Snow on the mountains and...

 

Ingles parking lot has been cleared 

These are south facing slopes, so they must be pretty cold. It wasn't above freezing on Sat at noon when I shopped for groceries.

Earlier in the day I tried to capture the north side of these mountains outside my window. 

I love these maple trees most of the time, but they do hide the mountains on the other side of the valley pretty well.

Day after Izzy

NOTE: This was also posted on my other blog, When I was 69.

  Only those who were affected by the recent snow through TN, NC, VA and probably a few more states going north, will have heard it called IZZY. Or perhaps it got it's name back in AK or AL...where it rained and blew. Or maybe some of it became the tornadoes in mid-so-FL. 

So here on Tues we watched many dripping places, while white stayed there in sunshine. I also watched our maintenance man and his snowblower. That was the proper way to get walks cleared down to the icy level created by the original sidewalk salt which was spread on Fri. When snow started it kept sidewalks nice and wet.

Now they probably have some ice, but that good old sun was due to warm things to 43 in the afternoon. And then plummet back down to 25 F at night. Probably see many black ice surfaces out there.

My friends warn me not to go out, but I'm wishing to see the pretty places before they're all gone. I may have missed my chance though. 

8 am, Tues. Jan 18, 2022.

10 am Tues Jan 18, 2022. Front porch.

10:30 am the other side (south) of my apartment.

12:30 pm, showing what snowblower has been able to do.

I finally got into snow boots (they still fit!) and wound my muffler around my face and neck, and all the other cold weather gear. Put my mailbox key in one pocket, and the phone in the other. The carried my broom with me, across the treacherous driveway...remembering to try to step on snow so there'd be some traction...rather than ice. Yes, it's out there and not giving any surface.

That part of driveway was a combination of snow, water and slush...it was hard to find good places to walk, but I was slow and used my broom as my walking stick.

Where the sun had a chance to hit the snow, it had dried the pavement off. That's my car on far left, which is surrounded by virgin snow. It doesn't have much left on the outside, so I decided not to try to get inside it.

People have gone through this snow as far as the garbage cans...but my car is over by those steps. Nobody went this way yet, though I did see a man shoveling those steps. Then he went back the other way, rather than coming down to this stretch.

I swept a bit of ice and snow off the platform where the office/laundry room and mail boxes ae located. Here in the foreground is another snow shovel and the gas can for the snow blower. I just wanted you to see how much snow is un-cleared on that porch area.

I'm glad I ventured out this far, and no further. I broomed off more snow on my porch and steps. But they will probably have ice on them tonight. My apartment is the second one on the left in this shot. It's had as much sun as it's going to get on that side for today.

Nope, not driving out there today. We'll see how the roads look tomorrow...

Most important, dry out the boots that just had to go through ice water!

And chop veggies for my beef-less stew tonight! I cut the chunks of fake beef in half, then cooked them with all the spicy veggies first...and seasoning. Hoping the fake beef would be more palatable. Actually I think the whole stew would have been delicious without it! Not going to put any in from now on. It still has no flavor and is a strange texture...kind of like chunks of cardboard. But my extra effort with seasoning gave me a delicious broth. And I blenderized a cup or so of the veggies for a thickener. So it doesn't have any corn starch or flour to thicken it. I came out with a good stew for tonight's dinner, and 2 and a half quarts left over. Nice to have choices when it's time to eat again!

Storm Izzy

NOTE: This was also posted on my other blog, When I was 69.

 Today there is snow everywhere. Not much chance of going out to take photos yet, but maybe this afternoon...I hope.

Here's a catch up from yesterday, and this morning.

Dawn, the sidewalk edge is still visible...and the light is still on.

Someone shoveled where the two steps are on that sidewalk, and the lady in the apartment on the end shoveled all the way to her car.

Still snowing off and on, and windy on Monday, but there was a brief moment the sun cast a shadow on this scene.

On the other side of my house, light snow continued.

I worried when I noticed the next apartment to mine had the inside door open behind her storm door. Her daughters frequently come to take care of her.  A while later I could see the footprints of a person leading up to her apartment. The fuzzy quality of this shot if due to condensation on my storm door.

Tuesday morning...not much has changed.

Sunrise hitting Big Windy, the name I call the biggest peak nearby.