Snow Dump

This morning as Kahunageddon 2.0 was just starting to kick into high gear, my neighbor Jack and his son showed up at my driveway with his Husqvarna 1827B Snow Thrower. It’s a beast.

No sooner then he starts into my driveway an object spits out the shoot with the snow. It was today’s edition of The Sun. Impressive.

Fortunately the blades didn’t mangle the main sections and so when I went back in and dried off I had a nice fresh newspaper to enjoy with my coffee.

Parking space turf marking warranted this front page story by Timothy B. Wheeler. Though reserving a parking spot on a public street is illegal the new mayor has “pledged not to enforce the ban.”

That doesn’t sit well with everyone.

“A strong public property faction has been given a voice in a Facebook group titled, "Just 'cuz you left a plastic chair where your snow-covered car used to be.." Started by Brian Connelly of Baltimore, it has a photograph showing the front end of a sport utility vehicle bearing down on a plastic lawn chair occupying an empty parking spot on a snowy street.

Group member Chris Farrell commented on the page, "These are public streets we're talking about right??? So if I clear off a picnic table at a public park, that's mine? For how long? I can just kick people off any time I come back?"

Clean up from this storm is going to take awhile and I’m not just referring to the snow. There are trees down everywhere. In our own backyard the Leyland Cypress trees we planted four years ago are getting pretty beat up.

In this story by Susan Reimer reports that “Local arborists have been swamped with calls to deal with damage to historic cherry trees, common oaks and towering evergreens loaded down by the overwhelming snowfall.”

She interviews Frank Fogle, an arborist with Davey Tree.

“Evergreens are suffering most, said Fogle. "Think of all that snow on a fly-swatter, and then think of all that snow falling on a kitchen whisk. The snow is filtering through the oaks and the other hardwoods. But it is lying really heavy on the spruce, white pines, cypress."

Then again hope springs eternal…

"Trees are made to be flexible," Fogle said. "Well, maybe not this flexible. But we are advising clients to just leave it alone. When the spring comes and the sap rises, you'd be surprised how they bounce back."