YIKES!

Gee, talk about karma coming back to bite you in the butt!

I've tried to be not too in-your-face with friends and family back in the US, with regard to our mild weather here on Vancouver Island, but now Mother Nature has smacked me one upside the head. Or I should say all of us in the Victoria area.

We've been on the cold side of things for a couple of weeks now, locked into some misguided arctic cold air mass that just won't MOVE! It has wreaked havoc, I am sure, on some of the plants in the garden that are not really set up for frigid temps for an extended period of time. Even the greenhouse, which is not heated yet, has felt the pain of the coldness. We discovered some louvres on the side had blown open and frozen, creating a opening for cold air to just pour in. There are a couple of palms in the greenhouse as well as some Cannas that I had dug up and placed there to winter over. We found it so cold inside that there was frost on the INSIDE of the glass! A few strips of duct tape later problem is solved and the louvres are secured, somewhat. Finally today we had SUNSHINE so I am hoping it warmed up in the greenhouse sufficiently to prevent the plants from freezing out.

Then, on top of the cold, we have been getting SNOW! And quite a bit of it too! Victoria and the neighboring towns don't seem to be too well set up for snow removal so we have to just kinda wait it out, I guess. My car has been down at the main road since Friday evening because the paved road up the hill, that we share with seven other homes, is snow packed and passable only if you have four wheel drive, which I don't. We tried in vain several times to navigate the road and I can make it up maybe half of the first incline, which isn't even close to the house. A neighbor graciously offered a spot to park on their drive down below so we have been there for a few days. We were even home today because the roads were just way too slick to attempt to get to work. There was a lot of melting this afternoon and we are planning on work for Tuesday and hopefully we can get up to the house Tuesday night. There is snow but the tracks from folks that are getting up and down the road have worn down to pavement most of the way so I am hopeful. Now we have to find chains for the cars so we are ready the next time. Although I am told by various sources that the last time they had this much snow here was 1996.

Here are some pics of the yard after the snowfall.

My advice if you are moving here from a cold climate - don't be too hasty to get rid of the snow shovels/tires/blowers. You just might need them when you get here. Even Vancouver was not immune and got hit with the snow.