The End is Near

It's too soon to say "we're in the clear" but after a long and difficult winter, it seems the end is near. Spring is definitely on its way.

We've hardly had a chance for outdoor activities this winter. After an icy December/January, we received record snowfall in the month of February. I was so busy and sore from all that shoveling and I had no energy left to take the dogs for walks or hikes. Even if I had wanted to hike somewhere, the parking areas were plowed in with snow and not accessible. The couple times we did make it out for snowshoeing, the snow was impossibly deep for the dogs and we had to turn back right away.

Last week we finally saw a bit of thawing but the thawed snow quickly froze on sidewalks causing dangerous conditions again. I attempted to take the dogs for a walk last Friday night (a week ago) but ended up falling on the ice and hurting my knee (among other things). I've been taking it easy this past week and opted to forego any additional walks until the sidewalks are completely clear of ice and snow.

A few days ago Mother Nature dumped a bunch of rain on us, which weighed down the snow on roofs and caused major ice dams. One of those ice dams fell off my roof and took down part of the roof overhang and rain gutters with it. That piece of roof crashed into a window. So I spent the afternoon cleaning up glass, boarding up the window and shoveling the remaining snow off my roof (actually Alan helped me with that part - thank you honey).

The cleanup of this damage will be ongoing for a bit... contractors are so busy with all the snow/ice damage that it's impossible to get someone out to look at it anytime soon. The next night, flood water from my backyard started pouring in a hole in my basement. I had to chop ice in the backyard to divert water away from the house and then mop up the mess in the basement. It feels like this crap will never end.

But then we had today! It was beautiful out. Spring is in the air... the sun is sitting higher in the sky, days are getting longer and the air has a humid quality to it that makes me believe winter is almost over. Just a couple more weeks of gradually warming temps to melt this incredible depth of snow and we'll be able to get outside on a more consistent basis. It's almost here... I can feel it.

The dogs were in heaven today. The snow on the trail has condensed enough that they could manage running around without getting too exhausted. No one had been through to break trail yet, so it was still exerting, but the sunshine and fresh air invigorated us and we spent over an hour walking and playing in the woods. I wore my snow-shoes still to make sure I could get through, but the dogs did well on their own without following me.

I found myself singing along to the radio on our way home, my spirits lifted from the time outdoors. My mood's recovery still has a long way to go after this crazy winter, but today was a good start and I'm looking forward to getting out again soon.

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