Epic? Definitely -- through Thurs, 3/2/23

 

I might have set myself up by my comment on my last post -- as in, why see snow in the Sierras when I'd be able to see snow at home in a couple of days?  The predicted storm, or actually the first in a series of back-to-back storms was supposed to start Tues, 2/21, but it lagged, as storms can do, and didn't commence till Thursday, the 23rd.  We were prepared, ready.  We'd done our shopping and cooking.  When the first two inches covered our driveway, we were out to clear it off as soon as there was a lull (which didn't last long).  It went downhill after that.

There's the Prius at the top of the driveway, and you see we've used those shovels!  A grader has just passed, and pushed large chunks of icy snow in front of our newly-cleared driveway!

By Friday, snow was falling heavily.  I was walking toward the back deck to measure the amount with my yardstick.  After several more days, I no longer bothered to do it ... the snow was way over the 36" yardstick!

Kinda disheartening to see this, after you've worked your arses off!

Maybe the snow level was two-three feet here.

Aha, there's the Prius.  We've never seen so much snow.  Even the road isn't being scraped clean by a snowplow.  As the inches piled atop each other, we hoped (against hope) that we wouldn't lose power, and we didn't -- till Tuesday morning, Feb 28th, and then that was it for electricity.

We continued to shovel a path to the Prius (and the road).  Oh, we moaned, as we turned around and saw more snowflakes filling in our just-cleared path!  People said why shovel when the snow is expected to continue for who-knows-how-long?  We did it because it's easier to get rid of six inches of snow than it is a foot or two feet or more.  Who can lift that heavy a pile?

Different stages of digging out the Prius.

Jimmy carried the bigger load, but we both worked.

After more days of fluffy white stuff, the bird feeder outside our dining room window was close to being swallowed in snow.  And by Tuesday, it was engulfed.  The Lesser Goldfinches and Juncos were very hungry, trying to stay warm, I suppose.

The days ran together, the snow on the back deck ... unbelievable.

And it was still snowing!

Tuesday afternoon, after losing power in the morning, we decided to leave the house.  Even with the fireplace on, heating just the great room and the rest of the doors closed, it would eventually be too chilly to be comfortable.  We moved into our motor home, "Tergel"  With it's smaller space and a great genni, we could stay warm and comfy.  But first, we needed to shovel (!!) a path to it (above)!  Jimmy started at one end and I started at Tergel's front door and we met in the middle.  It was hard wading through thigh-deep snow to get to my starting point!  Monday and Tuesday were blizzard-like conditions. Crazy!

Jimmy hooked up the genni in the garage to our fridge in the house and garage freezer, so there was back and forth to turn it on and off.  We don't have a whole house genni ... yet.

Jimmy was standing at our front door when he took my picture.

Notice the birch behind me, bent over and stuck in snow.

After a while, after so much shoveling, I just crapped out.  Funny thing about soft snow, if you fall into it, a) you don't get hurt, and b) you can't get up!  

This was Tuesday afternoon, and the point where we cried, "UNCLE!"  We give up.  No mas.  And it was still snowing.  It just kept snowing.  We were now about four feet, give or take an inch, FOUR FEET OF SNOW!  Unfreakinbelievable.

We were comfy in Tergel.  When I woke up Wednesday morning and looked out, I jumped for joy!  The sun was out and it wasn't snowing!  First time since the previous Thursday!  I dressed quickly and went out with the camera.  I could not believe my eyes.  The snow!  Look at our roof!

All you could see was white.

The square block in the center is the Prius.

Tergel.  The sun!

Check out the driveway to the garage.

There would be a lot of damage from such heavy snow.  Trees down, power lines snapped, and the road impassable for the likes of our Prius.  Nevada City is buried, paralyzed by snow.

Is it beautiful?  Yes.  Is it a pain in the ass?  You betcha.  Normal life is completely disrupted.  We're okay, we're doing all right, not complaining, compared to what others are going through (think: Ukraine), but we're trying to get ready for our South American trip, come Monday.  How are we getting to the airport now?  This snow will be on the ground for a month.  I forgot to add how cold it's been, too.  Hard to pack for 85 degree Amazon River days when I'm wearing four layers and a parka!

Ah, but no snow is falling today!  It's back to shoveling.  Lots more shoveling.  Geez, this is like living in Niagara Falls (the snow belt)!  We have no power, no internet, no cable, no washing machine, no, no, no, and no news, but we know words like EPIC and the overused "unprecedented," and such are being used.  Folks who've lived here 25 years haven't seen this kind of winter.  (I don't how I got lucky enough to use our MiFi tonight, but I tried it and it worked!)

This is the one that really threw me:  Jimmy standing beside the sliding glass door on our back deck.  Aside from him, there's absolutely nothing recognizable.  For Pete's sake, look at the snow!

Back to shoveling ....

This is what we saw Wednesday.  Thursday (today) was also sunny and cold.  We received a notice from PG&E that our power won't be restored until March 7th!  Good grief.  Well, our friend across the street has a four-wheel drive vehicle and he'll drive us down to Matt's (Sacramento) either tomorrow or Saturday, depending on the weather.  Another storm is forecast for Fri/Sat!  We'll stay with Matt and Jen and Evie (oh boy) till our flight early Monday morning.  We're gonna blow this joint.  We're gonna get warm and maybe even sweat on a river boat in the Amazon River.  And when we return in a couple of weeks, this durn snow will still be here!  I hope we'll have power then.