Winter's wrath and the sorry state of your yard. Here in southwestern Connecticut, the last winter was a hard one. Even I, a dyed-in-the-wool snow lover, had had enough after the 8th. or 9th. storm. The pure joy of shoveling out my mailbox for the 10th time is hard to describe.
Negotiating the side streets at one point became a chess like game of strategy. SUV trumps Mini Cooper, Cooper must pull into a driveway and let my larger car pass. School bus trumps me, I duck into the neighbors drive. Fully loaded fuel oil truck moves aside for no one. A fuel truck /vs./ bus was a full on standoff. I reverse course and go the long way around. I think they were there for over an hour. That silly fun went on for all of January and most of February.
The addition of roof rakes was new to many of us this past season. As horror stories about ice dams causing buckling floors and collapsing ceilings spread like swine flu, we lined up at the local hardware store to get on the roof rake waiting list. When mine arrived, I strapped it to the roof taking care to be sure the large letters on the box were easily readable, and drove around the block a few extra times so the other hapless dads could see I was now one of the "haves".
The joy of being among the recently "new tooled elite" was short lived however. The actual use of which was an exercise in pure agony. Wading waist deep through drifted snow, one was expected to wield this 20 foot long contraption with whatever little upper body strength that remained after extracting the mailbox from the plow man's bi-weekly gift of barely passable streets. Muscle cramps and strained backs guaranteed.
The peaceful blanket of deep snow resting on the roof, when agitated by a roof raker, detaches from its perch and lands on your prized foundation shrubbery with the force and weight of a rock slide. Potential ice dam avoided. Absolute carnage to the plants guaranteed. I know I am not alone in watching with horror, the slow motion car wreck that was the thaw out and reveal of the plantings below the eaves.
If you are planning on selling your home this spring, bemoaning the harsh winter is not going to re-up the curb appeal of your exterior. In this market it is imperative to have the whole package, inside and out. You know what you need to do or, at the very least, call for help.
Winter's wrath and the sorry state of your yard.
We have it a little easier here in Northern Virginia. Everything is green now and flowers are starting the bloom. It's a lovely time of year here. Good luck thawing out up north, there!
Definitely a fun read, Peter! It brought back waaay too many memories for me! My bushes look awful this year!
Very, Very long winter. Even TODAY I still had snow in the back yard in New Hampshire. I think this week we'll see the last of it. Great post! Love the Berner...we have two and they love the snow.
Virginia, we are not too far behind in our greening up here. i am originally from just across the Potomac river. My family lives very near Great Falls on the Maryland side.
Dagny, sorry for the dredging up of unpleasant memories. I had fun writing that one.
Caroline, Tatonka is my second Berner. I just love them hair clumps and all.
Well written and for those who haven't had a similar winter experience, a great depiction of what we had to deal with this past year.
We didn't have the roof rake, and when our block of ice fell from the roof, the result was a damaged AC unit, broken chair, three demolished lounge chairs, and several broken bushes.
Sharon, WOW...that trumps crushed hydrangeas. People do not realize just how dangerous ice and snow accumulation on a roof can be.
Ok, ok...I'll stick with California...even our idiot government is worth the weather.
I had to cut half of the photos I took from a recent listing due to the lawn being dead. The sellers are working on re-seeding... but it still looks terrible. Good thing everyones does.
Karen, There are always trade offs. You get the Napa valley along with the state government.
I know, this winter was absolutely horrid. I was lucky that I live in a condo so didn't have to shovel. But, it was so hard to drive around and I had so many cancelled appts and delayed installs. So glad to see the grass again!
Oh, and yes, we helped a lot of people repair/replace their basement floors due to ice damming and/or flooding.
I lived in northern Utah as a youth age 6-10. There’s a reason why I live in sunny San Diego now. Keep me south of Interstate 10 and I’m pretty happy!
By the way, you have a shout-out in my latest blog post.
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