Huzzah!

I am happy to report that my project was a success!

Before

After

The entire deck is shoveled! Well...the areas around the planters have a bit of snow around them but I figure that will melt fairly quickly. We are suppose to get another round of snow this week (as is most of the country, even my beloved Oklahoma) but I have a really good feeling about winter being on a downturn. I know that we are getting an epic storm on groundhog day which probably means 8 more weeks of winter but I have a good feeling so we'll see. Honestly, I am just happy that temperatures will start getting high enough to slowly melt the snow. I was chatting with my neighbor about how my mom told me it was 70 degrees a few days ago in Oklahoma and how I was so jealous. He said that it would be a big problem if it got even up to 50 degrees because the snow would melt too quickly causing flooding in our basements. It's strange that almost all homes here have basements but back in Oklahoma, right in tornado alley, no one really has basements...kind of weird.
One reason I started this blog was to talk about how things are different in the north and I have recently learned about "ice dams."To learn about ice dams Apparently, when it snows a bunch homeowners either have to clamor up on their roofs themselves to get all the snow off the roof or hire someone to do it. Luckily, my neighbor tried to do it himself and failed miserably and now is having a friend do his, another neighbor and mine for a discounted rate (still several hundred dollars). It is a huge help because some buildings locally have been collapsing under the weight of the snow and then ice dams can cause winter damage in the home. All my neighbors have been incredibly nice--snow blowing our driveway, helping clear around the mailbox and generally assuring me that this is incredibly unusual. Apparently, no one has had to hire someone to clear their roof since 95/96 winter when they got 115" of snow in one winter. We are at 71" so far with almost all of that in January. Right now we are at the 11th most snowy winter, but after this week I think we will easily be in the top 10. The gap between the snowiest winter and the 2nd snowiest is huge: 115" for number 1 and 84.9" for number 2. Lets hope my good feeling is indicative of a calming mother nature...please?
Praying for an end to the snow apocalypse,
Steph
Top 10 Snowiest Winters for Connecticut:
Here is a list of the 10 snowiest seasons on record: 1995-96 115.2”, 1993-94 84.9”, 1966-67 82.8”, 1977-78 82.3”, 1960-61 80.2, 1945-46 79.9”, 1947-48 77.7”, 1915-16 77.1”, 1955-56 76.1”, 2004-05 74.1”.
-from http://www.wfsb.com/technicaldiscussion/index.html