Life at the Hatchery: Snow Day 11...

So here we are again, snow day 11. The boys had Thursday off as well, so it ends up being an unexpected 4 day weekend. Today was due to some icy roads and cold temps (-19 to be exact and that's the temp, not the windchill). Yesterday it was due to the windchill (-20 to -30's in places) as well as icy roads, blowing snow and white out conditions. We made up one of those 11 snow days already on President's Day, so that will help. Unfortunately though it would be shocking if we made it through March without another big storm and snow day(s). So we'll see where we end up. It seems in the past the temps only drop like this about once during the winter but this winter has been a little crazy with 3 different times of super low temps. The snow fall has also been quite extreme mlive.com reports that Maple City (about 15 miles north of here - we live on Maple City Hwy) has received 223.3" of snow this year (almost 20 feet!). And that was four days ago, of course it's snowed a bit since then. We've had two big rainstorms this winter as well, but it didn't do much for the snow on the ground (just made for very icy roads). I was hoping it would have hardened up the snow more because it is SO difficult to walk in this snow, but no luck. The consistency of the snow has been like sugar. It makes it super difficult to build things and also makes me feel like when I fall over in it and it's waste deep that I'll never get out and I'm going to die here and no one will find me until next May. It's seriously the winter of the quicksand snow. It SUCKS you in.

This winter has also created some challenges for Aaron at work. It's been so cold that a lot of the lakes have frozen over which means the ducks are scrambling for open water so they can eat. The hatchery is one of the few places where there is actually open water, so quite a few ducks have congregated here to the hatchery settling ponds, which has caused a few problems with stirring up the water (which screws up phosphorus levels and causes intake flow issues). They had a cannon going off every 20 minutes for awhile, which scared away the ducks (and the eagles) but eventually they all got used to it and came back - so their challenges continue. It's been nice seeing the eagles again though, I really missed them! Jacob spotted two sitting right along the river by the bridge in our driveway. It was so beautiful but my iphone just didn't quite capture it. Oh well, we all enjoyed the moment!

The boys are mostly light enough to walk on TOP of the snow at this point, so they seem to be managing pretty well this year.

Aaron has NOT enjoyed his walk to work lately...

It's been a hard winter for the deer. We see them across the river standing on their hind legs trying to reach the tall cedar branches. Unfortunately I spooked 2 deer out of the woods on my way to school last week and they ran down the driveway and one got hit in the road. The snow banks are high, so I'm sure that driver had NO idea what had even happened. The sheriff had to come out and put him out. Aaron said "well, at least the eagles have something to eat". They put the carcass out by the nest.