As a Canadian I'm somewhat ambivalent about Latvian winters. The last several winters have actually been slightly nasty by local standards so I was fairly comfortable but this one is turning into the type of Baltic winter that I have come to, dislike. It's the cycle of snow/slop which I find so untidy. Get the snow down, have temperatures drop low enough so that the ground freezes and you're good to go until the spring. Wishful thinking.
As of this writing there is almost no snow left, just a little slop. This after the snow/wind storms of several weeks ago. Below is a pic showing how it was after the first snow storm, beautiful eh!? (notice the rock? ;))
This is how it is today. So dull. So washed out. No crispness.
So many rocks in a country supposedly almost devoid of them! Rocks to the left...
Rocks to the right...
(confused by the fixation on rocks? see previous post.)
But I have to admit, it's easier for me to get dirt to re-pot some of my house plants. Because I can't be bothered to actually buy dirt. There is something wrong with that whole concept. Buying dirt.
Gophers. I'm told they call them ground squirrels here but in eight years I've never seen one in spite of the fact that these mounds are absolutely everywhere. Tractor lawn-mower comes around to cut the grass! Piles of dirt blasted into oblivion. Back the very next day. Doubly odd because the water table is so high in Latvia which has a high elevation of something like 300 m somewhere in the "mountains". You see the pond in the right of the frame? That's the water table. If I dig down 2 ft I'm in water so these tunnel beasts live in a layer of dirt 2 ft thick.
The weather forecast for the next three days is temperatures above zero and rain. Looks like a green Christmas! And a lot of home made chicken soup.
As of this writing there is almost no snow left, just a little slop. This after the snow/wind storms of several weeks ago. Below is a pic showing how it was after the first snow storm, beautiful eh!? (notice the rock? ;))
This is how it is today. So dull. So washed out. No crispness.
So many rocks in a country supposedly almost devoid of them! Rocks to the left...
Rocks to the right...
(confused by the fixation on rocks? see previous post.)
But I have to admit, it's easier for me to get dirt to re-pot some of my house plants. Because I can't be bothered to actually buy dirt. There is something wrong with that whole concept. Buying dirt.
Gophers. I'm told they call them ground squirrels here but in eight years I've never seen one in spite of the fact that these mounds are absolutely everywhere. Tractor lawn-mower comes around to cut the grass! Piles of dirt blasted into oblivion. Back the very next day. Doubly odd because the water table is so high in Latvia which has a high elevation of something like 300 m somewhere in the "mountains". You see the pond in the right of the frame? That's the water table. If I dig down 2 ft I'm in water so these tunnel beasts live in a layer of dirt 2 ft thick.
The weather forecast for the next three days is temperatures above zero and rain. Looks like a green Christmas! And a lot of home made chicken soup.
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