I am looking out my office window right now and it has rain all over it. Please keep it coming!There is snow everywhere and I am ready for it to melt.
Funny, when you don't grow up with snow, and you see it on Christmas cards and in the movies it looks so inviting and pretty, it does, doesn't it? And I still think so. But then we were pounded with snow this past week (and where we live it is never much more than a light dusting a few times a winter) and the snow is still here. And now it is like huge chunks of ice, and it just sits there and I am over it. I guess I like the idea more than the reality. Or I will go to a ski resort to see the snow and let someone else worry. Now I know why people always want to move away from the snow, the line we have all heard, "Yeah it is great as long as you don't have to go to work in it, dig your car out, etc.." I used to think those people sounded crabby. It has only been one week for me and I did not have to dig my car out or go to work in it.
I wondered how all my landscaping will do, as we again don't live in a climate that is supposed to get a lot of snow. Can my yard be covered in it for one solid week and still thrive again later this spring? I am just too used to and spoiled with Northern California weather, and now I know why people would move there for the weather. I used to think that was just dumb. (You don't totally get it if you grow up there..)
So I dug around online trying to find out what to do when it snows--and I don't mean fun stuff, I mean like yard care and house care. There just isn't much to find, which seems amazing, or one has to look way too hard, which I don't want to.
Here are some of the main things I found..
For yard care, it is a good idea to wrap evergreens in little burlap coats. This will really help protect the branches from too much heavy snow. That is such a great idea, and too late for that! I noticed the other day one of my really nice rhododendrons had 2 large branches just snap off, it never occurred to me that this beautiful white fluffy stuff would get all heavy and hard and break my plants--argh!
The next tip I read was if you don't put little coats on the plants then go shake the snow off.Check. I did that yesterday, when it occurred to me. I could almost feel my plants saying thank you.
I just keep wondering about all my plants covered in snow and will they make it through. I have no idea since this is new to me. I shudder to think that all the work I put in over the summer will be lost when plants die. But I will hope for the best.
Rain, please come back! Northwest awful, month after month rain, please come back !
A few other tips..
Make sure you get your furnace checked out before winter starts. No check there. My heater stopped a couple of weeks ago. I am super fortunate that my neighbor can fix almost anything, and came over, determined the problem and actually had a part for it until HE could go to the store the next day and get the part for that brand and fixed it. Amazing.
Make sure your pipes are well insulated. I don't really know what that means or even if I have to do that--is that for places where it really snows, NOT like here..?
Don't stack firewood by your home. Check. I don't like wood burning and love gas. But don't put your wood by your home. It is a fire hazard and attracts pests that you don't want next to your home either.
Make sure your windows are in good shape. Kind of check? I have had some of mine replaced, but they were all in good shape anyhow, they are not old and are suited for the northwest weather.
Service your snow blower! No check, we don't have one, does anyone here? I am NOT going to buy one, because any moment now the rain will come back.
I still think the snow outside the window is stunning and appealing in so many ways. I can see the magic of winter I really can. But I can also see how difficult winter is. I can also hear the little voice in my head saying "wouldn't you love to be living in Hawaii right now?" Hell yes.
But I don't know, I have heard they have their own problems. Well at least a visit right about now would be nice, but then there is the economy and watching dollars.
Maybe I will just wrap this up with a big HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
And hope for rain.
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