It is -4 right now; shovel/blew snow this morning at -10.
The wind was stronger yesterday when I blew snow and with the only pair of gloves I had, my fingers hurt a goodly amount when I was done.

Today I put medical gloves on inside of the other gloves and they tingled when I was done but that was all.
I was going to drive back up yesterday but when I went out to get gasoline, you could not see more than 300 feet ahead of you , so I waited till this morning to drive back up.

I have been in a lot of minus 30 days a few minus 50 up at Bemidji, and three minus 40 where I am now.
Worst was back in the nineties when the high of the day was -18 and I had to put a new starter in the car outside.
Amazing how fast one can work when there are no options.

I have to invest in multiple pairs of true winter gloves, do not wear Long Johns unless weather hits twenty below, but one's hands are a different matter.

RpR
You live in a very cold winter weather state. And it takes a lot of energy to do anything in the cold conditions you mentioned.

Even here the coldest day in winter ❄️ in 30 years during the Artic Blast across the whole country is experiencing. The latest ice storm shut down the western northern area of the state.
Winter gear is always an adjustment to dress warm and still be comfortable at the same time.
I highly recommend gel warmers wrap around waist and hand warmers. They last for hours.

Thought many fellow gardeners would appreciate this pic in Portland Or news regarding power outages from several winter storms.

Credit: Stephen Wozny, KGW
A backup generator powers the cash registers and minimal lighting at Corbett Country Market.
https://www.kgw.com/article/we...

"And now the snow has come to Northern gardens"

And is Still here.

We are to get rain tomorrow followed by snow on Thursday!
The ground is still frozen in most parts of the yard.
So most of moisture will just run off.

We got a good dumping here from Tuesday evening until early this a.m. That is alright but what upset me was that there was no hydro for over 24 hours and since I have only electric heating house was becoming quite cold. I just stayed covered up, head and all, under a warm blanket. Couldn't even make a hot coffee and some warm food. Boy, we just don't realize how much we rely on hydro until we unexpectedly don't have it anymore.

That does not sound like a good experience! I hope the hydro is back on.

Yes Caroline power came back on just a little over 24 hours later. I was cold but it could have been much worse if this happened in the middle of winter with minus temperatures.

I called the hydro emergency number informing them of the outage and they stated that the power would come back on at 11:30. So that time passed and still no power. I then attempted to call hydro back for an update but the phone was totally dead. I still have a land line because I was always under the impression that they always worked, even in a power outage. It did at first then not after a number of hours. There was no way to contact anyone for help if I needed it, computer did not work either, couldn't connect to WiFi. Don't have a cell phone but those may have not worked either.

tigerpaws said: Yes Caroline power came back on just a little over 24 hours later. I was cold but it could have been much worse if this happened in the middle of winter with minus temperatures.

I called the hydro emergency number informing them of the outage and they stated that the power would come back on at 11:30. So that time passed and still no power. I then attempted to call hydro back for an update but the phone was totally dead. I still have a land line because I was always under the impression that they always worked, even in a power outage. It did at first then not after a number of hours. There was no way to contact anyone for help if I needed it, computer did not work either, couldn't connect to WiFi. Don't have a cell phone but those may have not worked either.

Is your land line bundled with your computer?

RpR said: Is your land line bundled with your computer?

That's what I was thinking, it might be VOIP and not a real, old fashioned landline.

@RpR and @Rubi no, my landline is old-fashioned. I have an answering machine attached to the phone and have several handsets which were dead immediately at the moment the power went out. The landline phone worked when I called hydro about 15 minutes after the power went out but then after the time hydro estimated they would be up and running when it was not I attempted to call again but phone was dead.

You have my sympathies, Tiger - we had a tall black spruce tree break off and take out our electric and cable (internet, TV and phone) lines at 10 pm on Tuesday (Apr. 8th); got the electric back on Friday afternoon and just got the cable back today. Spent the first couple of days expecting the cavalry to arrive and fix things, called every day and were told they "would be getting to us as soon as possible." The problem was that it was the lines coming down our driveway from the main line - but there were also a LOT of outages along the main lines that took priority. I was really, really wishing we still had our wood stove - but happy that we still had running water and flushing toilets, if nothing else... and even though we felt like we were freezing, we were worried about the stuff in the freezers thawing (still lots of garden produce from last year, plus a fair amount of meat and other items), as well as all my little seedlings for the veg and flower gardens that are growing under lights - but luckily nothing seems to have died or thawed. It's been a long time since we've lost power for even a few hours, hope it doesn't happen again anytime soon!

I am sorry you had a similar issue with your hydro. You mention you would wish to have a woodstove. Me too, would love one of those old style huge stoves with a warming oven. There is nothing like wood heat, makes one feel so cozy. It is a blessing that you still had running water. That would be city water? I have a deep drilled well and didn't dare run water because the pump would not have been working and I was scared that something might have destroyed the pump when it started up once power came back. Sure do not need that headache. All came out well for you ~ no food lost, seedlings safe and main thing you are safe.

We're fortunate to be on a township water system, gravity fed; it has its faults (the system has been cobbled together over quite a few years and has about 200 customers on it) but the water is excellent and, although we live very close to Lake Michigan, the water comes from Lake Superior - or so I've been told by people who understand geology a lot better than I do!

It IS kind of scary to have an extended outage like that; makes us realize just how much we depend on all the "modern comforts." And then there's my husband's (older) sister and her husband, both in their mid 80s; about a year ago they installed a big, expensive, whole-house Generac generator for just this sort of thing; it ran for 2 days and then "blew a gasket" (or something)... but fortunately their power came back just a day later.

How awful, a person depends on backup power and then the backup needs back up. Hope Generac replaced or repaired their unit without any extra charge. I have often thought of purchasing a generator however it could not be a Generac as I believe from what I have seen/heard they run on natural gas which I do not have. I live quite remotely and the gas line doesn't even come close to my area. I was thinking of buying a generator that uses gasoline but then there is a chance that with power being off one may not even be able to buy gas (I think those gas pumps also use power to bring the gas to the hose?) As such we'll just have to do as is and hope there are not too many outages due to high winds, lightening strikes, heavy snow or even squirrels and racoons getting on the lines. But, it certainly is frustrating not having power because it seems that that is just the time a person thinks of doing all sorts of things that require hydro like having a cup of coffee. Is your tree done for or was it just a branch that came down?

I'm pretty sure their generator will either be repaired or replaced under the warranty - but they were told it would be quite a while (I think it was "at least a month") until they could do it. Not sure why it takes so long?

Some do use natural gas but their generator runs on propane (LP).

We're kind of "out there" too, and have lots of trees, so it wouldn't have been any worse if the whole thing had come down, but it was just the top of a big spruce that snapped off and fell on the lines... you can see the wires better if you click on the photo to enlarge it.



Not long before the storm started our yard looked like this (and it looks like this again, the snow is all gone now! )

Aww Sandy you were well underway to being able to do gardening before the storm but at least all that snow has disappeared now. My yard was not anywhere near the bare stage before we got the storm but it shouldn't be too long (even though we are supposed to have 2 cm on Saturday) b/c it was 17 Celsius today and really sunny. My sump pump is running non stop so I know the snow is melting. I like the way the trees are situated behind your flowerbed/lawn. Those evergreens should cut down on some of the wicked winds. My place, not many trees and it is a good thing that I do not wear wigs b/c they would surely be blown away. I live in a wind tunnel.

You're right - we're totally surrounded by the trees (we're pretty much in the middle of a "cedar swamp," although it isn't really all that swampy) and quite sheltered from the wind .

The spring peepers were peeping today and the birds are starting to sing their spring songs!

I love those spring peepers. Even though they are really loud if you are close to them there is something calming about their vocalizations. I have to open the windows and have a really good sleep listening to them at night. 🐸 🐸🐸