I bet you thought we were so buried in snow you'd never hear from either one of us again! Not so! We're doing fine - just a little weary from shoveling and blowing snow around. Seems like we all deserve some very nice, gently warming weather for a change. Nothing like that tonight, though - it's 18.9 degrees and probably will be colder before morning. But - and here's the good news: the forecast is for sunshine and warming temperatures for most of next week!! 
     On Thursday, Larry Rossi got the block all set up for the Ice-Out Contest. He wisely wanted to get it done before this storm hit - and they also like to have it out there before April 1st, which is the last day people can get tickets. It's kind of hard to get people interested in guessing when the block will go through the ice when it isn't even ON the ice yet! No matter - it's there, but I suspect it's pretty well hidden after almost two feet of snow falling on it.
     That's by actual measurement on our deck where I take measurements every morning. I measured nearly four inches on Friday morning and another nineteen this morning. With the wind blowing and other factors, twenty-three inches, more or less is what this storm delivered to us. And this morning most of us were out doing the same thing - throwing

snow around. Not as bad as sometimes, but pretty solidly packed. I took some pictures. Fred got some of the snowfall last night the one below of our young maple tree at the front of the house - the snow was clinging in clumps on some of the branches and it looked like a giant pussy willow bush. You can't see it very well, but it's out there in the darkness if you look hard enough. 
    The top picture was as the storm was just beginning, next is the wind blowing snow off the roof, and then the pussy willow tree. 
     This morning I could barely get out the front door because the snow was so deep. Once out there I had to shovel my way to the measuring tube that was useless because snow had been spilling over the top for hours so there was no way I could get an accurate measurement. I also always take a core sample. However, my measuring tube is only about twelve inches tall, so I had to do it in two increments. Once I have the snow core, I take it inside and add measured amounts of water to melt the snow, then discard the same amount I used to melt the snow and then measure what's left. It's not an exact science, but gives weather stations all over the nation and some in Canada information they use to predict flooding, etc. I also record the temperature, relative humidity and wind direction, and throw in whether it's cloudy, raining, snowing, etc.
    I stopped part way through clearing the deck to take some pictures. I usually measure snow depth with a twelve-inch ruler, but today I had to pull out the big gun, the yard stick. First time this year I've had to use it. I shoveled about half of the deck and Fred did the rest - and then went to do snow blowing. It was tough gigging. The banks are so high now that the snow blower doesn't get it quite over the top in some places and some of it falls back into the path. It's worse trying to shovel it - as you can see where Fred is shoveling our walk, the bank is nearly as tall as he is. Our basement windows look into a big snowbank, and a mound of snow even cuts off my view of the driveway from the kitchen window. The big trees in front of the house are weighted down with snow and the back deck is pretty well covered - again. We shoveled it Thursday so we could get the door open and put a game camera out to see if we could catch a glimpse of some of the wildlife that goes through in the night. We see tracks, but never can tell exactly what animal left them. The camera is under that ridge of snow that is our deck railing - picture taken from my office window.
    This is not the biggest storm we've ever had, but it has dumped quite a lot of snow on us and made driving very hazardous last night for the evening commute. I had the scanner going and heard several reports of accidents in the area - tractor trailers jackknifed, cars off the road, trees on power lines. It was a day and night to stay off the roads unless you absolutely had to be out there.
     On a very sad note, I got word yesterday that we lost another of our long-time Joe's Pond summer residents. Ed Walsh passed away on January 14th. His daughter, Sabina, contacted me yesterday to let me know. She said her father had been ill - had several bouts of  pneumonia and couldn't shake it. He was 91. There is no obituary, but Sabina told me he had served in the U. S. Navy in WWII and worked in the New York State Court System. Survivors are his daughter Sabina, five grand children, five great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. His wife, Kay, predeceased him in 2013. Ed was a devoted fan of Joe's Pond, and had many friends here. We will miss him.
    Condolences may be sent to the family at 1737 Albany Ave., Brooklyn NY 11210.