Sunday, December 22, 2013

Merry Christmas

Regular readers will know we are not at home just now. However here are pictures of the house and garden taken a few years ago in the middle of winter. When snow gets as thick as in the picture below, you have to climb on the roof to shovel it off because if the weather warms up and it rains, the snow can get too heavy for low pitch roofs and they might collapse.

Roche Fleurie in Winter
The porch after a snow storm with the snow blower waiting by the door.

The first thing that is required after a snow storm is to dig out our lane in order to be reconnected to the outside world.

Roche Fleurie in winter
 The driveway is about 1000 feet.


What  Lorne looked like after completing the job.


In winter, in our climate, snow is much preferable to rain as rain freezes up and becomes a great deal more difficult to deal with.  With a snow cover that stays all winter, plants are cosy under the snow that acts as insulation. Under a foot or more of snow, the soil temperature at ground surface, just below the snow, does not get much cooler than the freezing point (0 C).

The garden under the snow

Merry Christmas to all.

Wheelbarrows waiting for spring

11 comments:

  1. And I'll bet you're glad you're not there now!

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  2. Merry Christmas to you and Lorne, Alain. Sorry you're not here to enjoy winter!

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  3. Our snow varies from a half inch that lasts a day to a foot deep that last three weeks - big changes with the gulf stream climate, especially now it's slowing down! I do love snowy photos though - but I'm not sure I could cope with a frozen moustache!

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  4. Merry Christmas to both of you Alain ! So much snow... I'm glad to live in a tempered place :)

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  5. Made me shiver - I though Lorne was mowing the snow!

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  6. We seldom have snow cover for more than a month.
    Merry Christmas to you, too.

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  7. Great pictures! Chicago is similar, though I think your winter is marginally more severe. Our older son spent a year in Montreal and had amazing stories about the ice-coated landscape. Merry Christmas!

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  8. Have a Happy Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year. Oh! that's a scary information that too much snow can make the snow collapse. I guess we don't get that much snow here, and thus never heard anything from people here.

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  9. On the plus side, there's nothing more cozy than sitting by the fire on a snowy day. Merry Christmas and all the best for 2014!

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  10. Yep, that's a lot of snow. Merry Christmas to you two snowbirds (rainbirds?). Read seed-house catalogues, and dream happy dreams.

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