'Twas Winter...

'Twas winter, and the slithy toves, 

Did gyre and gimble in the drifts. 

The Intersection

It's almost Wednesday, and February 2019, which means the roads must have been noteworthy once again. We had a wee bit of a blizzard over the weekend - not much actual snow in our location (unlike 50 miles to the east), but sufficient winds to remind mankind that plows are not the solution to everything. Sometimes you need a road grader, or a front loader, or a tank. And sometimes, not even a tank can manage the job. By mid-day Monday, though, the intersection (see previous posts) was clear.

The bridge over Perch Creek was clear. 

Looking left after crossing Perch Creek

The road after Perch Creek had a nice cut in the drift, wide enough for a car to get through.

A drift near Deer Corner also had a nice cut in it. This photo was taken from almost the same location as the fourth picture in this post.

Truck.  Stuck.

The cut there had a little added attraction -- a southbound truck, sitting in the northbound lane.  That definitely explained why the northbound lane wasn't clear!  Happily, there was excellent visibility, so two-way traffic took turns using the available lane. Or shoulder.  At this time of year, we're not picky about those things.

Do you see the antenna?

The roads were good, all told.  Definitely winter driving, but not in the 'top 5 worst days of commuting to work in February 2019'.

What will March hold? 

Road? What road?

Looking out to the street

The crevasse

Standing in the gap?

The word from the farmers chatting at the hardware store is that this weekend's storm is going to bring more snow than today's....

Another road report

Yes, if it's Wednesday in February 2019, the roads must have been up to something bloggable the day before.

The crossroads.  There's a road to the left of the power lines.

Approaching Deer Alley

On the way to Filia's work, there's Deer Alley and Deer Corner (Deer Curve, really.  I'll have to rename it.)  Just before the crest of the hill (forgive me, you who have real hills in your terrain), there's a house on the left which has a mailbox.  After two years, I no longer see the dark shape and think DEER!  Except yesterday ... THREE mailboxes?  No.  One mailbox, and two imposters.  They exited the road as I approached.  Because I was driving, all the photos I got by holding by balancing the tablet on the dash with one hand and tapping where I thought the proper button was, were pretty bad, and I will spare you.

Hoth

I leave you with a drift.  The road doesn't go straight forwards -- it's not THAT bad (well, not unless I was on the return trip, about a half mile down from this location).  The white stripe that isn't snow in the lower center is the stripe at the road shoulder, and the yellow dash at the left edge, half covered by the growing drift, is the center stripe.  Decent driving, so long as one didn't need to share the road on a few stretches.  And - like last week, when Vir said the conditions were the worst he's experienced in 23 years, we heard from another person yesterday that the afternoon commute was the worst in 15 years. 

Continuing with the travel trend..

Stopped at the crossroads on Friday

Stopped at the same crossroads yesterday

 When the forecast calls for 1-3" of snow, you don't think much of it in February. But when Vir calls mid-afternoon to say the conditions are the worst he's experienced in 23 years of Minnesota driving ... one looks outside to smile at the flakes drifting quietly past and wonders what the roads will be like when Filia finishes work for the day.  Not bad, actually - if by not bad, you understand that in comparison to last week, they were very passable. 

 Having a skid-loader with a plow blade go past just before I backed out of the driveway was a nice touch of providence which I greatly appreciated.  The plows hadn't been out in town yet, and the 1-3" was about 6" deep.  Once I got  out of town, the first 4 miles were plowed ... and then, they weren't.

Thanks to the fluffiness of the snow, driving in a few inches of it wasn't a problem. And thanks to 2 years of experience on this route, I knew where the road should be.  Normally on the corner in the picture above, I'm looking carefully for deer.  Yesterday, I was looking carefully for the road.  (Carefully = at 35-40 mph) 

When I *wasn't* looking carefully for deer, they decided to run in front of me. I'd not been carefully looking because a) I was watching for the road, and b) I was watching the oncoming pick-up truck, making sure the two of us agreed on where the road was and that we were agreeing on where the left half and the right half of the driveable area was. (Sometimes, this means that westbound traffic uses the eastbound lane, and eastbound traffic uses the shoulder (paved and/or unpaved))  No 25 yards after we passed each other - DEER!  All seven of them managed to cross without interacting with the car.

More blessings!  We also spotted 2 bald eagles and quite a few turkeys, making yesterday a good day on the Wildlife Sighting Scale.

Until next week ..