Winter Wonderland

Having received 14" of snow last week, we were a little dismayed at predictions for another 12-18" inches of snow, accompanied by strong winds, for the last 48 hours.  Yesterday we waited all day for the blizzard to begin, but temperatures hovering around 35 kept the worst from happening.  We got the strong winds, but most of the precipitation fell as light rain and acted to melt much of the snow that we already had.

Last night, as we went to bed, the temperatures dropped, the electricity flickered, and the weather decided to give us a small taste of what might have been.

So this morning we woke up to a winter wonderland again - about 5" of wet snow with a little underpinning of ice, plastered to the trees and shrubs, coating the ground beautifully and softly.

As I plodded out to follow our morning routine of checking for the paper, a track in the snow told of a bird's passage - presumably a pheasant from the size.  It looks like he half walked/half flew, leaving wing tip prints, but also dragging his tail and putting his feet down every 3 feet or so....

TJ, our 9 year old cat, isn't too excited about being out in the wet, cold white stuff, but loves hunting the birds through the window.  Here he is, several days ago, "talking" to them through the sliding glass door as big flocks of red-winged blackbirds and cowbirds chowed down on the bird seed I'd spread out for them.  Every once in a while, one would try to fly into the kitchen through the door, and TJ would jump 4 feet up in the air to greet it.  Several of those birds are still alive only because of the miracle of modern windows!

When we get this much snow, we've had to add a new task to our country lifestyle:  cleaning off the shade cloth over the kennels.  Greg literally had to shovel snow off the shade cloth because it was weighed down so heavily, sagging about 3 feet.  One side recovered its spring pretty well; the other side may have to be replaced this spring, despite his attempts at saving it.

It's an interesting start to the year:  an almost totally dry winter until late February, then 2 snowfalls giving us the snowiest February on record.  Feast or famine.  While hope springs eternally (especially in the springtime gardener's mind), concern and foreboding aren't too far behind, at least as far as weather is concerned.  This promises, once again, to be an interesting garden season.