The Beast retreats

The Beast from the east has gone on  its way. Very soon all that's left will be water and mud...... although the roads were passable yesterday there was still quite a lot of snow - mainly on our drive....  Bugler enjoyed pretending to hunt for rabbits and mice in the long grass on the field edges. These are just a few shots of him being an out and out springer.... It'll be a shame - for the dogs- when the snow has all gone but I shall be pleased to be able to get out of our drive again..... If it were not for the remaining drifts, fallen branches and general debris all over the place it would be easy to forget just how very strong the wind was. 

 

.. and He thinks he has a sense of humour?

Bugler turning his head away from the fierce wind

So I thought I'd take Bugler and Jaunty up the drive first thing this morning to see what the road to the village looked like.....
We did not get far.
Thanks to the #BeastfromtheEast we stumbled into 5' drifts just round the bend...
We did try to walk through the first one.... not funny.


Jaunty scaling the wall of a drift at the third attempt

Jaunty tried to jump up the side of one - and succeeded at the third attempt - he didn't try again! Nor was he amused when he tried to jump the fence between the top of the drift & the bridleway that runs parallel to our drive - as he prepared to take off  he sank down into the snow and nearly garrotted himself on the top wire of the fence. Lucky it's only a plain strand ....



The road up to the village

The cause of the drifting?  The 'Beastly' wind blew fiercely throughout the night so we inherited the snow which should be on the neighbouring fields .... not in the least amusing..... there is no way we can expect to get up - or anyone else get down - our drive until it thaws. The last time drifts like this appeared was in the winter of 2010; a neighbour delivered the papers one day on his tractor..... very kind of him you'd think? Nope: the weight of the tractor compacted the snow with the result that long after the roads were clear everywhere else we had about one foot deep of lethal packed ice all up our drive! Not to be repeated....
Sadly the wind continues to blow tonight. Luckily no fresh snow has fallen during the day. What are the chances of neither snow nor wind tomorrow......? Wouldn't it be funny if the Beast just wrapped up his horns and withdrew back from whence he came........