February at the farmette

It's a snowy, not-very-cold day at the farmette. Only -2C. After a big thaw, we're getting back on track with the accumulation.

The Winter Olympics are wrapping up and the Canadian men's hockey team is up against the U.S. in the gold medal game. Go Canada go!

While it's not exactly an Olympic effort, I have been tracking rain and snow measurements on the farmette pretty much since we moved here. Consistently. Mostly.

I signed up with the awkwardly named Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRahs for short). It's an online citizen science project that was started by researchers in Colorado in 1998. Anyone can participate, and there are thousands across the U.S. and Canada. I record rain in the spring-summer-fall and the white stuff in winter.

It's interesting. Right now, it would be very tough to get to the gauge if it weren't for our fabulous neighbour Larry, who blew out a path from the driveway to the back yard. He said he saw my boot tracks in the deep snow, and thought it might be helpful. Oh, yes, Larry, thanks sooooo much.

Anyhow. I also have a white piece of board on the ground to measure new snow depth. Today, we got two inches, and the accumulation on the ground is 17 inches. Still using old-school imperial measures.

I have to put a marker in to find the board, cause it's mightily buried sometimes. This year, I think the record was 6 inches. That was on January 20th, the midst of snowmageddon.

While I'm out and about, I take photos of the farmette yard. Here are a few snaps from this morning. Toad of Toad Hall got covered again.

Some of the limbs of the Group of Seven pine on the west side of the house have come down. We had a mini-ice storm that did the damage earlier in the week.

While I sometimes moan about the winter, I'm still glad we have it and all the beauty it provides.

I'll be participating in the Coldest Night of the Year walk over in Markdale with sister Sandy's Pickleball crew. Funds will go to our United Way to help out folks who are having a hard time. It's next Saturday, and I'm collecting sponsor donations. If you're so inclined, please look into it.

https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?registrationID=5583240&langPref=en-CA

Gratuitous cat photo courtesy of Fred, who didn't want to co-operate by actually looking at the camera. The Rudolph rug stays year-round, because cats love it. Until next week.