Cabin Fever and Cabin Chills…

Worcester, Massachusetts, approximately 30 minutes northeast of us and the closest “big” city, has had the snowiest winter in the United States so far in 2015. Worcester tops the list at 108.5 inches of snowfall.  That’s close to three meters of snow for those of you who measure things metrically and over a meter taller than I am, if I’ve done my math correctly. Hey, no matter how you measure it, it’s one heck of a lot of snow.

Of course, insult has joined injury with the current temperature of 7 degrees F. with a wind chill of -4.  That’s -13.88 for those of you who measure things in Celsius.  Last Sunday, we reached a balmy 30 degrees F.  (-1 C.)  and it truly felt like spring.  That’s how cold it has been.

I know it has been a rough winter in many places on this continent, so you all know that I am not lying when I say that it has been a winter to remember.

To add to my particular chill, Greg injured his foot about three weeks ago and has been unable to deal with the snow, but because he is a good person, our son Evan who lives in cold and snowy Worcester has been very good about coming to help to dig us out when necessary.  However, I forgot about the mailbox after the last major snow and now it is socked in and un-dig-out-able.  So for the first time since we’ve lived in New England, I have had to put a “snowhold” on our mail, which involves periodic and frustrating visits to the local post office.

In spite of it all, I have maintained my true love of winter and snow.  I know this winter is a freak.  At least, I hope this winter is a freak.  But dealing with a winter like this can lead to a very real case of cabin fever.  To combat that, when the sky has been blue and I haven’t had any immediate responsibilities, I have taken a ride around just to get out of our cabin with my camera.

I’ve found that while I am suffering a bit from “cabin fever,” most of the actual houses around here seem to be suffering from “cabin chills.”  That’s what I’m posting here today.  Some of these icicles look pretty darn lethal so don’t stand under them when it starts to warm up.

Well, this house doesn't seem to have an ice dam problem, but I thought it stood out beautifully in the snow.

We did end up with a ice dam on the back of our house and water dripping in so decided to get our roof scraped.  We can now only get out of the house through the garage.  Fortunately, we have not had a power failure so far.  Hey, you gotta look on the bright side!  Here's the view from our kitchen door.

I do think it's kind of funny that people on Facebook are insistently and frantically counting down the days til Spring.  Like the minute Spring hits all this will be over.  Yeah, right!  I mean, don't you remember the April Fool's Day Blizzard of '97?  Don't expect Mother Nature to pay any attention to you and your Facebook posts.

Random!

1)  There are many things I like about winter in New England.  We get snow, but we also get a lot of sunny days here.  Today is a notable exception, however.  It’s foggy and drizzly.  But on those days that are sunny, the sky is BLUE.  It is bluer in the winter than it ever is in the summer and that blue may just be my favorite color.

2)  The icicles this year have been really amazing.  I managed to catch a few photos of them before they began to drip out of existence.  While I’ve seen larger ones that I didn’t manage to capture, I think a one-story icicle is still pretty impressive.

I titled this "Sick of Winter."  This is the public library in Brookfield, Massachusetts.

3)  I’ve seen a lot of American Robins around in our yard this winter.  To me, that seems like a new phenomenon, but I have a friend who claims that Robins have always been around in the winter, they just change their habits and spend more time in the woods where they have more natural shelter and food and spend less time out in the open.  I truly believe Dianne because she tends to know about such things, but it still seems strange to me to see them wandering around the yard throughout the winter.  I grew up thinking of them as harbingers of spring.  These days they don’t really bring any good news with them.  Still, I must admit, they are nice little flashes of color when they are around.

4)  Yep.  It’s a foggy, drizzly and generally ugly day today in Central Massachusetts...a reminder that we aren’t really that far away from Mud Season.

5)  I am an exceptionally messy cook.  I definitely need an apron.  I used to have one.  What the heck ever happened to that thing??  Anyhow, I was perusing Crate and Barrel the other day and they happened to have one on sale.  I bit and ordered it.  Here it is.  I love it.  The fabric is a Vera design.  I think it might make me want to cook more vegetables and even if it doesn't, it will help save my clothes.

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