[RHClarke]

25-30 cm fell in the Ottawa region last week. It made for a great winter wonderland look, but all of this snow was wet - very wet! Bob spend a good portion of last week giving the snowblower a good workout. A lot of that time was spent unclogging the intake of the blower.

Around home, the chaps with the snowblowers could not clear the snow without stalling their machines - repeatedly. Shovelling the snow worked up a good sweat. I was looking forward to getting to the barn on Saturday for a break from the snow.

Well, that break didn't happen. Bob and Joyce made a great attempt at cleaning off the shelters, but the deep snow and wind made that task all but impossible. By the time I got to the barn, most of the snow on its roof had fallen off. The shed was another story - it was covered with a heavy wet load that refused to budge with the snow rake. It will have to be shovelled off at a later date.

Then it was on to the shelters. It was noted that the black tarps that Bob installed on his shelter shed the snow quite well, whereas the other shelter acccumulated a heavy load. The Ted's truck shelter had begun to twist its frame under the load. It sprung back into position once the ice and snow was removed, but it will have to be repositioned and reinforced this spring.

The next step was to clear snow and ice from the roofs of the trucks in the back 40. I took on this chore as Bob was busy with the tractor, and Grant was at work. The most difficult part of the job was getting to the vehicles. The snow was up to my hips, which made travel very tiring. I broke the snow rake trying to break through the hard outer crusts of the snow. The wet snow beneath the crust didn't help matters. After working up a real sweat, we headed to lunch.

After a quick bite to eat, Bob and I returned to the barn for various chores including more shovelling and some ice removal. After that was done, I finally got to work on the HUP while Bob inventoried the parts he picked up last week. The afternoon passed all too quickly, but we decided that we had done enough for the day and locked up the barn and headed home.

Photos:

1 - An all too familiar "before" shot.
2 - The "after" shot.
3 - Black tarps vs other tarps - the effect is clear!
4 - Bob going through his treasures from last weeks border raid.