The last ice storm did me in I think. I spent a few hours on Saturday digging out (inches and inches of solid ice). Snow plough guy could only do a partial job, even the snow plough was not up to dealing with the ice. However I used a garden spade to break through the ice around my car tires and later a couple of people helped me push the car loose from the ice. Since then I've been in bed, getting up only to go to the bathroom or get something to eat. Partially fatigue partially dizziness, even sitting up with my head unsupported is difficult. Between the icy roads and the Omicron restrictions, there's nowhere to go.
However, I have a clear view of the bird feeder and that is my principal entertainment (I periodically go out to refill the feeder, but since it is so icy I have to use my ice grippers). There are a few new birds, a couple of pairs of purple finches. The males don't take no guff off other bird species but they don't mind each other. I've been enjoying watching them, but today a female finch crashed into my window hard. I looked out and there she was belly up on the snow with her legs sticking up like a dead bird. Her head twitched a bit so I got a small box and a little rag and went out to get her. She struggled a bit but not enough to get away. I left her in my foyer, a tiny unheated room. Then I went back to bed and read for awhile. After an hour or so she had lifted her head. Another hour later she was looking around. I went in to check on her and she panicked and flew around the tiny room. So I opened the outside door to let her out and she did indeed fly out, but only to my shoulder. I put my finger in front of her and she didn't move except to peck it a bit. More exploratory than defensive or aggressive. After a few more moments she flew away.
Since then I've seen two female finches at the feeder, but am not sure that one of them is her, they look alike. I guess I could have kept her indoors a bit longer but I don't know what their water and food needs are or how badly she was injured, so I left it up to her. I hope she's okay.
The four mourning doves survived the storm, I see them occasionally. One of them perches near the feeder and looks at me through the window. And now that the snow is so solid the pheasants who live in the bushes behind my place can walk on top of it and I have spotted a colourful male poking around my back fence.
Today it is raining. It will probably freeze overnight, yet more ice. So far this winter is rapidly approaching the snowmageddon we had in 2015. Icemageddon? The one good thing about the ice storm was there was no snow shovelling necessary and you could walk on top of the snow because it was frozen solid. All 50 cm of it. No power outage here but tens of thousands of them in a swath that marks the worst wind and freezing rain. My town is located on the edge of that swath, so we were very lucky. I think they have not finished getting power back to folks 4 days later, and more power outages are happening due to this storm today. Hope we continue to be lucky.
Our power company wants to not only raise the rates for residential customers but also penalize anyone with solar panels. Amazing. There was such an uproar about it that the premier of the province said he would make sure they legally could not do that. I am getting solar panels in the spring so my installer called me to make sure all the contractual documents were signed so I would be grandfathered in under the old rates. The proposed penalty is so hefty that it would discourage most people from attempting to install solar panels, thereby putting the nascent solar industry out of business. In Nova Scotia our principal sources of electricity are coal and oil fired generators, and supposedly the Maritime Loop from Muskrat Falls. A financial disaster in and of itself. Years ago our power company was owned by the government, but they sold it off to an American company and nobody is pleased with that either.
There's a joke circulating that after the latest ice storm the power company was checking on how many customers used generators during the power outage, with the intent of slapping on additional penalties for generator use.
Sorry, no photos, just no energy. It's either way too cold or way too slippery to risk freezing my fingers or unbalancing myself. Not in a happy picture taking mood anyway.
3 comments:
So very glad you are writing once more Annie. It is a wretched winter for you. We are having hardly any snow but lots of wind and rain. Climate change is advancing rapidly. As predicted.
A lot of fog here too, unheard of in the winter.
We have been advised not to feed the birds due to the avian flu transmission. My crows have gone AWOL.
XO
WWW
Oh, wow! You're having quite a time of it. Being without power just two days following high winds that downed over 300 trees in our small town, then a week later another two days requiring service to put in special code to restart my furnace, I have some sense of what you're experiencing. I lived in snow country with ice storms that could take down tree branches and power lines, temps well below freezing. Having long ago acclimated to the warmer temps where I live now, I was cold and it was never even freezing weather. Do hope all goes well for you to stay warm and feel better soon.
Hope your bird survived but guess we'll not know for sure. WWW's mention of avian flu reminds me of how birds were affected here years ago when the flu first went through. Bird population has never been the same since. I especially recall the early morning visit of a lot of crows to my yard diminished considerably and now I seldom even see any.
WWW, interesting about the message not to feed the birds, haven't read or heard that here. One confirmed case in a Canada goose and another in a commercial flock of turkeys. Our winters are always variable, can't say this is the worst, but definitely worse than the last few. I've heard that La Nina plays a role.
Joared, I am thankful I've not been hit by power outages, even though a large area of the province has. They did a bunch of tree trimming after Hurricane Arthur that seems to have helped a lot. Extended power outages in the wintertime are never good. I'd really rather get my outdoor exercise doing something more fun than shovelling, but that seems to be all that's on offer now. Our local crows seem to be weathering disease and weather threats okay, so far.
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