Canyon

We finally signed up for Netflix and guess what Rob does with his evenings? He's dug a grand canyon - view from above:




















You can see the posts for the septic field in both images. The second is from ground level, with the hose for scale. Yes, we got a bit more snow this past winter than the winter before and it all piled up here between the house and the hillside, plus farther back. At least it wasn't drifting onto the driveway!




















By the way, we can watch Netflix by download, but our network connection is such that it takes an hour to watch a half hour show. There are pauses of random duration. If you manually pause it, it loses its place and has to download again.

It's melting

This picture was taken a couple weeks ago and shows several things: 1. it's light before work, 2. it's still cold, and 3. the seal on a triple-paned argon-filled window has failed.



















On to today, Rob's weekend fun has been moving water around. He's got a little pump set up to pull from one hose, push to another. There's a Y so you can pull from puddle A (bottom of driveway) or puddle B (near front door). He said there was a while yesterday afternoon when the driveway puddle was filling faster than he could drain it.



















Why bother? Last year the gravel under the porch supports liquified and the porch sank significantly.
















The blue tarp is on the wood pile.































The stream flows over the edge of the cliff back by where we store the canoe.

Well Repair in PA

Helped Mom replace some components at the well. Here is a photo of the failed pressure tank.

The air bladder had water on the other side of it.

We also replaced the pressure gauge on the well pump and also had to replace an electrical switch to turn off power to the pump in the well. The moisture in the well housing area did a number on the switch.

The well housing:

Well pump and new pressure tank:

Replacement temporary switch which will need a new waterproof box:

Wind drifts

The result of last night's storm is not so much new snow as far as I can tell, but it sure did get blown around! Brand new drift by the front door (was clear yesterday):













Just a few new drifts on the driveway - maybe I won't even shovel it!
















I went for a walk to deliver something to a neighbor and came across Seth playing with his new toy on their driveway:
















More wind effects on the snow piles:













I went for another walk to see the state of the roads downhill of us. Here's one view where the left side is clear almost down to the ice layer while the right side is rather drifted up:















Back to find help on the way! He's at the hairpin turn above our place.

Snowball races

You thought this was Rob's knitting blog, or maybe Rob's house blog. It has become the story of Rob missing the best snow of the decade.

















I love the patterns the wind makes on the snow.













So how much more snow is that? Hard to tell...

















Wasn't there a wood pile back there?
















I'd say we got a good six inches of wind-polished snow. I thought I had cleaned off the Subaru - at least the solar panels are clear.














Wind sculpting at the top of the driveway.
















Snowball races! When I dump snow over the edge of the driveway cliff, which chunk goes the farthest?




















Right after I finished the driveway, I saw this black cloud to the NW.
















Soon after, more snow (but it has stopped again for now).

Snow!

Rob left town to be with his mom after the death of his step-dad - and Rob missed out on a snow storm. I love the shapes the wind makes in the snow. Note that I had cleared a path to the door on Sunday.















The Subaru isn't getting much love these days.
















Looking up the driveway. The snow depth here isn't as deep as what they said fell - but I found some extra snow out by the wood pile. Only one of the septic posts is showing out back.
















View from the top of the driveway. I got a ride to work from a neighbor both yesterday and today, but our subdivision got plowed out again today - second time in a week! It means I'm free to come and go on my own schedule. I definitely need my own wheels on Thursday.
















I remember Bill Williams talking about the one day a year when the wind really blows - and all the trees that are going that year go. This tree was too big for us to move so we drove right over it. So glad I wasn't in our wimpy Mazda.

Dinner at Tsim Sha Tsui

One of the Koreans (Dr. Jang) sent me some photos from our big dinner out. I think we had six tables in all, a very nice meal.