We have spent much of this winter on the West Coast Paradise watching the miserable winter conditions everywhere east of the Rockies.  Record cold and huge snowfalls throughout but relatively mild conditions here.

There is a certain feeling of satisfaction on our decision to retire in Paradise.  Yes we feel sympathy for our friends and family coping with miserable conditions, but we were OK.  Granted a lot of overcast days with some rain, but not as much as previous winters.

So we headed off to Hawaii thinking that when we returned it would be the early start of spring that we are accustomed to in Paradise in late February.

This week however, has been an experience.  In the last 48 hours we have had 40 cm (15″) of wet snow with no wind at all.  Beautiful to look at but miserable driving conditions.

I have been out 3 times today with the snow blower to clear the driveway.  Of course this is not as simple as just clearing the driveway.  I do our driveway and the sidewalks and driveways of our friends and the space in front of the mail boxes.  The problem is that the temperature is +2° C ( 35° F) so the snow is the consistency of wet concrete.  Seniors up and down our street (those not saved by me) are dying of heart attacks trying to shovel it.  My machine can barely keep up.

However in the back yard there is beauty.  One picture is of the birdhouse showing the level of snow.  The other is a picture that Pat took of me where I was using a long pole to knock snow off the trees behind us because the weight of the snow was Clearing Snowbreaking off limbs.  It is going to +8 ° C (46 °F) tomorrow and even warmer as the week goes on.

Birdhouse under Snow