Spring is Coming, I can feel it

All right, I am probably getting too excited for February 19, but there I was sitting in my office, watching my world start dripping.  The roof is dripping, the road is turning into a river, ok maybe mushy, but it is starting and to top it off the SUN IS SHINING.  I just had to go for a walk.

No sorels for me today, just wearing my normal boots.  Big mistake, the sidewalks and trails are still slippy and everything is very wet.  Probably should have put on a pair of welly boots with those chains you see runners wearing on their running shoes.

Started off with the whole gambit, hat, scarf, mitts, coat, by the end everything was off.

Sidewalk, road, trail, definitely the easiest place to walk was the road.  My head was down the whole time on the sidewalks and the trail.

This little guy can't wait for spring.  

Walking along one part of the trail I was trying to keep my eyes open for the "coywolf" that is in the neighbourhood, when WOOF, I almost jumped out of my skin.  Thank goodness all he did was bark, I am pretty sure he could have jumped over the fence with no problem.  LOL

On my whole walk I couldn't find one sewer, they are all totally covered by snow, luckily I live on a hill so the water flows right down my street past my house.  It is going to be pretty mucky and puddly by the end of the week.

The eaves on this house are amazing, I can't believe they can support the weight that these icicles are making.  They should be gone by the weekend, let's hope the eaves survive.

I promise this is the last picture of the snowbank at my house I will take this year.  We added another 2 feet to it on Monday.  I figure that I couldn't use my knee as an excuse after missing most of the shovelling this year so thought I should help before it was all over.  I had to push the snow down the sidewalk in order to lift it up onto the garden.  We have had high banks before, but they have usually come and gone over the winter.  It has felt like these banks have been around since November.

My little Mazda has been hidden in a tunnel.  I can't wait to see how much of this is gone after the rain storm due on Thursday and Friday.  Stay dry!!!!!!!!!!!

A Perfect Winter's Day

If you wanted to experience a "perfect winter's day" then it was definitely yesterday, February 3.  The bluest of blues, the whitest of whites and just enough chill in the air to add a little pink to your cheeks without your nose turning red.  Thank you to my good friend, MJ, for phoning me in the morning and telling me to stop whining about the winter and get my butt outside for a walk and a stern "don't forget your camera".  

I am very lucky to live right on one of the many beautiful trails in Aurora.  These trails go for miles from the north to the south to the east and west.  The Lakeview Link wanders at the back of some beautiful houses, that even in the winter you can barely see because of the lovely tree coverage that has been maintained.

The trees looked like they were covered in really yummy icing sugar.  

I was expecting to see lots more little squirrels and birds, but the amount of noise my feet were making crunching on the snow would have scared every living thing in the woods away.

The trees formed a snow canopy across some of the pathways, would have been lots of fun walking through here if it had been windy, but yesterday nothing was stirring.  The only time I knew there was a squirrel around was when they jumped onto a branch and knocked the snow off.

The sumac all had beautiful white top hats on.  

A picture is worth a 1000 words, so here are a few more pictures of my walk which normally takes me about 25 minutes, this day was more like an hour as I clicked away.  

As I write this post I gather another snow storm is on the way.  Not sure where we are going to put the snow.  Our banks are taller than me and I must say it isn't any fun backing my little mazda out.  Even our cats aren't happy, it's like living in a white, quiet tunnel.  We've had frost quakes, polar vortexes, record cold, record snow, ice, not sure what is next - hopefully spring.  But I must say this winter has been the most "mouth dropping" "awe inspiring" beautiful scenic winter I can remember since I used to have to walk up hill to school both ways in 10 feet of snow without snow pants (definitely showing my age with that comment).  It's going to start melting so take a break and enjoy just how beautiful this season and this country can be.