It’s been an unusual week. Boise is reeling under the effects of Jupiter, the storm, that dumped more snow here than they’ve had in many decades. We had snow for 5 days, then rain for two days, then freezing temperatures. The city and county don’t have enough manpower, equipment, or budget to deal with the removal of it all so a lot of the residential streets are horrible. We need 4-wheel drive to get across the frozen ruts to get out of our driveway.
A lot of carports caved with the weight of the snow, but worse, lots of roofs were damaged by ice dams. All the WalMarts in town closed for two days while crews shoveled off their roofs. The Albertsons stores had leaks, and no telling how many houses have leaks. Roofing firms were working 20 hours a day. A firm from Minnesota sent their crew out here with their steamers to melt ice dams.
The schools around Boise were closed for at least 8 days in a row, not including Christmas vacation. Several schools won’t be open until later this week because of frozen pipes and flooding. All the high school athletic games were canceled. Now they have to be rescheduled, along with rescheduling refs to be there. School schedules are totally messed up. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with it.
Hubby and I got off lucky. We had one small leak around the hot water heater pipe in the garage. Hubby borrowed a 30-foot ladder to check our rather flat roof. We ran a hose out of the second-floor window in the laundry room, and connected to the washer’s hot water tap. Hubby melted some channels in the ice dam. That let the water drain, and the leak stopped. We’ve had no other problems since.
We’ve enjoyed a few days of sunshine and sub-freezing temperatures. We’re trying not to get too comfortable. The next storm is due on Tuesday night and expected to last at least 4 days. Snow and freezing rain on top of our already record amounts—we’re not looking forward to that. As someone told me earlier, “At least we’re a few days closer to spring.”
On the bright side, the ski area is having a banner year.
Stay warm and safe out there!