Knee Deep

Late yesterday afternoon, I packed up snow blowing when it got dark.

This morning at daylight I took a peek outside and thought it had only snowed another 5cm or so. Only later when Angie wanted to take Luna our for a walk, did I realise it was over 10cm. Without snowshoes or cross country skis, it's impossible to simply walk from our property over the fields and in the other direction, it's through the forest which is strictly off limits. A young 10year old boy got killed today in a Munich suburban garden from a falling tree.

So she had to use the car to drive to the village and make use of the cleared pavements which Germans are legally bound to keep free of snow & ice. And before she packed the snow down with the car, I "quickly" did another round of snow blowing, this time nearly 2.5 hours.and 2km.

The worst section is that on the road. In the top left photo, the blower is stopped at the point the county council's snow plough throws a heavy packed dense mixture of salt, wet snow and ice onto our driveway. In good years, we have a driver who takes the trouble to straighten the plough just before our entrance and then angle it again afterwards. But not this year. The snow blower will often not cope with a mixture similar to ice cream or sausage meat being filled in skins.
 
As I returned to the house for lunch, Angie gave me a call to say the TV hadn't been working but had cleared the snow off one of the roof windows. So quickly cleared the satellite dish and transponder but it was very easy as she had done all the hard work.

Finally we had a sauna session at home. Normally Angie would have gone to her sports centre this evening but didn't feel up to it. I like the odd sauna but not as extreme as Angie who will do it 3 times a week.

So the bottom photo is of me getting the circulation working after the first cooking session. I couldn't touch bottom but measured it later at 52cm.

Luckily it stopped snowing at this time and it looks like Bavaria might have a days respite tomorrow. Rooves are the main concern given the very heavy snow. About four counties have now declared an emergency but it's a technical means of allowing state funds & resources, army etc to help out.