Sunday, February 10, 2013

Blizzard of 2013

I was getting a lot of calls from family asking how we weathered the blizzard. Our power never even flickered. We did get about two feet of snow. The government closed down the roads for about 24 hours so clean up would be easier. It went on record as the fifth largest snowfall in Boston's history. I'm sure power is still being restored to many, but for us it wasn't too hard. The hardest part was wondering when they would finally plow the roads. But our neighbor called the town about it complaining that there are elderly living on the street and they might need emergency services. So they finally showed up. Our road is a small private road, just one car width wide and dead ends at our house. There are only five houses on it (though some are multifamily homes), so we tend to be forgotten.

Friday afternoon just as the storm started

Saturday afternoon after it was starting to wind down

The main garden after - the bamboo poles sticking up way in the back are 3' tall

Today after shoveling a path to the compost

That big pile of snow we made to the right of the path is my overwintering spinach. I was worried about it since we had no snow and some very cold windy weeks. The spinach was starting to brown on the larger leaves. Well I should be more specific on what I want. I would have been fine with about 9". I really didn't need 2'.

Walking will be interesting for a while. The sidewalks are now a challenge. Sidewalks in Arlington shoveled by the homeowners and sometimes it is spotty. Joel complained most about a hotel that is just a few block away. He said they barely shoveled. Just a small path through. The intersection at Mass Ave and Route 16 is the worst as there are 6' piles of snow that have to be climbed over. It will be interesting when I have to walk to work.

16 comments:

  1. Here in the UK snow like that would bring our country to a complete standstill!

    I'm glad to hear that you were not too seriously inconvenienced, and I understand now why you won't be doing much gardening for a while.

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  2. Crikey,that's a lot of snow! Hope your veggies are safe under all that weight!

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  3. I was curious about how much snow you would get as I'd seen predictions for 3 feet in MA. We got 26 inches officially, although it continued to snow here after that number was reported.

    I hope places get snow cleared away before the rain sets in, it will be a big mess after that.

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  4. Geez...that's a lot of snow! I''ve been glad to hear that Boston (and MA in general) is good at getting it all cleared. When we get snow like that, no one knows what to do...and we only have 6 plows for the whole city...so it's quite the mess. Luckily, it is rare that we get *that* much snow :-) Stay cozy!!!

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    1. I think we did pretty well considering how much snow we got so quickly. None of the normal streets are cleared well yet. They look just like ours does. Ours is a one lane street. Everyone else has a one lane street too now. Though they did get the major ways pretty well cleaned. There are some obvious spots were they are going to get some trucks in to haul the snow out. They piled it in places that will eventually need cleaning.

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  5. Good gracious that is a lot of snow! I am so glad you did not lose power through it all. Hopefully it will not take forever to go away once again.

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  6. Wow, that must be a lot of snow to be in Your part of the world! Almost looks as a normal winter here in Sweden! Good That You didn´t loose the power and are safe! Hope Your Spinach likes the snow, have never tried to overwinter any here. Hope the snow melts quickly and that this week will be better than the last! :) Mia

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    1. It is a lot of snow to get in just 24 hours. I'm not quite sure what is normal here. We got 81" total in 2010/2011 and 9" total last year. Both unusual years on either side of our norm. I grew up in the mountains of Colorado and I've seen much worse snowstorms. I still remember one (in May no less) that dropped 3' of snow. But it was melted in two days because the weather was so warm. But here we are on the edge of snow and rain. It isn't unusual to get rain that turns to snow, or snow that turns to rain.

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  7. The last time we had a major snowfall it was around 20", and things were shut down for a week, since we don't usually get a lot of snow or have many plows. I am thinking your spinach (and garlic) is now snug under that white blanket!

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  8. Glad you did not lose power and no damage. I got about 12 inches but some area of my property had about 3 feet piles from the drift.

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  10. WOW, that is A LOT of snow. Meanwhile in Australia (Sydney) we've been having heatwaves of 47c...that's HOT and horrible.

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  11. Hey Daph, Have you ever thought about installing or building a greenhouse? They 8 x 10 clear plastic kits are about $599 and Ive been thinking about putting one on my deck or perhaps building one from windows/doors. Just wondering if you thought about those?

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    1. Yes I have thought about it. But I don't get enough sun during the winter in my garden. Most of the sun is blocked by the surrounding houses. There is one spot that could be done (as long as I took it down for the summer as it is right outside the back door). But it is where the snow falls off the roof and this year the snow from the roof took out the tempered glass patio table. Shattered it into little pieces. I don't think it is safe there.

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  12. Thank you for the quick reply, Ive been on the web all day and found one, only 4' x 6' and $399, might be nice to start small and cute. We have snow loads here in Chicago, altho not much the passed 2 years, they say it can handle a large snow load, we shall see ; )

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    1. This isn't really a snow load problem. We just put solar panels on the roof (not turned on yet sadly) and the snow just slides right off. And the weight of 2' of snow from the whole roof at once is quite heavy.

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