2018 Winter Wonderland Nor’Easter + Another on the Way
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Just stopping in really quick to share some fun photos of our most recent Nor’Easter that dropped about 15″ of snow plus 5 trees/large limbs in our driveway. A Winter Wonderland Nor’Easter + Another on the Way. While the snow is really pretty at our new house, I am so done with winter. It’s the middle of March Mother Nature…..can you please take your snow and go away?
Isn’t it so pretty? What a mess though. Seriously, so much damage.
My mom helping my dad get dressed to snow blow. -ha. He always looks like a puff ball in his snow suit.
2018 Winter Wonderland Nor’Easter
My parents and I have been having a debate about cutting down some of the trees. For me, I am happy to have at least a 10′ radius around the house removed (especially near the pool) as all they do is create a mess. They like all the trees and are not inclined to agree about removing some. I am hopeful after my dad spent hours with my husband removing and dragging enormous limbs out of the driveway, he will think otherwise. I am not looking to clear the forest, I am looking to create less maintenance! Do you agree?
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We decided to park our cars on the far end of the driveway so the plow guy could push the snow towards the back yard. Little did we know that the snow would literally cause all the limbs and trees to fall to the ground. Over our cars!
Needless to say, the garage is getting cleaned out this Spring. This will not happen next winter!
We ended up parking the tractor / snowblower in the garage as walking to the barn in a foot of snow to access the tractor wasn’t going to work. 2 of the garage bays are full of stuff from the move so only one spot is open for a car.
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My son enjoyed a day off from school and a few trips to Starbucks and 5 Guys.
We just got our power back on late last night and we didn’t actually get our generator up and running until yesterday afternoon. We had to have some changes made to the electrical panel in order to get the generator working so thankfully, we were able to have that done yesterday. We will be better prepared next winter. Our current generator use to run our entire house but this house has more wattage running and we will need to upgrade to a bigger generator. My dad said the new one will cost between 8K and 10K so I am not looking forward to that. The thing is though, if you don’t have one that can run your furnace, you run the risk of frozen pipes and that bill would be a lot worse. Right?
As the afternoon progressed, the sun started to peek out.
Do you see that big tree against the house to the left? I think it’s called a Cypress Tree (not sure). Once the weather gets better I will take more pictures of it and maybe one of you will know how to trim and care for it. Most of the Cypress Trees I have seen online seem to grow up and are really skinny. (Updated April 2018, the Cypress tree is actually and Alaskan Cedar Tree that had roots pressing on the house foundation so we had to remove it. See before and after by clicking the highlighted Alaskan Cedar Tree link.) They seem to be common landscape trees for Mediterranean Homes. I know it’s overgrown but I can’t seem to figure out how to make it grow upwards (the limbs) even if I trimmed it? Unfortunately, we have another Nor’Easter coming Sunday night into Monday. There probably will not be school again which means the kids summer just gets shorter and shorter with each storm. While we haven’t had as much snow as previous years, the wind, rain, sleet and tree damage this year as been like none other. Mother Nature doesn’t seem to be done with us yet. Updated: March 2019, See our excavation landscape series where all the dead trees and brush were removed to expose the New England stone walls,
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Thanks for sharing, looks like family fun. Hopefully Spring arrives right on time 3/20/ yeah!!!!!!!!!
From the photos, I’d say your Cypress is actually a weeping variety of evergreen – it looks exactly how it’s supposed to! If that’s the case, you’ll never get it to grow straight and skinny.
We got a cold breeze here in South Florida this morning. A whole chilly 59. Had to wear a sweather. It was almost unbearable. ???? Seriously, I miss the snow of my childhood. It looks lovely. Just so our live won’t be golden, we get to look forward to hurricane season. I’m with you. Removing a “few” trees would be helpful. Thank goodness for generators. Stay warm and drink some hot chocolate for me. I’m looking forward to see what you will do next to your home. This is the only house we have ever owned so it is always a pleasure to see such different ideas when someone changes their location, decor, etc.
A sweater ! -ha. I wish it was sweater weather here 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by!
Here in S. CA we don’t get snow, so I like seeing all the pictures. Everything looks so beautiful, but it sure is a lot of snow!
I always forget that some people rarely see snow. I have to say, I am more of a warm weather person and would love Cali weather right about now 😉
Wow, what a beautiful scene! There is nothing to compare to waking up to such splendor. The lesson to learn is the one you’re sharing with us today. Large trees, heavy snow, wind, and man-made dwellings just don’t mix. We had to acknowledge,that Mother Nature always wins. It was a very important lesson. According to the arborist we consulted, ” For every 10 feet of height a tree is expected to reach that is the distance it should be planted away from buildings.” In our neck of the woods, the beautiful sugar maples, or oaks etc. should not be planted any closer than 50 feet away from all buildings.”
It is a hard lesson to learn, hence the city fathers are still planting them in parkways around here. I guess one can’t teach some old dogs new tricks.
Stay well and warm and safe. Obviously I am thinking about you and your’s.
Fondly, Carolyn
I couldn’t agree more Carolyn! Trees and Structures do not play well together. I am all for removing some of these guys, if not for upkeep reasons, safety!
Here in the south in hurricane central.. I have family that have their generators lifted on platforms so that they don’t have to go outside to turn on the generator. And a cousin has one that comes on automatically after a minute of no electricity. just a thought….
Yes, we definitely need to get ours up and running for the next winter season!
Holy crap girlfriend! That is a lot of snow to deal with! Bet the kids love it too! I need to do some digging, because I’m sure you have a fireplace in there. Just can’t remember. Share with us a nice big cozy fire please and we can dream of spring with a nice hot cup if cocoa! Cheers from Vermont!☕????????❄
Thank you Shelly! Yes we have a fireplace but thankfully we only lost power for about 24 hours. Some in our town lost it for 3+ days.