Roof Shoveling

The record snowfalls of this early winter required removing the snow from our roof, almost exactly one month earlier than last year (which was the first time in our 35 years here that we had this much snow). The four man crew spent 6-7 hours of very hard work on the main house and shop/guesthouse.


I built a protective structure for the garden window with 2x6 and odd pieces of plywood. The huge pile of snow will remain well into spring, based on last year's experience. The weeping elm in foreground seems to handle these winters quite well.


Another shot of the snow mound. The boxwood (barely sticking out of the front edge) is buried all around this section of the house...surprisingly it faired well last year with just a bit of remedial pruning.


This boxwood and dwarf maple also suffer a bit from excess snow, but should be OK. Note that we refrain from shaping our boxwood like meatballs or squared hedges...the natural form is beautiful - and much easier to take care of!


Piles and piles! Fortunately my eldest son and family were visiting and helped us shovel new paths through the berms. In the foreground is the native Oceanspray (Holodiscus) which doesn't mind the weather at all.