Storm pictures from last weekend

So.....some pictures from last weekend's snowstorm. From Friday evening until Sunday morning, we received 51 cm of snow. That's 20 inches of snow. If you look at my pant legs, you can see the snowline. Here, I am trying to shovel out the driveway. It took almost an hour to get from the front door (where the path is curving from) to the road. I did only the one shovel-width, because we don't drive so don't really need the whole driveway cleared, and I was sick of shovelling by then! My neighbor came and used his snowblower to clear our driveway, unexpectedly, so we got him some Canadian Tire gift certificates as a big thank you. My husband couldn't face shovelling either last Sunday, after having shovelled the Wednesday and Friday mornings before.
Current snow total 407 cm, = 160 inches = 13.3 feet of snow this winter so far.

We are now 33 cm short of equalling the record, the all-time snow record for Ottawa. We have had the odd flurry this week, but nothing major. Here's hoping that all snow will be worth a record, at least!!!
Oh, and Gatineau (the city in Quebec that lies right across the Ottawa river from us, we're like Minneapolis and St-Paul except Ottawa is in one province and Gatineau in another, and people work in one province and cross the river to work in the other, like me!) has decided to quit plowing sidewalks, instead pushing the snow over from the streets in an effort to make them wide enough for cars to go down. This means people have to walk on the road, because the sidewalks have more snow than my driveway after it was all over. Anyway, that is how bad the storm was. On Monday, most of Ottawa was slow to get moving as people continued to dig out, and the city had round-the-clock plowing of the main streets and transportation streets for the buses. None of the side streets were done until late Tuesday or even Wednesday. Luckily it was the beginning of March break for the primary schools, so many many people (and cars) stayed home for the day. I was one of them. Thankfully! Trying to get Graham to daycare through the snowbanks the buses would leave us at, just seemed too much that day. Actually, many bus stops are still not plowed, so for the extended buses, I have to keep remembering to get off at the front entrance, or I end up on the street with a narrow gap between the bus and snowbank. It's very dangerous, but the city has said it isn't going to remove the snowbanks beyond being able to board the bus, because the snow dumps are full now. I am so thankful that getting the kids around by stroller are done now, because I'm not sure I would have gotten through this winter (and or how many broken strollers we would have gone through!) otherwise.

It took until Thursday before Britannia Road's sidewalks were plowed! The main road in the picture is Britannia Road, Sunday afternoon. Barely room for two cars to pass. There is no parking on the streets at the moment. The snow plumes are people using their snowblowers to begin to dig out. And, to the left, the dip in snowbanks is where the sidewalk should be.......

In the first picture, somewhere to the right lies my garden. It has at least 5 feet of snow - in some places between 7-9 feet, I think - so it will be some time before I will getting into it!

So, that's my snow diary updated. On the good side, I've seen the male and female cardinal in our neighborhood again, and today - it is almost 0 celsius, so it feels like spring could be creeping in slowly!! I wore a sweater and fleece vest when I went grocery shopping this morning instead of my winter coat, and I feel ten times lighter in heart just because the sun is shining, it hasn't snowed much this week, and spring is now 5 DAYS AWAY!!!! Although, I am aware, it is March 15, must beware the Ides of March.....