A light dusting.

The past two mornings we have woken to a wee dusting on the ground - and the trees.

But the sun and temperatures get warm enough through the day to melt most of it.

Yesterday we drove to visit friends near Hurdville and even though it snowed on and off during the day, the main roads stayed bare. I guess that means the warmth in the road melted the snow as it fell.

We'll see whether the "lamb" or the "lion" shows up tomorrow and see if we can predict what will happen this March.

The sun is getting warmer.

I took pictures of the proof on my way back from town today. The road is nearly bare just about everywhere. Which means that mud surfing will start soon. The ruts are frozen in the morning, but shifting by mid-afternoon.

We were supposed to get 5 cm of snow today, which didn't materialize. In fact, it was mostly a bright afternoon. So the next while will be the official "no point in getting the car washed" season.

But spring is definitely in the air.

Walking on Water.

We decided to take a walk on the lake today. It was sunny and beautiful. But cold - especially on the return trip with the wind in our faces.

Here are a few pictures from different perspectives. And quite of few of the ice itself, which was fascinating after that rain and freeze. Luckily, there was enough snow to find places to walk without slip sliding away.

Some of the ice formations with the snow actually look like boat wake, don't you think?

The thing about a bright, sunny day and the LED screen on a digital camera is, you have no idea what you have taken a picture of. I wasn't sure until I plugged in the camera what I got.

And the first shot I took, which was meant to assure Richard and Sylvie that their "tent" is fine ended up being a picture of tree branches. Oh well, the rest were worth sharing.

Back to Winter.

A dusting of snow yesterday, interspersed with lots of sunshine, was enough to cover the icy surface of the lake, the road and everything else.

Quite a few snowmobiles have been crossing the lake this Family Day weekend. And we saw  some lucky(?) person being towed on a toboggan behind a 4-wheel ATV.

We had a lengthy power outage that started around 8:30 last night and ended around 1:00 this afternoon, which made things interesting. We have a generator, so we have all essentials and some luxuries, but we always worry about the folks who don't.

It seems to always happen on a holiday break. A couple of years ago, between Christmas and New Year's, it was off for 5 days!! So this was a little hiccup by comparison. No obvious signs for the interruption, but according to the Hydro One site, it looked as if the crew was fixing something right at the transfer station.

The Lake After The Rain.

It came. It rained - all night long. And now the sun is out again, with lots of melting still going on.

The lake is a giant puddle.

And the driveway and road are practically bare.

If and when the temperature drops to -8, there will be some serious slip sliding away.

The Shine Before The Rain.

While listening to the weather forecast of clouds and rain later, with a high of +9, this is what happened

A lovely little kiss from the sun. It didn't last long - maybe 10 minutes - and now the grey skies are back. Rain is supposed to come this afternoon and again tomorrow, which doesn't bode well for those hoping to spend Family Day weekend out on snow machines.

And Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be back down into the minus - with sunny.

Maybe skating?????

Up Down Up Down

More up and down weather as we travelled to Toronto, Peterborough and back again within the past few days. We went through rain, snow, slush and hurried back yesterday in anticipation of a flash freeze.

Instead, we found this.

First bare deck in a very long time.

And the stairs looked like this - mostly no snow, but the sand took care of any slippage.

The next few days will be a weather roller coaster ride, with highs near +8 and then lows in the minus two digits. Not sure this is the best thing for snowmobiling or skiing on the lake.

And on the drive back yesterday, via Gravenhurst, we were able to see that we are not the only ones with slush in all the tracks on the lake. It appears to be everywhere. And these balmy temps will only make that worse.

Lots more snow.

We were in Toronto for a couple of days this week and the snow we left behind must have continued. And the sky in these pictures would have me believe that there is more to come again today.

It's mornings like this that I am so glad I invested in the little electric snowblower from Canadian Tire. It shoots the snow right over the railing and keeps me from having to lift the shovel. You can't tell from these pictures, but that snow is a good 10 inches deep in parts, so that would have been a lot of stuff to toss over the side.

Until this year, it never entered my mind that the large deck is the equivalent of a four-car driveway, so being able to clear it without breaking my back is great.

Fickle February

Here is what it looked like out the window first thing this morning.

And here's what it looks like now.

It's been doing this all day. When I drove to town early this morning, and the sun was shining brightly, I heard they had cancelled the buses for West Parry Sound District. I figured something was up.

When I came out of the grocery store, I could barely see my car in the parking lot - a slight exaggeration.

But it's as if someone is flicking a switch every half hour and it's going from one extreme to the other.

Ahhh February - ya gotta love it.

It Never Gets Old.

Every time I think I've had enough of the white stuff, Mother Nature does this.

She blankets everything and makes it breathtakingly beautiful. I think she's a crafty one and knows this is the only way we will all get through it.

She doesn't have to shovel it.

She doesn't have to drive through it.

She just trims the trees outside our windows so that we sigh and carry on.

I'd say that is a pretty good strategy on her part, wouldn't you?

New iphone camera.

A trip to TO for Friday and Saturday resulted in a new iphone for me - I am now a total Mac person. And will finally be able to synch all my technical tools. Yippee.

I left the Parry Sound flurries behind on Friday morning. By the time I was at Port Severn, the sun was fighting with the clouds. By Barrie, it was sunny, so it made for a great drive. The trip home was quick, with everyone passing me although I was clipping right along just below 120. Amazing that the speed signs appear to be a "mere suggestion".

This morning, very tiny flakes with a grey sky and as I took this shot, I just missed some early bird snowmobilers. You don't see them this early very often. Perhaps off to brunch at Crane Lake.

Forecast here is grey and snowy until well into the week. But I'm sure I can find something to share at some point.

Happy Super Bowl.

Oops, forgot to post these.

This was what I woke to on Thursday morning, which was a far cry from the day before.
Amazing that Mother Nature mixes it up to keep us from total winter despair.

And Thursday continued to be a practically balmy day.

Well, maybe not.

We may not be in the eye of the storm, but that doesn't mean it missed us. Here is the view (or lack thereof) out the window this morning.

And somehow overnight, the forecast went from "a couple of centimeters" to 10-15. So it's going to be a hunker down day - in lots of places I think.

Dodging the Snow Bullet.

We have been watching the weather forecast with great interest for the last couple of days. Toronto is about to be deluged with the "biggest storm in three years - 30 cm+" according to the experts.

After several sunny days that look just like this, we have snow in the forecast as well - but only 5 cm.

It seems a tad ironic, since we were just talking about how the snowmobiling isn't great this year because there's not enough snow on the trails. And the snow we need is heading for Barrie and all parts south.

Oh well, no complaints here. We have just the right amount of snow, thank you very much.