JOURNAL ARCHIVES BIOGRAPHY LINKS PHOTOGRAPHY POETRY
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Oh, the endless excitement of living in a cottage, built from plans suitable for tropical climates and meant for summer enjoyment. The people who built this place surely did not account for snow when they chose the plan. Big mistake on their part I fear. Now that we own the building, it is our mistake to fix. Last spring, on the north side of the house, the ice and snow from the roof plummeted from the roof to the earth in one gigantic sheet. When it came down it sheared the deck off that side of the house. We repaired the damage and replaced the door to the deck with a window, not replacing the deck. It was a foolish design for the snow belt, a deck along the drip line of a roof. On the other side of the house, the south side, we have another deck and our back door and porch. Last winter the snow fell from the roof occasionally, crashing to the deck, the porch roof and the ground in harmless icy clumps. But this year we have had snow, and more snow and more snow. Yesterday morning, as Attila was leaving for work, the built up ice and snow had begun to slide off the roof in a sheet. In similar fashion to the process that sheared off the north deck. All that morning I watched that ice sheet slide, extending further and further from the roofline. It was only a matter of time before gravity would take over and it would come crashing down. There is a sliding glass door onto the deck. Worried that the falling mass of ice might break the glass in the door, I began to move furniture, plants, lamps, everything away from the area near the sliding glass door. Having done all that was possible to prevent damage, all I could do was wait. Looking out the window, the sky had virtually disappeared behind the sheet of ice. And then, suddenly, just after noon, it descended with a mighty roar and crash. Mist leapt from our bed, where she had been sleeping, and looked to me to advise her on the nature of the intrusion. Satisfied that all was well, she headed downstairs in search of a more peaceful place to curl up and sleep. The ice sheet came down on the deck, clear of the glass doors and windows. That was a blessing. The door, windows, deck and porch are intact, nothing was destroyed by the impact. On the roof of the porch and the deck lies a thick mass of ice and snow. It would have killed anyone who had been standing under it. The weight of it must be considerable; it will have to be removed. It looks like we are going to be in for an interesting winter if the snow keeps coming the way it has been! We have been talking about repairing the south deck, but now I wonder if it will still be there in the spring. Nature may make the design decisions on this renovation. |
RECIPES :: Cast Worldly Distractions  The ice beginning to slide. Quote "Sleekit is the Scottish way of describing someone (usually a female!) who is "smooth," sly, cunning "fair spoken." Simply, it means untrustworthy. How many times did we hear a girl spoken of as a "sleekit wee midden." especially when she somehow had influence enough to form a triangle. A triangle meant that she would always be one point of the triangle and would somehow manage to induce, with sly manipulations, two other girls to be the other points in the triangle to pick on some unsuspecting playmate. She would be sly enough to avoid being the main point or troublemaker." From an Email List Post Weather Mainly Clear Temp -13.1°C Press 102.4 kPa / falling Visibility 15 km Humidity 83% WindChill -19 Dew Point -15.4°C Wind Speed ESE 11 km/h |
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