You didn’t ride, did you?
9 04 2008
After a mild night that saw most of the previous day’s snow melt, temperatures dropped again this morning and the snow started falling from 6am onwards. By the time the Wee ‘Un and I went to cycle in to the village at 8.35am, the snow was coming down moderately hard and was beginning to settle. Still, we had a trip to do and so we set off.
Conditions were more treacherous than yesterday as the gritters had not been out, snow was starting to drift over the road and the surface was very slippery. This bend near Dunnideer Farm was particularly bad, both coming and going, as the back end of the trike kept sliding sideways with the camber while the front end kept rolling forwards. The other big problem was with my vision—large snow flakes smacking into your eyes at 15mph tend to obscure the road ahead and sting rather a lot. When we arrived at nursery, the snow was coming down even harder. Several of the mums and the nursery staff all expressed surprise that we’d made it in, and I lost count of the number of times we were asked “You didn’t ride, did you?”.
With conditions worsening, however, I decided to take the Wee ‘Un home while the road was still passable and not leave him at nursery. He was a little disappointed, but I had to consider what conditions would be like just after 11am and whether the gritters would have been out. (The snow eased up just after 11, but the gritter didn’t show so we were right to return home earlier.) Road and weather conditions were not too bad as we cycled up Dunnideer on our way home. In fact, it was quite a nice wintry scene as I looked back over my shoulder towards the village.
It was a different story as we topped the rise and headed out into the countryside again. More snow had settled on the road and the back wheel of the trike kept losing traction, even with my weight on it. Fortunately, the weight of the Wee ‘Un in the cabin over the front wheels was sufficient to maintain good steerage, but it did make for an interesting ride home.
And another photo of us as we prepared to set off. Thanks to the Big Lad for taking this just before he scampered on to the warm and cosy school bus.
Wow, look at all the snow. Spring doesn’t look like its with you! How you think this will affect any planting you had planned?
It was a strange day weatherwise. The snow eased away after 11am and we had a couple of hours of heavy overcast, which abruptly cleared leaving sunny skies with an occasional cloud from about 2pm. The temperature also rose dramatically so it was very pleasant until gone 6pm.
The downside of all the snow, sleet and rain is that the ground is very, very wet down to about six inches. I have vegetable beds half dug, muck and compost waiting to go in the beds, fresh muck waiting to go in the muck boxes once they’re emptied, and huge amounts of planting to catch up on.
Oh, and the damp has got into our stored onions and jerusalem artichokes so some of them are mouldering or rotting. The potatoes are fine though, and I have hundreds of seed ones waiting to go in.
All I need now is three to five dry days to get the ground workable again and then another three to five dry days to get everything in. Then we’ll only be a couple of weeks behind!
While I’m sure the ride was long and unnerving — with snow in the eyes and ice on the road — the pictures sure are lovely.
It’s quite warm here in southwest Georgia. We’ve set up our above-ground pool. Having grown up in places where there were four seasons… I am just now getting used to the fact that we really have two seasons here: hot and not hot.
Blessings!
Lacy
Oh yes, and any word from that twit who tried to call you a chicken abuser when the hens knocked over their water?
I used to live in Queensland, Australia where there were two seasons, too. There we had the wet season and the dry season. Both were hot.
Hi Stoney
I have nominated you for a blog award. The details are on my blog.
Cheers,
Deborah