Winter is upon us

[rolanni]

It's snowing today, as it did on Friday.  Apparently, we're going to have an early and persistent winter.  Well.  Our very first winter in Maine, when we were living in Skowhegan, it snowed every night -- sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, every day -- and I just figured that it always snowed in the winter, in Maine.  In the years between, we've had some winters where we got very little snow, but a lot of cold, a couple of warm winters, a recent winter that dropped ten feet of snow over the course of the season, averaging a few inches every couple days, and a biggish fall once a week.  Very seasonal.  Sigh.

Here at the new house, we can hide the car in the garage, and we have engaged a guy to plow the driveway on a temporary basis, to see if we're both satisfied with the arrangement.  The front steps are gong to have to be solved.  I may need the War  Engineer to come by and see if he can put a peak over the steps, so that we can at least open the front door from inside, during heavy snowfalls.

And!  This Just In from the Maine Weather Service:  Maine Expected to Get Another Snowstorm Before Thanksgiving.

Winter has also illuminated an unanticipated problem with city living.  We are in a hybrid situation with regard to mail delivery.  Which is to say, we do not have what I think of as a City Mailbox, that hangs on the house near the front door, nor do we have a mail slot in the front door.

What we have instead, is curb-side delivery, like we had out in the country.  Which is fine, the curb's not that far away, after all, except. . .

Mail is routinely delivered between 4 and 5 pm.  It gets dark in the winter-time at 4:30ish.  We live on a busy road, and while there is a streetlight across the street from our drive, there's no sidewalk.  Therefore, in order to approach the mailbox, in the winter, when there will be a pile of snow between our driveway and mailbox, we will have to walk out into the road, in the dark.

This seems. . .suboptimal.

So, we're thinking about moving all of our mail delivery to the post office box, and switching the Informed Delivery Service to that address, so we know when we have to drive out.

I will say that I never considered mail delivery when I was thinking about the potential challenges of returning to city life after a quarter-century in the country.

In another aspect of City Living, I'm actually enjoying going to the gym.  It changes your outlook, when the gym's a five minute drive, instead of half-an-hour.

So that.

From the writing edge of life, Accepting the Lance is moving along; it's going to be a long book, I fear, so y'all need to prepare yourselves for that.

I think that's everything, except for this -- a video that Steve and I made for you -- yes, you! -- to thank you for everything you do.

Here's your link.

 

Comments

[crussel]

Rather than a covered entryway, you might consider heating it? Not sure what it's made of, but if concrete, it's easy enough to add inground heating, covered by a skim coat. And the same for most wood steps -- just add electric heating elements under them, and only turn the heat on when it's promising fresh snow. I doubt it would cost more than having a constructed peak over them.

[readinggeek451]

A covered entryway is really nice in rainy weather, though.

[crussel]

True, they do have advantages. Since I don't know exactly what the configuration of The New City House is, it's hard to speculate on which option would be best. If there's no cover at all, then an entry cover might be best. But if there's at least a small one, I'd probably opt for heating. It sure beats snow and especially ice.

[rolanni]

Given that Winter has apparently moved in for the foreseeable future, we're not going to be building or electrifying any time soon. However! There are heated "snow mats" that we can put on the front stairs, which may usefully address the problem. They're kinda pricey, but even if we only get one for the landing, we'll be able to open the door after a snow, which is the point...

A long book???

[ireneha]

How will I stand it (Assume high level of sarcasm here).... Oh wait...
A LONG BOOK!!!!! Yes! That will be great.

Mailbox

[(Anonymous)]

If you keep your curbside mailbox, suggest installing reflectors on either side of the mailbox and the supporting post. Not red--might be confused with a car's tail lights. Yellow or green work best. Available at Lowe's, Home Depot, Ace, and so forth. Also, your snow guy should be clearing the snow so the mail carrier can get to the mailbox. I live in a subdivision. Must drive to a cluster box about a mile way. It is a toss-up whether walking over ice to a curb mailbox would be easier than driving to the other side of the sub.

Re: Mailbox

[melita66]

Another possible mailbox solution is to replace the existing one with one that has a door on the non-strrt side.

Re: Mailbox

[(Anonymous)]

Can't you wait until the next morning to go get the mail? I don't know your situation, but I don't get anything that can't wait in the mailbox for 12 hours.

[kk1raven]

Before switching all your mail to the post office box and counting on informed delivery, make sure that informed delivery actually works with it. It doesn't work with mine. I get notifications for most of my packages but they just plain don't do the part that involves scanning incoming mail so I can see what's delivered each day. When I questioned this, the answer I got was pretty much "some places do it, some don't".