It’s Not Pretty Any More!

“As winds increase from a strengthening nor’easter, blizzard conditions will bring dangerous travel over the interior Northeast, while a wintry mix, rain and flooding continue to advance northward along the coast through Tuesday. The storm has forced a State of Emergency to declared in multiple states. Blizzard conditions with heavy snow, very low visibility and drifting snow will clog streets and highways from parts of central and eastern Pennsylvania and northwestern New jersey to much of Maine and New Brunswick.” — AccuWeather, March 14, 2017

Outside, “Winter Storm Stella,” as its been dubbed, is in full force. I was proactive this morning and took Gypsy (see I Have a Dog) out fairly early so we could get a good walk in before things revved up.

We went for a smaller walk in Deering Oaks Park later just as things were starting to get hairy. It wasn’t too terrible until we turned to head back across the bridge at which point our faces were encrusted by sideways, wind-driven stinging crystals of sharp snow.

We Might Want to Think Twice About This

Good Thing We Live a Block Away from the Park

No Squirrels (Or Dogs or People) Out Today!

Enough already! It’s not pretty any more! It’s lost whatever charm it had way back in January! There usually comes a point during the Maine winter when you feel yourself starting to slip psychologically over the edge. This could be the one for me.

STELLLLLA!!!!!

At least maybe I’ll be an origami master by the end of it (see Darned Socks and Origami):

Mean Streets

So we didn’t get the predicted 12 inches, but what we did get was a big sloppy mess! The mean streets are dangerous to navigate. . . unless you have Sorel Joan of Arctic boots and Yaktrax grippers. Even so, the steep hill descending to my street is a wonder to navigate.

Narrow cowpaths are the norm these days.

An Icy Lagoon

Even with the best footwear it is nerve-wracking.*

* Definition of nerve–racking: extremely trying on the nerves; a nerve–racking ordeal. Synonyms: agitating, anxious, creepy, disquieting, distressful, distressing, disturbing, fraught, hairy, nail-biting, nerve-racking (or nerve-wracking), restless, tense, uneasy, unnerving, unsettling, worrisome. Origin 1812, from nerve + present participle of verbal sense of rack.

 

Icicle Daggers

Oh so pretty the long icicles and rooftops. Walking around in the heart of Portland, danger lurks from above. Last year walking down High Street I stopped in my tracks, perhaps in contemplation of the huge piles of snow and ice boulders on the street. I looked up. At that very moment a colossal avalanche of hard ice and snow catapulted many stories down to the street right in front of me. Would I have been knocked out? Killed? Possibly. What a way to go. When I die, please let it be in spring, summer, or fall. Anything but winter.

Snow Ledge Downtown Portland, February 15, 2017

I’m not making this up!
Ice Falls Off Roof, Smashes Car in Portland’s Old Port