Christmas Eve 2007 in the Adirondacks

It is snowing like crazy here, thank goodness. Here's the real snow report: we lost about 18 inches of the 30 inches of snow we had on the ground in yesterday's warm and rainy windstorm. Winds topped 70 mph here; there are many trees down and limbs across wires, etc. Mount Van Hoevenberg is closed in order to clean the trails of debris and will re-open tomorrow. Whiteface is open with the lower mountain, Little Whiteface, ready to go. The cold front came through about 9:00 last night and the rain changed to snow, so we have about two inches of fresh snow on 12 inches of very hard pack. I imagine the back country has breakable crust and will need a few more inches of fresh snow to be back up to snuff. It is really fun to visit the Olympic Speed Skating Oval in the Village of Lake Placid this time of year. You can skate on the oval where Eric Heiden won his five gold medals in the 1980 Olympic Winter Games.
The birds have discovered the smörgåsbord of feeders here at the homestead. Today's star is Mr. Hairy Woodpecker.

Waiting for the ski - oops - sky to fall.....

Temps are climbing and the wind is picking up. Is has not rained yet, but that looks inevitable. My home has a tin roof with a couple of feet of snow on it. The snow/ice sheet on the roof is slipping, and will crash off anytime. It is so cool when it all goes at once, which is what usually happens. It sounds like a freight train is heading for the living room as it rumbles down the slope of the roof. Then - boom - all that snow and ice hits the ground and existing snow piles. I have errands to do, but don't want to miss the roof going. I jumped around trying to get it moving, which didn't work.
(I was planning to write about Kate Smith today. She lived here in the summer and owned a lovely camp on Lake Placid where she had a recording and broadcast studio. It is interesting, since she was finally buried here after spending a long time on ice, and I don't mean hockey ice.)
But I am obsessed with the roof and I rationalize discussing it here because this is what it is like to live in the Adirondacks. This never happened where I grew up in South Jersey. It is important for anyone considering moving to the Adirondacks to note that weather plays a large role in your life. I think it is great fun.