Snow yard maintenance

A big ceanothus by the front south corner of the house uprooted under the snow load, fell away from the house (taking up path space) and will have to be removed. That's an opportunity. I was planning to landscape the south side of the house in 2009 and this creates a lot of space and light. I wouldn't have had the heart to remove it otherwise but this will be exciting. And the added incentive to get going on the project will be a good thing.

Other plants, I'm rescuing by knocking snow off of them before the rain makes it heavy enough to break them. Not all the plants--just the broadleaf evergreen shrubs and trees, like rhododendrons, arbutus (strawberry tree), hebes, the other ceanothus, and bamboo. The bamboo bends low and springs up elegantly when I knock the snow off. Naturally I had to have a video of this.

Snow: the sequel

The only remaining snow in our yard (until an hour ago) was a four-square-inch patch or two on the parking strip where we had piled it. Everything was looking green and Seattleish. My scooter started fine on the weekend and I took it for a long and chilly ride. The car started when the day warmed up. No worries... until I wanted to go play guitar with my friend tonight and looked out the window... as Charlie Brown would say, AAAAAUGH! The street is completely white. My bamboo has bent to the ground again. Sigh. Well, it's forecasted to melt overnight.