Winter Wonderland!

After living in California for a year, we forgot just how beautiful the winter snows can be.  It snowed all day yesterday and last night.  But the temp were in the high 30's all day so the snow really didn't accumulate much. I tried snow blowing yesterday afternoon, but it was mostly slush.  As the temps dipped a little, the snow started to accumulate but it was a wet snow.  We woke up to these beautiful sights in our backyard.

These are fleeting moments in New England as once the warm February sun comes out, the "icing" on the trees will be gone!

Post Blizz-Pocalypse!

Our Patio before the Storm

 The snow started on Friday afternoon.

Snow just starting

 I had to go to the Post Office around 2:00 and the roads were starting to get slippery.

Downtown Sterling in the afternoon, roads still clear

 There was only about 3 inches on the ground when we went to bed.  We had a little hope that the storm may be blown out of proportion like it occasionally does by the weather man.  But we knew better because we say the radar on TV.

When we woke up it was still snowing and lasted until about noon.

The same patio picture as above. Still snowing at 8 AM

This is a snow drift against the back door

After it stopped snowing the clean-up began.  It didn't take too long, but we had to shovel a bit because the snow blower was acting up.  I thinks its a carburetor problem from old gas.  We haven't used this thing in over 2 years.  It was hard work, but its so quiet and so pretty!.

Patio with path to bird feeder for Elly

Path to the driveway

The back yard

Since we legally couldn't drive on the roads, we just stayed home.  Beside we had nowhere to go and nothing was open.  This is "down time" in New England.  Something we missed when we were out in California.  It nice to be back home despite the cold weather and the snow.  I think we missed it.

OMG! Nor'easter Blizzard Coming Tomorrow

This is the way New England welcomes us back.  Yesterday was the 55th anniversary of the Blizzard of '78 and for Friday & Saturday they are forecasting the largest snowfall of ALL time. Great!  The weatherman said that there are two lows that will converge off the Massachusetts coast forming a Nor'easter.  This is where the backside of the storm bring winds and moisture (snow)  from the ocean to the land (us!).

16-24 inches of snow forecasted for the greater Worcester area.

This is what the Blizzard of '78 looked like.

Interstate 495

Rout 16 in Milford, MA

Fitchburg, MA

  Tomorrow we plan to get the snow blower tested & ready, the generator tested & ready.  I also plan to fire up the tractor to assist  with the snow removal if needed.  We really hope it won't be that bad but who knows, this is New England after all, where the weather can change in an instant

Getting Settled

We have been very busy since we arrived back home.  It took us only 3 days to slowly  unload the truck..  Everything except one small porcelain cup made it through the journey undamaged, not bad.  The next 2 weeks were spent unpacking the many boxes of household items, books for Amazon and our Ebay inventory. 

We just completed unpacking the last bag of clothes this past weekend.  We now have too many summer clothes! We packed all of our clothes in contractor trash bags to use as "stuffing" on the truck.  This worked out well as the bags were able to fit into spaces to keep the boxes secure.


OMG, I just the news report about the bus crash in California last night.  We were on the same stretch of road coming back from our hike with San & Mike at Big Bear!  The road was really winding with switchback curves everywhere, but I think the accident was on the open stretch of road after you come down from the mountains.

We are keeping warm using the outdoor boiler and adjusting to life back in the New England winters. Good thing we had wood delivered when we were back here in the summer,  Its being put to good use keeping us warm.