It was pretty while it lasted

Well, it was pretty while it lasted! It's still pretty, with all the snow on the ground, but it's been raining for days now so it's melting at a rapid rate. We must have gotten 60" or more in a matter of a few days. So much we were running out of places to shovel it! You can only throw it so high, after all!
My husband and I have a system worked out where we share in the load of keeping everything cleaned off. He's more meticulous than I am about it and will do his darnedest to get the driveway completely cleaned off. "That's good enough" is my philosophy!


My husband mostly takes care of the front of the house and I take care of the back. We have a rather large driveway that he does with the snow blower. And then he does the public road along our property line so when the city plows come, they don't shove the snow right back into our driveway. This is probably the smartest move we can make as it really does save us a lot of work. Some times it seems just maintaining the front yard is a full-time job, but it's just one of those things that needs to be done. We don't want to run the risk that one of the kids, or other visitors, will fall and hurt themselves because we were too lazy to keep our property safe. Okay, so in addition to the driveway and porch, Mike also uses the snow blower to keep a path to our back yard. This would be our emergency exit should we ever have need. So he's a busy boy with his man toy.


Now, my part is the back yard. My "toy" is a snow shovel and boy do I know how to work it! We have a rather large deck that is multiple levels. All in all, it takes about an hour's time to do the deck. At one point, Mike measured the snow on this fire pit and bench (above) and it measured 43". We just left it to see how high it could get!

As if we didn't have enough snow to shovel.... we also have our dogs to think of. When you have so much snow drop in such a short period of time, they don't have an opportunity to get out there and forge their own trails. So I did it for them! Yes, we do have spoiled dogs!

You can see that the dogs are enjoying their race track as they romp and run, chasing each other.

All in all, I had three different paths for the dogs to choose from, all wrapping around and meeting up with another trail. It was fun and something I didn't mind doing. I know the dogs needed the space to run and get exercise, not to mention a path to somewhere that they could go to the bathroom :O

So as is the routine, it snows and snows and snows and everything is gorgeous. Then it warms up and melts so everything is a sloshy, sloppy, slippery mess. Then it'll freeze again and the roads and walkways will become, well, an icy, uneven mess. Then it'll start snowing again and the cycle continues. It's all part of living in Alaska. We really don't mind. Oh, we'll complain at times, but we know what has to be done and life goes on.