My 1st 2026 Photo Essay is a Snow Job

We had a light snowfall overnight on the first day of 2026. The forecast is for more snow during the day but so far at this time it is a beautiful winter day.

In this photo you can see my dog between the house and garage.

I will zoom in so you can see my Golden Lab. She will be 3 years old in June. Extremely lovable, full of attitude and energy. Like me without the energy.

I didn't bother using my Electric Snow Thrower today. I went all manual with a snow scraper and a scoop.

This is the completed job. There is about a half inch of ice that you can see from the freezing rain storm a couple of days ago. It is important to have good boots with some ice grippers.

Here I show my boots and ice grippers. It looks like I need another set cause I had to twist a couple of wires together where they worn out and snapped apart.

Now the next photo is about some sad news. It is the house across the street from my driveway that caught fire on Dec 23. Unfortunately a person did not survive. We were not home at the time of the fire.

We had left around 7pm and all was fine with no indication of smoke, fire or unusual smell. We went to deliver Christmas gifts to our daughters and family, so when we came back around 9pm there was 4 firetrucks and over 20 fire fighter. They kept someone in the driveway overnight until the cause of the fire could be investigated the next day.

I have know the family for over 40 years. When things like this happen I am reminded how a life changing moment or in this case, end of life can occur very quickly.

Sorry for the sad part of this story. Sharing helps me cope with the loss. Now it will be interesting to know what will unfold in 2026. It doesn't appear that the home will be saved. The back side is much worse.

That's the end of my photo essay so I wish you all the best in 2026.