Tree avalanche

The snow we have now has come when the temperature has been very cold so it is dry, light and airy. It clings to everything…

The snow piles up on tree branches…

But…eventually, the amount of snow, or snow and a bit of sun cause gravity to do its thing and a branch sheds its accumulation of snow. If it is a high branch, the avalanche of snow from the high branch brings snow from lower branches in its path. Karl and I have both been “caught” – Karl lays his ears back and runs and then looks at me as if to say “What, I did nothing?”. I hear the sound, feel the first rush of snow and hunker down in my coat with my cowboy hat for protection as the weight of the snow falls around me. This afternoon, as snow has been falling heavily, the trees have been thunderously shedding snow with increasing frequency. It falls all around the sunroom where I’m working and Karl is napping near me – startling us when it falls near or on the house.

Thunder of snow…tree avalanche.

Karl’s dilemma

hmmm….there is a perfectly wonderful dog bed on the front porch…

Oh…

I shovel off part of the roof. The additions to the original part of the house did not include new roof trusses. The front part of the roof and particularly the porch roof is extremely flat. Two problems – the bathroom vent gets buried quickly and the snow load on the porch roof can get ugly fast. It is much easier to push off 3-6-8 inches of light fluffy snow as it comes down than to dig out a foot or more of heavy compacted snow…ask me how I know this…

The roof dump interferes with Karl’s “view” of his yard. What is a dog to do?

Singing apparently helps…

At least the heated water bowl works.