We got some snow last night and early morning! The neighborhood was abuzz with people shoveling sidewalks and children building snowmans.

Here are the same shovels that I took a photo of yesterday. Today there is some snow for them

These shovels nor the snow melt or salt haven’t gotten much use this winter. There is a chance of snow tonight so maybe this homeowner will be happy he or she is ready. Spring baseball training has begun and some think that means winter is over, but if it snows tonight we might see some winter.

Skiing at Chester

Notice the brown grass. This is the most snow I’ve seen…most lawns are bare and brown. It seems more like March or a “Duluth April” than February

What are the dark hills…Is it taconite?

I took my dog for a walk today. He slipped and fell, since he’s a basset hound he didn’t have to fall too far… only about a couple inches. It was kinda like he just rolled over. Here you can see an almost perfect outline of his body. This is an icy driveway that we were walking past.

I took this picture for two reasons, one – so you could see the light dusting of snow we have, and two – so you could see how the snow is sticking to the perimeter of the rooves. Hmmm is it rooves or roofs?

Lots of men crowded around the Rose Man shop on Central Entrance this afternoon. I didn’t need to stop because I had already gotten my red heart shaped valentines for the special someones in my life.

Because of the problems of water running into the sewer the city required homeowners to install sump pumps in their basements. Most sump pumps drain out onto the sidewalk which is causing horrible ice dams. Even though I had been avoiding this spot for a couple weeks. I miscalculated, slipped an fell hard at  this spot two days ago.

From Lake Superior Streams.com The reason for the sump pumps is because the footings in old houses were connected to the sanitary sewer which causes overflow during rainstorms.

If you own an old house footing drains were connected to the sanitary sewer system, and are now one of the causes of overflow problems in Duluth.

While old footing drains are good at keeping water away from the foundation of the house and help to keep basements dry, they are one of the largest contributors of clear water to the sanitary sewer system. Footing drains should be redirected to empty into a sump pit. The water can then be pumped out by a sump pump into the yard where it can be dispersed into the natural soil-groundwater and then flow harmlessly away in the storm sewer system

We’ve hardly had any snow this winter. In this view you can see the brown lawns, the Ariel Lift Bridge, a ship in the harbor near the City of Superior and if you look carefully you can see the Historic Central High School Clock Tower.