warning: dead animal pictures

Last weekend we celebrated new year's in Duluth with friends. On Sunday Dave commented on how much snow was on the roof and how he should shovel, but he could feel sickness coming on (I was sick already) and didn't want to strain himself and make it worse. At 2:15am on Monday (one of Peter's feedings) I heard a loud crack above me and envisioned Peter buried alive in an avalanche. Apparently the loud noise was just the house shifting because of the extreme cold (it was -23º F at 9am that day), but I didn't want to take chances so on Tuesday I decided to take on the roof snow. Dave stayed home sick as a dog that day so every time I put Peter down for a nap I went out knowing he could grab him or call for me if Peter needed something.

I knew it would be a big job, but I wasn't prepared for how much snow I would be moving. I figured with Dave home and multiple chances to get out there I would have the whole thing done no problem. Pictured here is my handiwork...














And here is a shot of just how deep that snow was, along with a shovel for perspective (though the shovel is lying at an angle, I would say it was deeper than knee-high).







So that was about a couple hours of work, oh, what? There's still another side to the roof and the entire garage?! Sigh.
I don't remember if I wrote about our flying squirrels or not. This summer we discovered that flying squirrels were camping out in the roof over the porch. On Tuesday while shoveling I saw one scurry up a tree and glide down to another. I found this very strange since they are nocturnal and I believe they hibernate, but I guess my stomping around up there scared it. Not only that but as I got to the end of the roof to check out their little burrow hole...

I looked over the edge and saw something in the snow...


was that? yep, frozen stiff...














So after about 3-4 hours of shoveling I cleared off the house, but not the garage. Wednesday, my birthday, I was sore, my back, shoulders, left forearm, and even my hands ached. Today I decided to take it easy and only take care of the mess I made in front of our front door.





To do this took 40 minutes so I treated myself to a nap and later on a bath, foot scrub, and leg shave (Dave noticed my cave woman look the other day so I decided it was time). Now I just need to tackle the mountain of dishes and wash Peter's diapers. Notice the nice breath frost all over my hair.

Oh, and it was Peter's 3 month birthday on Tuesday!