All four cats were out in the back yard today, together, including our grey twins Fog & Cloud.
see more crazy cat pics
And I went for my first bike ride of the year and my first ride on my new bike, with Andie.
The snow we had last week has been ploughed aside. On busy city streets, it has been nibbled into trucks and removed. But in ordinary parking lots it’s just piled up and left to melt. When we went shopping, only about 2/3 of the usual spaces were open. The rest were under huge heaps of snow. The piles in this lot are about six metres high. Liz, in green and standing at the bottom of the pile, is about 1.7 m tall. Andie and Taiga the dog are shorter.
Andie follows Taiga.
They’re about to jump down to ground level.
Someone suggested ice cleats for walking during treacherous winter freezes. That seems like a good idea; I should dig out our old YakTrax for working outside.
Meanwhle, in Montreal, some houses are being crushed by the weight of snow on the roofs.
We’re expecting snow of 20 to 30 cm over the next day or two.
Winter storm watch for City of Toronto issued 2:43 PM EST Thursday 6 March 2008..Another winter Wallop threatens spring forward weekend..
This is an alert to the potential development of dangerous winter weather conditions in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.
A winter storm is currently brewing over Texas with the potential to bring significant snow to most of southern Ontario. It appears that the snow will come in two doses. The first shot will begin as early as Friday afternoon for southwestern Ontario and Friday evening in eastern Ontario. We may have a brief reprieve overnight into Saturday morning where snow may become light and more intermittent. The heaviest snowfall is then expected in the second shot beginning later Saturday. Keep in mind that this storm is expected to last for 36 to 48 hours.
Storm totals may be near 30 centimetres along and east of a line from Long Point to the Golden Horseshoe then to Petawawa. There is potential for 30 to 50 centimetres of snow over the Niagara Peninsula and parts of eastern Ontario. Areas west of the Long Point to Petawawa line should see between 10 to 20 centimetres with lesser amounts near Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. Behind this system we could see strong northerly winds to 60 km/h. On Saturday strong winds combined with fresh snow will cause blowing snow to lower visibilities and create dangerous driving conditions. Whiteout conditions are possible so travellers should be prepared to alter their plans accordingly.
Total snowfall amounts will depend on the track of this system. There is still some uncertainty as to the exact track of this storm. Environment Canada will closely monitor this situation and issue warnings as required within the next 24 hours.
We had some snow Wednesday as the jet stream dipped into Texas, pulling cold Arctic Air practially down to Galveston.
We shovelled because we know it will be getting cold again and there’s more snow coming.
It was thawing a little bit today but the temperature is falling to -9 C tonight and the wind chill will be ferocious.
This is from last week, when about 60 cm of fresh snow (or so it seemed) was piled on lawns and there was hardly anywhere to put the snow that was cleared off sidewalks and driveways.
This is a view of the back yard as of February 8th, after the second big snowfall.
Then we had two more.
It has been snowing since I woke up. In spite of snow tires, it took twice as long as usual to drive to the STC general meeting, so I came in just at the end. I picked up the handout and demolished a few sandwiches and crunchy vegetables, followed by a handful of strawberries.
A group of us, including tonight’s speaker, went across the street to the Milestones restaurant and had some appetizers. I had a soft drink since I was driving that evening. The conversation was lively and wide-ranging. Finally about 10:30 p.m. we separated. I gave the speaker a ride down to her hotel, so she could see a bit of the city instead of taking the subway. Then, on the way home, I reached our local grocery store about 11:30 p,m. and bought a few things.
At the house, I tramped out a path for the tires to our parking slip, then drove in and made it on the first try. I checked the cat door, which is in a cellar window: blocked. I went outside and dug down to it. The snow beside the house is higher than my boot-tops. Then I took a shovel and cleaned off the front walk, plus a narrow path to the house. By that time, one cat had ventured outside but the snow was too deep for him to go far. I was hot from shovelling, so I leaned on he porch railing and watched him search for snow-mice and jump for snowflakes. Then I put away the groceries and called it a night. The cat came in, too, and he and his brother spent fifteen minutes bouncing out of ambush and chasing each other all over the house.
Our friend in Wyoming writes,
Here, it’s been blizzarding most of the week. Today the wind loosened one of the roof panels on the barn making it slam up and down constantly. I had to connect two ladders together with duct tape to climb to the spot and drill in new screws. In blowing snow and 35mph wind. I hate heights so first I had to tie a climbing rope to a fencepost and heave it across the roof. Then climb the ladder while holding the rope then drill the screws one-handed while still gripping the rope with the other hand.Back in the clinic the first patient was a dog pretty obviously suffering from methamphetamine toxicosis. You can tell because the dog looks to be on the verge of epileptic fits. The treatment for epileptic fits is high-dose valium intravenously. And you can tell it’s methamphetamine because valium makes the twitching much worse. The treatment for meth is thorazine. I gave a dose and he quieted down. Now I have to call the police. The owners are a young couple with a two-year-old daughter.
Last night I had to see a horse with a foot-long cut on his neck. Because I’ve had to use the snowblower every morning this week the snow has piled so deep in front of the barn that we couldn’t get the horse over the snow berm. I guess he was afraid of deep snow. So we had to shovel a path through the snow pile for the horse to get him in the barn so I could suture the wound.
Wyoming winters are losing their charm.
