Arctic dipping south

[zoom-zoom]

That's more than 5 hours worth of shoveling.

Really, it might be 90 minutes…but we've had to clear that much at least once/day nearly every day for about the past couple of weeks. This has been the case most of this Winter. We haven't touched the deck (aside from DS playing around with a shovel yesterday and sledding down the deck steps). There's no point to it.

[Crankin]

We have a plow guy for the 800 foot shared driveway, but DH does the part that is just in front of our house, and up to the shared part with a huge snowblower. It takes him about 1.5 hours to 2 hours just to do that. We don't even do the part that's in front of our bike shed anymore.
I just came home from dinner with friends. DH isn't coming home from San Diego until tomorrow. We had about an inch of snow that is going to freeze overnight, as the temperature is going down to single digits. If I was good, I'd get out there and push it away, before it freeezes. But, I won't. I'll do it tomorrow, probably before I go skiing!

[emily_in_nc]

I will never, ever live in a place that gets winters like most of you who have posted on this thread are getting! We had a very chilly morning yesterday on N. Padre Island with a low of 33F and wind chill of 23F. It felt so bitter cold after getting used to 50s-70s that I made a vow never again to subject myself to a northern winter. Not that I'd planned to, but just in case I forgot! Today it was back up to 55 for a high, and tomorrow is supposed to be in the upper 60s. When it does get cold here, it doesn't last long. I just can't imagine what so many of you are dealing with other than when I watch the national news or Weather Channel.

Stay warm, my friends!

[zoom-zoom]

I will never, ever live in a place that gets winters like most of you who have posted on this thread are getting! We had a very chilly morning yesterday on N. Padre Island with a low of 33F and wind chill of 23F. It felt so bitter cold after getting used to 50s-70s that I made a vow never again to subject myself to a northern winter. Not that I'd planned to, but just in case I forgot! Today it was back up to 55 for a high, and tomorrow is supposed to be in the upper 60s. When it does get cold here, it doesn't last long. I just can't imagine what so many of you are dealing with other than when I watch the national news or Weather Channel.

Stay warm, my friends!

I'd kill to live somewhere in the desert SW. It would be so much kinder on my allergies and asthma, too. I've been battling bronchitis for FOUR friggin' weeks. A course of antibiotics didn't touch it, which proved that it wasn't walking pneumonia. I'm certain that this weather contributes.

[Wasp]

Usually winter in Vancouver BC is really wet. Most winter days here are dark damp and gloomy. This stretch of warm sunny weather has been such a treat. Today it was around 10c. We have been out on the bikes every day this past week taking advantage of the warm sunny weather. It's going to suck once the rain returns, on the bright side you don't shovel rain.
We used to live in northern BC and one winter we were shovelling snow up off the roof (the snow banks were higher than our house) it felt like living in an igloo. I hated it. We moved south soon after that winter experience.
Hopefully warmer weather is on its way soon.
Stay warm
Stay safe

[Crankin]

Zoom, I hate to tell you that living in the desert SW might make your asthma and allergies WORSE. Most people don't know this. Yes, back in the day (the 40s- 50s) when the air was clean and there wasn't too much overdevelopment, it did help. Now you have 3 things that make it worse. Overdevelopment that holds the heat in, as well as increases the particulates in the air. Think LA. People who move there and want to recreate their "home environment." Hence, they plant non-indigenous tress, grasses, and plants which provide all kinds of allergens that shouldn't be in the desert. Third, there are mold spores that exist in the SW that don't exist anywhere else in the US. Look up Valley Fever. Then you also have the giant gene pool of people of people with asthma and allergies who moved there. They all met, got married, had kids, and there's a huge population of people with asthma!
When I left AZ, I was on a nebulizer every 4-6 hours, had bout after bout of bronchitis, and was always sick. My older son was also in the same boat. In the past 24 years, I have become increasingly healthier. I get a bronchial thing maybe once a year, and not every year. My son, after an initial adjustment, was an extremely healthy kid, and now is a healthy adult. No more nebulizer. For us, I think the constant breezes, lack of air pollution, and lack of weird mold were the trick.

[zoom-zoom]

That makes sense. My allergies and asthma were great in Death Valley and Tahoe, where people aren't planting crazy stuff. In Vegas all of the planting and smoke about kill me.