Worst Winter Ever:

The top photo is the picnic area fence - a little over 4' high and only a corner of it is sticking out. The cook stove is right behind it and the only part showing is the chimney about half way up. The bottom photo is where the grappler was stored for winter and there is no part of it showing. It is about 3 1/2' high and it is totally buried. I took these photos over a 6' snow drift that I had to stretch to get them. 

This is by far the worst winter we have experienced in 23 winters. It was a cold winter and the snow did not compact down like in past winters. The sun usually comes out long enough to compact the snow down but this year the cold, increased cloudy days, and WIND really drifted some deep drifts. I have a general idea where the grappler is stored under a black tarp but right now I could spend days shoveling to the area. 

Plus we have had 268" of snow this winter and coupled with the wind it has blown a lot of snow up the mountain to deposit it at our homestead. We have some piles of snow and drifts 6-10' high. It is all life in the mountains but the distance between snow storms and the volume of snow has been crippling. 

We hope that we don't have more winters like this. The fact that some people are having their burned trees turned into mulch there is nothing to keep the snow from coming all the way to our property now. Two parts of our road that we use to get out have collapsed or washed away. One a large tree uprooted and took about 6' of the road  with it.  We have to be super careful we don't fall or slide into one of those places. 

We have a good forecast for temperatures up into the 60's for the next few days which will melt some of the snow. It still freezes at night so we have more ice that we have experienced before. Because of the ice there is little we can do outside as walking is a real hazard. If I get the front end loader on the tractor to scoop up the ice there is no where I can put it with all the accumulated snow. I think the word now is patience, as all we can do is wait until it is safe to work outside. Worse winter ever!!!!!