

Tomorrow, I expect to wake to single-digit temperatures, and it will probably be snowing again by the end of the day.  I wonder what winter will be like when it arrives at the end of the week!

Day 6.339: Snow from there to here

The final tally was around 10 inches I think.

It wasn't good snow for building (not yet anyway), but Exile #4 managed to find some lumps and had an elaborate explanation for them involving the skull of a dead tyranno-snow-rus rex and a cast of other characters.

She and E5N1 had just come in from playing in the snow when it was time for me to follow the storm out to the New England coast.

When I got here - the scene was fairly similar.

And the tidal bay that I run around most mornings was almost unrecognisable as such.

I'm not quite sure if running out there is going to be possible tomorrow, but I'll probably give it a try!

Day 6.338: Snow night for a party

There were two things in the plan for this weekend - a holiday party this evening, and the kids' performances in their Christmas pageant in church tomorrow morning.

Both were threatened by the snow storm coming in this evening.

But our babysitter arrived through the first few inches of snow - on time - just before 7, so we ventured out and had an excellent evening. The car looked like this when we left the party:

But we made it safely home - and dug out our babysitter who made it safely home.

Now we wait to see what the morning will bring.

Day 6.336: Winter hat

I managed to get out and run for the second morning in a row today, but two days ago it was another story. I went out, came back for my Yaktrax, went out again and then decided that even with my Yaktrax running on sheet ice wouldn't be much fun and went back inside.

An hour or so later, I left for work and found the car coated in a nice layer of ice.

The beautiful ice-free car roof at the bottom was just a few minutes later when I arrived at work. The moment when the ice separated from the roof and flew off was dramatic for me - imagine the sound of the roof of the car being ripped off by a clumsy gorilla - and for the person behind me on the highway. Sorry - I feel bad but there was really nothing I could have done about it!