I'm still here...

Well. It has been an experience. I don't believe I've ever seen quite this much snow at one time here. Truly an awesome sight.





The National Weather Service recorded us at 27" on Saturday afternoon, which brings us upwards of 50 inches for this winter. That's one heck of a lot of snow! This now ranks as #4 in the Top Ten storms of all time for this area and depending on what happens Tuesday, may be this area's second snowiest winter ever. Woof! History-making weather.

We fared better than I feared - I fully expected to lose power. Even though our utility lines are underground and in no danger of falling under the weight of snow, they're well over thirty years old and in dire need of repair/replacement; we lose power far more often than we should, especially in bad weather. We experienced a momentary hiccup at about 1:00 am Saturday morning, but that was it.

We have suffered some plant damage and loss. At least one, probably two, rhododendron snapped right off at the base, and my pretty little weeping Japanese maple appears to have lost several major branches. *sniff* The lilacs may have some breakage, but they'll recover. Surprisingly, my two ornamental cherry trees that had me worried appear intact. I'm grateful the damage wasn't more extensive but most of my azaleas are still buried, so we'll know more as this stuff melts.

Now, it's just a matter of digging out ... so we can start over again on Tuesday! And then, there's that little matter of plummeting temperatures... it was 6 flippin' cold degrees here last night!!