Yet More Snow ...

  Another 3.5" on 01/10/24. We've had 15" this month. That's usually an entire winter's worth. And cold! We dipped to -3° on 01/09 and +3° on 01/10. The forecast is calling for lows of zero by mid-week again.

 Here's some shot of the most recent snow ...

 Jeff Erisman arrives to dig us out ... again!

 If you look at the picnic table, I cleared the right end before yesterday's snow. The left side contains the total snow from the past two storms, minus melt (8.5").

 Both Bob and I are a little worried about the gutter guards we both had installed. Bob says his are covered with leaves. Both of us have noticed how they serve as ice dams, allowing snow to pile up and long icicles to form. And I have quite a deep drift on the kitchen roof. I suppose I should be worried about the weight.

 

Thanks to Jeff our driveway is blessedly clear. At least we can get out to the road if we need to. And in an emergency, crews can easily get in.

 Through 01/10, we're -2.0° to normal for the month.

 Here are a few late day pix:

 Icicles seen from a second floor window.

 Wide view of a buried Pinehaven.

 Looking west towards sunset.

 And a final photo for today ...

The Big Snow

  I don't know if it's accurate but I've read that we just had the biggest snow since 2004. In any case, I don't remember any storm that dropped 10.5" in recent memory.

 The snowstorm arrived mid-day on Sunday, 01/05, and by the next morning at 7 am I read 8.5". It continued snowing through much of the day and dropped 2.5" more.

 Here are the pictures I took of the storm:

Mid-storm I checked the snow depth on our picnic table: 3". I didn't take my reading glasses so I placed the ruler upside down.

 Tom's car was buried in a drift.

 The north wind (never terribly strong) whipped snow into a drift on our back porch.

 You can see where I've cleaned off the end of the picnic table to I could measure new snow.

 Late in the afternoon of 01/06/24 I was napping in a recliner and woke to hearing a muffled car alarm. At first I didn't know what it was. But when I walked to the window I saw an overturned truck across the road from us at the south edge of our property.

 Someone stopped in a red truck and soon there was a large group of emergency vehicles there.

 It was a white Ford truck.

 An hour or so later a tow truck had righted the vehicle and hauled it away.

 My security cam caught the action at 4:30 pm.

 Note that the truck was facing north (left) when it stopped but traveling south (right) as it skidded to a stop. I doubt anyone was hurt. Whoever was in the vehicle must have been quickly extricated. I never saw an ambulance though I suspect there was one, maybe before I woke from my nap.

 Today (01/08) this is the view. All the snow to the left of Tom's car was shoveled by us.

 Jarred Erisman plowed out our driveway on Monday. He would have done more but I figured having Tom's car parked there would have made a real problem for him. At least we had access to the road in case of an emergency.

Maples Trimmed

  It was a cold (35°) morning with a light snow falling but Joe's Tree Service arrived on schedule about  9:30 am to trim the two maples nearest the house. The one on the south side has a number of dead limbs. In fact, Dave Clopper (the tree service's owner) said the tree's heartwood looks dead and may have been hit by lightning at some point in the past. There was enough dead lumber up in that tree that I worried every time the wind blew. And when we pulled out of the driveway in our cars or walked beneath it when mowing, I was always careful to listen for any unusual rustle

 The other maple is at the northwest corner of the house and it shades the kitchen and holds a myriad of birdhouses and feeders. I've noticed the eastern side is drying and asked Dave to trim any suspect branches.

.

 One of our security cameras watched the two trucks arrive. One is a bucket truck, the other a chipper/shredder. Dave immediately started trimming the south tree while a young man dragged branches to the chipper in the driveway.

 Dave then moved his boom truck to the garage apron and began trimming the tree by the kitchen.

 A bit later we heard a terrible crash and I found a limb had fallen and hit the north dining room window and shattered the storm window and slightly damaged the screen. Dave cleaned up the glass and said he'd take the frames to the hardware store, have them repaired and return with them soon.

 Here's how the maple by the driveway looks after trimming. I'm happy with the result and hope we can get a few more years out of it.

Orange Flags Point to What?

  We've begun seeing little orange flags all over the township. I know they're marking telephone and power lines. But they also point towards a future something ...

11-14-24

11-14-24

 These flags run diagonally from the power pole at the southeastern edge of our property towards our electrical meter box.

11-15-24

 The company noted on the truck is USIC.

11-15-24

 Whatever they're doing, it'll come very close to my mailbox.

12-06-24

 Now large spools of orange conduit have been placed along various roads. This is just south of Hemple Road on the west side of Clayton Road, about 0.3 miles north of Pinehaven. Work will apparently begin soon.

12-06-24

12-10-24

 This morning I heard an engine running and walked out to see what was going on. There's a trencher just north of my property and moving slowly south. One man is on the machine; another is on foot. The orange conduit is being buried.

 I asked the one man what company they were working for and he said this is for Spectrum Cable. He also said they'd be hooking up customers "in about two months".

 

12-10-24

 And now the trencher is coming across the eastern edge of my property.

12-10-24

 And it's directly in front of my house ...

12-10-24

They cut the conduit near my north catalpa tree. It's a cool (46° at 2 pm) and rainy day so they placed duct tape over the end (it's 1.5" in diameter) after pushing a white cord down inside. That, by the way, is how the fiber optic cable is pulled through all the plastic tubing.

12-10-24

 And now they're south of my property trenching across Millie's. They skipped a large area from the north catalpa to here. How will they get beneath my driveway? And how will they get beneath Hemple Road to my north?  It'll be fascinating to see how this is done.

12/14/24: A new mark was added to the road yesterday. This is at the southeast edge of my property adjacent to Millie's lane.

 And this one has been near Millie's mailbox for a couple of weeks or so. 

12/17/24: The crews were back today and completed burying  the conduit along the front of my property. They then installed a box at the edge of my neighbor's property and continued laying  the fiber to Jeff's.

 Laying the conduit at the front of my property. Two pieces of fiber were joined here and a box buried just to the left of the northmost catalpa.

 These  plastic pieces were dropped off just to my south.

 And here they are being installed during the late afternoon.

 When all the workers left I walked out to see how the box looks close-up. I assume this is where individual feeds will go to subscribers.

 That's it for my area at the moment. I'll post more if something interesting happens.

Wisteria Mystery Solved

  Back in 2011, Dan Miller gave us a wisteria. We knew next to nothing about it. It hasn't bloomed much over the years so we've been happy when it's managed some color.  In fact it took about nine years before we had any blooms at all. And though we look at it every day of our lives, we've never known much about it.

 But a few days ago (11/25/24) the plant answered one question.: it is the Asian variety.

 I was taking Parker on a walk when I happened to see five seed ponds hanging on the plant (all in a small area and on the north side of the plant). They were a little startling: light gray and fuzzy and almost exactly the fur I'd expect on a mouse. That distinction is noted here.

 By contrast, the North American variety has smooth seed pods.

 I didn't want more plants coming up in my yard so I cut the pods and bagged them. Here's a close-up look:

 So the plant has essentially answered the question about the type of wisteria we have. 

 Says igardendaily.com: "The downside to Chinese wisteria is it seems more than vigorous.  In fact, I would be remiss if I didn’t share that much of the literature called it down right invasive.  A very sturdy structure must be used to support it along with a commitment to keep it in-bounds.  The other negative I came across is that it can be an unreliable bloomer and that plants grown from seed may not bloom for 10-15 years!  Grafted plants or plants taken from cuttings will bloom sooner but it still may be 3-4 years after planting." [my italics]

 So now we have a plant that will be at least 14 years old next spring. We're hoping one of these years it's covered with blooms. But while we're waiting, at least we know the variety we're dealing with.