Which One of You P*ssed Off Mother Nature?

Siiiiiggghh.

I new it was too good to be true.

I did say that pretty soon Mother Nature was going to crap all over us. Boy, did she ever. It's been cold for over two weeks now, and we have snow...LOTS OF SNOW. OVER 3 FEET OF SNOW! Yes, I know it isn't as cold as it is elsewhere in the country, and yes, I know, we don't have as much snow as elsewhere in the country. But for us here on the Island, this is HELL!

I mean, -19 (that's almost 3 below F) with the windchill in some areas. We have had -17 (that's 1F) here at night. Trust me, when you usually have +5 for a low daytime temperature during the winter, THAT'S COLD!

Yes, I AM whining. So?

I have closed the living room door to keep the rest of the house warmer as it just steals all the heat from the kitchen if I leave it open. We have no source of heat in the living room. Ok, there is a 110/120v heater, but, you may as well use a candle to warm the room, it does as much good. Richard is going to wire it for a 220/240v heater but it will have to wait until next summer to get that done. The plastic over the windows and the patio door have stopped the draft, but now we need heat.

The Bichon's are really unhappy not being able to be on their sofa. Richard brought them home a small rug to put down beside the wood stove in the kitchen. They love it, needless to say, and don't venture very far from it. I don't blame them. I, too, am spending most of my time in the kitchen by the wood stove

The photo's above sort of document the last two and a half weeks, beginning on December 12th and ending with today. We have so much snow, Richard went over to Ron's and brought back the Caterpillar tractor to plow the driveway with the other day. What a treat that was, as the snow was up above the bumper on the car. Good thing it's front wheel drive. Oh and the van was buried, got it moved after he plowed out the driveway.

Now it's melting and every so often there is a roar and a crash as snow and ice slide from the roof. The dogs go crazy at the noise, barking and running to the door. It was supposed to be sunny today, but with all the snow melting and the rain falling and the above freezing temperatures, it has created it's own fog and microclimate. We never did get above +2. The local news from Victoria claims it is going down again this weekend to -14! MINUS !@#$%^&* -14! They HAVE to be mistaken, they just HAVE to be. Enough.

I am getting extreme cabin fever, to say the least. In the last three weeks, I have been out of the house for 2 hours to get groceries, and that was on the 23rd. I want blue skies, sunshine, warm weather, green grass, flowers blooming....oh, my plants! Some of the ones I moved into the back porch actually froze the night it got down to -17. Poor things. That was my Nutmeg Scented Geranium and my Gazania. I am hoping they will be able to come back from the roots but I am not counting on it. Oh, and my poor Lemon Grass I started from pieces I bought at the grocery store froze too. I had it on the deck, covered, but it couldn't withstand the extreme cold. And my Flowering Maples...gone, sigh.

We have lived here nearly 20 years and have never had this much snow at one time nor this cold of temperatures. I have been cutting up apples and tossing them under one of the trees at the back for the deer. Poor things are having trouble finding forage under all that snow. And of course I feed the birds. I think one of the things I miss the most is the Christmas Robins. The Robins mostly stay here all year round, but in the fall they disappear for a while only to reappear just before Christmas. This year due to the weather, no Robins. Hope they will return soon.

So the photo's above start with the light dusting of snow on December 12th. That was my Calendula still blooming. Then progress a couple of days. Then a few more and a few more ending with the December 24th snow storm and Richard plowing the driveway. I quit photographing about then, too depressing.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Ours was extremely quiet, due to weather and inability of family coming to visit due to road and weather conditions. I think I am finally ready to celebrate Christmas in July. Oh, and one more thing....

I want to know...really I do...

WHICH ONE OF YOU P*SSED OFF MOTHER NATURE!