Winter Needs a Vacation

Friends, colleagues, family, and acquaintances alike all tell me that this winter was unusual. Even the meteorologists have been geekily marveling at the fact that February was, in and of itself, the coldest February on record in Western New York, and one of the coldest winters in general. As a weather geek myself, I would normally be excited about such statistics, but as I am also a new homeowner in the area, I am less so.

The frigid temperatures kept everyone inside more than I would have liked. When the air temp is below zero, no amount of layers will make a walk outside with the dog comfortable, even when diamond-like snow shimmers in the sun outside. Even Juno, who normally loves the snow, did not want to go out for long.

Then winter started beating up on our property, and that made the winter all the more challenging. To wit:

Ice built up in our gutters and on our steep roofs. The ice and snow became ice dams, and then it began to rain inside our master bedroom, eventually staining the ceiling in the living room below. Not pretty, to say the least, and so this spring will bring a cleanup of those messes, commencing with an adjuster's visit in the next few days. Then, demo and repair can begin.

The ice build up also did a number on our already-suffering brickwork. As I didn't have time to learn how to be a bricklayer, we will be enlisting someone to come in and fix the truly terrible areas.

The new heating/cooling system in our 3rd floor office space quit, probably also because of the ice and snow.

We had a bat creep out from the cold space and down the stairs to our main living area. Said bat was escorted from the building in a bucket. Now, we will be doing bat remediation on the house this spring, too. I love bats, but not in my living space (I have the same uneasy relationship with spiders: I love them, but not when they creep over my bed. Then, I apologize to them and show them the door).

Two flat tires on our only vehicle (which were easily repaired by AAA, thankfully).

My mother's furnace died during one of the coldest weeks of February. As we had to move out of our bedroom because of the ice damage, she stayed with us but in our dining room on a blow-up bed. She swears it was comfortable, but I know she is being polite.

I think that's our fair share.

We awoke today to temperatures in the teens, and although the sidewalks are now almost entirely clear of snow and ice, it made for another shivery walk with Juno.

Spring weather can't come quick enough. In the meantime, I have been obsessively buying tulips, daffodils, and any other spring-like flower for our windowsills and tables inside. I'm attempting to force spring from the inside out.

I hope it works.