You mean it's snowing in January? How odd!

I have to say, we have had some pretty mild winters the past few years. So mild that our annual Winter Carnival, that once featured snow sculpture contests all along our two main streets, has been "warmed out" for years. No snow sculptures. Not even any snow anywhere but up on the ski hill. It was uncanny. Winter Carnival week would come, and we'd have highs in the 40's, rain, Chinook winds - everything but snow. The first ten or so years we lived here, Winter Carnival was always cold and snowy. A dozen or more snow sculptures lined First Avenue and Cedar Street, our two main drags. Every winter-themed event was carried out right in town. We had plenty of snow. Well, this year looks to be a return to normalcy. So far today we've gotten 5" of snow, and it's snowing steadily. And here's a shot of the front of the house from last week.


snowy house

This is looking out from my porch, across my front yard, down my street, with our ski area, Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the distance.

snowy street

Now, The Spouse and our neighbor snow blow the street the entire length of both our properties and about 8 feet into the street. They do this so we don't get a big berm in front of the driveway after the snow plow comes through. This has been a very successful tactic for years. But last year a new crew started plowing our neighborhood. The guy who does our street has a real attitude problem. After he plowed, the 8 feet that had been cleared by The Spouse, was buried in snow. And he didn't even bother to plow all the way to the curb on either side of the street. We had huge chunks of snow in front of the driveway. I took photos and sent them to the county road department. I was told that the solid waste department plows us now. What?????? They forwarded my email a week ago. I've had no reply. I wonder what the street will look like tomorrow morning. Here's what it looked like a few days ago after the plow came through. This is our mailbox.


bad plow job

This is the end of our cul-de-sac with our neighbor's driveway on the left. Note the huge "snowballs" the plow so kindly left in our path.


bad plow job again

And this is how he left the access to the fire hydrant, until The Spouse went after him and made him come back to clear the area in front of it, like he's supposed to do.


inaccessible hydrant

Did I mention - it's snowing now? And it's supposed to snow all night and all day tomorrow? I'll take pics. Oh, and Winter Carnival starts next week, and they're predicting below zero temps.