Epic!

When I clicked on Elgin’s e-mail in my Inbox on Saturday and looked at the pictures she had attached, my eyes grew wide, my mouth fell open and I was completely speechless, something that rarely happens to this motor-mouth. When I could speak again, the only word that kept coming to mind was, Epic!

Elgin lives in Canada and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like the pictures she had attached to her email. Can you imagine 168 centimeters (66 inches) of snow raining down on your home and property in one 12 hour period? That’s 5 1/2 feet! In 12 hours! Unbelievable!

Unfortunately, Elgin lost a few trees. I asked her what kind of trees they were and when she replied back that they were pines, I completely understood. We have a lot of pine trees in Georgia and whenever we have ice storms, you always hear in the news about them falling down all over the place. They are famous for it here. I think their roots are just too shallow to support the weight of a heavy snow on their evergreen branches.

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I learned a new word while chatting via email with Elgin. What do you call the guy who comes out to remove the trees that have fallen during a storm? In British Columbia, they call him a “Faller.” Don’t you love that? Such a perfect name!

It started me thinking about what we call them. We don’t really have a specific name, we just refer to them as “the tree guy.” How boring is that. I like “Faller” a lot better. Do you think if I start using that word here, it will catch on? Maybe I can start a new trend! 😉

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Is this not amazing?! In the online news I read about this snowfall, they referred to it as a blizzard. I’ve heard that word all my life but now I finally get it!

Referring to the snow, Elgin said, “It brought everything to a stand still in our  small town & neighboring towns. Power outages, highways were closed, & flights were cancelled.” I think this would scare me just a little bit if I looked out and saw this. A few more feet and I’m not sure how you would even get out of the house until it melted in the spring! Crazy, huh?

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Look at how much snow is on the roof! Elgin and her family were without power for three days, but thankfully it’s back on now.

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Looking at these photos almost makes me feel a little claustrophobic. It looks like Elgin’s hubby was able to clear a path around part of their home.

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The gazebo is almost completely hidden from view. What a winter wonderland! It really is beautiful, if not just a little bit scary.

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A guy named Jeremy Dewalt filmed an aerial view of his neighborhood and the surrounding area using a drone. It’s pretty amazing and really shows you the awe-inspiring power of Mother Nature. You can watch the video here: Kitimat Snow. Be sure and click on the little box in the right hand corner of the video to watch it full screen, then hit escape when done.

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Speaking of drones, I’m looking forward to the day you can order something on Amazon and have it show up on your doorstep 20-30 minutes later. Can’t you just see folks sitting on their front porch, eagerly watching the skies for their delivery, if for no other reason than to catch a glimpse of the drone? That would be me!

I’m sure drone delivery will one day be as commonplace as getting your pizza delivered. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check out this cool video: Amazon Drone Delivery. In the meantime, please send Elgin some warm thoughts. Sunshine and a giant snow plow would be nice, too! 🙂

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Comments

  1. Oh, my gosh! That is EPIC and awful. Hope everyone is okay.

  2. pam ~ crumpety cottage says

    Cozy!! And yes I CAN imagine that much snow coming that quickly as I used to live in Alaska. Oddly enough, some friends there have been complaining about the insufficient amount of snow this year! If Elgin is in British Columbia, she’s south of Alaska, and possibly, depending on where she is in BC, well over 1,000 miles south. Crazy, hunh?

    I know our little Georgia girl gets the heebie jeebies thinking about being trapped in by that much snow, but I always loved it, providing the utilities were on and emergency services could get around.

    Did Elgin sustain damage to her home from that tree? It’s hard to tell but it looks as though it fell right against the house. I hope not! The faller will be busy for a while and there may be lots of people living with trees against their homes. Elgin’s pictures demonstrate the power and beauty and destruction of nature all at once. 😮 Thank you Elgin for sharing them.

    And that aerial picture is crazy! But unlike you, I don’t look forward to drones. I imagine them littering our beautiful sky and don’t like that at all. Plus, equipped with cameras, nobody would have a moment’s privacy! Do you remember several years ago when there was talk of ‘advertising’ in the sky? In other words, you could look up at night and see a big ‘Coca~Cola’ logo or the Golden Arches across the moon?!! Thank goodness that didn’t come to fruition and I sure hope it never does. And all for the sake of money. *shudder*

    Susan, I don’t imagine we’ll be hearing any complaints from you about the harsh Georgia winter after having seen these pictures! 😀 Stay warm.

    • Think of how many less delivery trucks/vehicles there would be on the road with drone delivery. Also, there would be less folks on the road driving to get something they need that day. Anything to help Atlanta traffic would be a blessing. The drones are so tiny, I don’t think you would even see them until they were almost down around tree level. Yeah, advertising in the sky is a terrible idea!

      • Barbara Hagan says

        Speaking of drones, I just heard on news yesterday that drones are flying “much higher” than FAA approved levels and are now a real threat to commercial aircraft….. a very scary thing!!!! While the original intention of drones was good, we don’t need anything to even remotely interfere with the safety of our aircraft. Hopefully, we can remedy this as the use & convenience of drones has some really good points, but it should never be a threat to our own safety first and foremost!

        • Are those privately owned drones? Apparently, the laws let hobbyist fly them. I wonder if they are modifying them and adding stronger engines to them to get them to fly higher. Hope they don’t ruin it for the folks who are using them the correct way. 🙁

    • Oh, forgot to say…Elgin said she doesn’t think they have any damage from the tree, thank goodness!

      • pam ~ crumpety cottage says

        Oh, thanks for answering that. *Phew* That’s a relief. 😀

        Susan, when I was thinking of the drones, I was thinking of a scenario where there would be thousands of them, just like cars on the roads. If it was just one little drone here or there, it would be great for convenience sake. But I’m thinking everybody would want that convenience.

        • Oh, that would be horrible…a sky filled with drones. You know, the one thing I would worry about would be noise. If they make a loud buzzing noise and there were a lot of them flying around during the day, I think I might get tired of that. I keep thinking, this must have been the kinds of discussions folks had when Henry Ford invented the car or when the Wright Brothers were working on their airplane idea. I bet folks worried about noise and accidents back then. Hopefully technology will get better and better and they won’t be noisy…maybe just make a little dinging noise or something when they are coming down to land. I know they have built in sensors that are supposed to avoid collisions, at least that’s what I read on Amazon’s website. It would be really nice if the drones kept a lot of cars off the road. Maybe there would be less car accidents and less car noise to hear. That would be nice. It will be interesting to see where it goes. I have a feeling I’ll may be quite old before it all gets approved and into action, if it ever does. 🙂

          • pam ~ crumpety cottage says

            I keep thinking of a movie I saw … I think it was that Star Wars movie that came out back in the 90’s with Liam Neeson. It was supposed to be the ‘pre-qual’ to what we would consider the original Star Wars. There was a scene with all kinds of activity, flying cars, if you will and drones and other things and the sky was just FULL of stuff. It was awful! On a pretty day, when you look at a blue, cloudless sky, it feels like a gift. But if there were all manner of man made things buzzing around (and I hadn’t even thought about the noise!) then yeah, that would be a bummer. And can you imagine if the drone dropped whatever it was carrying? 😮 I just got a new shredder delivered yesterday — I sure would hate to think of that falling out of the sky on someone’s head. Eek. With all that has happened in our lifetime, it’s hard for me to even imagine what technology will bring over the next 50 – 100 years.

            • lol Well, according to that Amazon video, they will only use them to deliver things that weigh 5 lbs or less. I’m sure they’ll come up with some really good way to make sure that doesn’t happen. Can you imagine the lawsuits if something like that did happen! I know they are testing it extensively, but it’s still a long ways off from ever becoming reality.

              • Yeah, I figured they’d start with the light weight stuff first, but then people would want more and more things delivered that quickly and the next thing you know, we’d be seeing these huge flying packages, lol. 😀 Or, maybe not. 😀

  3. Oh my goodness I cannot believe that much snow in such a short amount of time. I worry the roof will support the weight of that much snow. The gazebo photo is beautiful. I hope she has lots of good books to read and some high quality hot chocolate. 🙂

    • I asked her about that and she said they were well stocked. I guess when you live where you get a lot of snow, you make sure to have a well-stocked pantry. 🙂 I loved the gazebo, too! Snow creates such pretty silhouettes.

  4. Wow, wow, wow. That is really amazing. Thanks for sharing these and I sure hope they can dig out soon. Drone delivery? That sure would make the man I live with HAPPY!!!! He IS one who tracks his packages, and paces in the foyer waiting:):):)

  5. As a native Georgia girl, all I can say is NIGHTMARE!!! And for those very same reasons I don’t think I could ever live anywhere north of Georgia. I don’t even like the one or two snow days we have here periodically. Give me the coast and 85 degrees anyday…….

  6. Now that is a lot of snow,winter power outages are not as much fun as warmer weather one. Except there is no food spoilage, put it in the snow! You cannot wait for drones, I will be the one taking up skeet shooting to shot those “things” out of the sky. After hear about planes see them too close…they could get sucked into the engines and then what. No drones. I love listening for the UPS trucks…a very distinctive sound.

  7. I think pictures of deep snow that covers trees, fences, rooftops, etc. are just beautiful. But……I don’t think I could ever get used to feeling “trapped” even though I am not claustrophobic. That just seems a little too confining. I have a friend that lives in White Salmon, WA and she has sent pictures of deep snow that is halfway up their windows and they love it. It is beautiful but not for this East Texas girl!!!! I love the name “fallers”! I think you need to start a trend!!

  8. Susan, I have lived in Upstate New York (Adirondack Mountains) and Vermont. I never experienced that amount of snow in such a short time but such large amounts of snow can cave a roof in. You may have to actually shovel the roof. Some older houses in the mountains had doors on the second floor to allow exiting the house. That is not a joke! I currently live in a snow area but am grateful that the snow has been falling in amounts that are manageable.

  9. Elizabeth Roderick says

    We live halfway between Houston and Galveston. Yesterday the temp went up above 84. Sitting in my hot vehicle, I prayed that some of that warmth would go to the cities that have been pounded with snow. I was also reminded that the suburban needs the AC fixed. However, it will be 39 here tomorrow night and I wondered if I should have the house furnace serviced, LOL. We have two seasons. Summer and February. We have big closets because there’s no need in storing anything. Blessings to those who are coping with the deep freeze.

  10. I shall never complain about our cold weather….cannot imagine how awful it must be to be without power on frigid days…I have seen people on the news having to shovel snow off their roofs so as not to have them collapse…Epic!..it certainly is!!…Wishing Elgin warmth and safety!

  11. Yes, they had it pretty bad further up North. When we moved from Vancouver to this area, our first two years were like that with 20 degrees below and we wondered what whether we had done the right thing.
    Stay safe Elgin, not worth risking anything in that weather.

  12. Welcome to the 21 Century! Amazon Drone and the Jetsons 🙂

  13. Wow! I agree its beautiful and scary! Here in Oklahoma we’ve had temps in the 60s for the last week already lol

  14. Been in those epic snow storms. Can’t ever remember losing power, however. One winter in NY the town shipped the snow south because there was no place left to put it!

  15. I think snow is pretty if it’s here in the morning and gone by noon. Otherwise I feel trapped by it. Bless there hearts, I would be crazy!

  16. Roxanne Bernard says

    Glad I live in South Carolina! Even mentioning the possibility of snow here shuts things down.

  17. Kitamat is on the coast of British Columbia where they get lots of rain – I live in the interior in the “rain shadow” and we are enjoying unseasonably warm – 50 – 60 degree weather – things are coming up in the garden!

  18. When you ask, “What do you call the guy that comes out and removes fallen trees”? The tree guy. 🙂 And Yes…I like faller much better so start that trend.

    That snow is beautiful. If I had a back up generator, lots of food and hubby didn’t have to go to work, I’d love it. For about a week. 😉
    Glad you know your friends are ok, and I’m sure after that shocking snowstorm they are looking forward to spring.

  19. Susan,
    I live in Indiana. Last winter was awful for us. We had snow on the ground almost all winter. After I while I felt trapped. If we had that much snow as shown in those pictures, I would be in constant panic mode. Just looking at it makes me feel like I am buried alive! I would feel like I was suffocating! I really do not know what I would do! 🙁 This winter we have had two snows and they were both just dustings. I am fine with that! 🙂
    Blessings

  20. Thank you Susan for sharing our pics of the snow & thanks to everyone for your comments/good wishes. We are just fine & thankful we have no serious damage so far. Kitimat has pretty rigid building code standards, so we hope the roof will be fine. Rain, unfortunately is in the forecast……..but we won’t dwell on that.

  21. Wow. I love a couple of good blizzards each winter but that’s ridiculous! Too dangerous. My daughter was living in CT a few years ago and was without power for a week due to a snowstorm. Major headache. Her husband was away on business too for the whole week. She was beside herself.

  22. VERY claustrophobic and unbelievable. I did not know so much snow could fall that quickly. Thankful your friend is okay.

  23. bobbi duncan says

    OMG! What a view but, more importantly, they’re safe! When I was growing up in NJ in the 1950’s, we had a few blizzards like this. I recall two times where we couldn’t go out one door because of high drifts. Back then, even the rivers would be frozen solid at times. It was great for ice skating but sooo cold. We rarely get any significant amounts of snow now, maybe a few inches at best and a storm every five years, but the problematic ones are more ice related. And temps are so much warmer now, too. Most winters I just need a jacket unless we’re hiking for long periods of time. Mother nature has her own rules, that’s for sure!

  24. AuburnCathy says

    “Faller”… Sounds good but this B’ham girl sure does hope there’s no need for us to call a “faller” ever again after 2014!

  25. SharonFromMichigan says

    OMG! I’ll never complain about our 2 feet of snow again! When I was 7 yrs old growing up outside of Chicago, we had a blizzard in 1967. I was only 7 years old, but I can remember going outside and my brother and I made tunnels under the snow. My Dad let us climb up on the garage roof and use it as a slide (no gutters on the garage). I think there was like 5-6 feet of snow then. We lived out in the boonies so my Mom had our pantry well stocked all the time. It is a bit claustrophobic though, having all that snow. Thankful Elgin’s family is okay.

  26. We’ve been through some serious blizzards here in Michigan but thankfully nothing like Elgin experienced . My husband’s hobby is building multicopters aka drones and he’s often talked about taking aerial shots of the snow accumulation. The one he’s building now looks like something out of a Sy-fy movie. I’ll be sure to send a picture when it’s complete.

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