Tag Archives: snow

Good King Who?

20 Feb

As the weather has warmed up and the snow has settled on itself, there are places in the yard covered with a thin layer of ice, and still some pretty deep white stuff underneath. The Squire and I have been out to the “back forty” any number of times – to feed the foxes, carry out the compost, or put down corn for the deer.

There are still places where the snow is over my boot tops, so I do try to stay in the footprints already out there.  I don’t know if I am trying to go too fast, or am just innately clumsy, but I still manage to stumble and stagger, missing the existing prints, and crashing through the crust to make my own.

This morning I went out to collect the dishes we use to feed the deer, and I managed to make a new print,  and pulled my foot out of my right boot. Standing on my left foot, trying to get my right tootsies back into the boot, and then fell flat on my back in the snow.

Innately clumsy would be my best guess.

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Unatsi. Shnee. Neige. śnieg. Neve.

13 Feb

Whatever you call it, we have it.

Eddie snowWe got a foot of snow, starting at 8:00 last night, and it was still coming down when I got out of bed this morning. Between 7 AM and 10, we got another inch. Eddie is convinced that if the back door is blocked, then surely he can get out of the front door. Within the space of an hour he had been in and out three times, and gotten no further than the edge of the carport. As you can tell from the set of his shoulders, he is totally pissed. (This is the view from the front porch.)

I did see two squirrels outside the den window, and – I’m as crazy as they are – slogged around the corner to put out a dish of peanuts. The snow was still very soft and fluffy, and each time they hopped, they disappeared under the snow. Much wiggling and throwing mini-snow volcanos, while they gathered their feet under them, and then another hop.  (Notice the blue dish in the snow.) Of course, they ran away when I went out and by the time they returned, the Blue Jays had carried off the peanuts.

And then the starlings arrived en masse. It’s no wonder we run out of birdseed so quickly.

birdseedThe Squire went out and shoveled paths to both bird feeders, and then walked as far as he could down the drive.  About fourteen inches, a light rain right now, and more snow expected later this evening. A sort of winter lasagna.  The SHA has plowed the main drag, so we have a four foot ice dam at the end of the lane. Just thank God it isn’t blowing and drifting.

We may be here until Spring.

I had lined up three doctor’s appointments for tomorrow, and have already “officially” cancelled one.  Somebody sent me an email saying Harford County had declared a State of Emergency, with only 4-wheel and all-wheel vehicles allowed on the roads until late Saturday, so that pretty well takes care of that.

We don’t live in Harford County – half a mile outside – so we don’t get these robo-calls. I wonder if there’s a way to sign up for them?

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And We Had Snow

22 Jan

It started snowing about 9 AM yesterday and kept it up until about 9:30 last night. We got about eight inches here. Brutally cold, but the birds were out in force; I filled the feeder outside the den window three times – and nine pounds of seed. We had “good” birds; juncos, titmice, four or five kinds of sparrows, red wing blackbirds, mourning doves, chickadees – and a towhee, which we had never seen before. Maryland is just on the northern limit of their year-round home. Today, all we have are “junk” birds – starlings and grackles. I know they are God’s creatures and need to eat, too, but so much squabbling and yelling, pushing each other out of the way. You’d think they were humans.

No sign of the squirrels, either yesterday or today, so I suppose they’ll be out in force tomorrow. I didn’t bother to go out to feed the foxes last night; I figured they’d stay denned up, but when I went out just now (2:30) to empty the compost I took their food out with me, and found where they’d been “schnoveling” in circles last night, looking for their dish.

The Squire met two other fellows over at church this morning and cleared the sidewalks, and another member came down and plowed the parking lot.

We had a nice surprise when a neighbor of ours showed up a little before noon on his tractor and did our drive! What a blessing that was. I’ll climb the hill tomorrow morning and take them some fresh bread.

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Drizzle Fizzle

10 Dec

Last night, the forecast was for three to five inches of heavy snow, which is always bad news, so The Squire brought down fire wood, and dragged the snow shovels out of the barn.

We got about two inches of snow, and then it turned to rain. By lunchtime, it was all over but the slush.

Eldest Daughter lives fifteen miles north of us, and they got about seven inches. Her husband took the truck and left for work, so she had to shovel the entire drive, and she is such a fuss-budget that she will shovel all the way to the very, very edge of the drive. Not as long as ours, but long enough. She had an errand which absolutely had to be done, weather or no, so she took her car out to the main highway – about a mile.  She said she was all over the road both coming and going. Fortunately, she has anti-lock brakes, and they were “stuttering all the way”.

Our youngest daughter lives in Virginia, and they always get a lot more snow than we do.  They got five inches on Sunday, and then a quarter inch of freezing rain. In her email at 9:30 this morning she said they already had three and a half inches, and it was still coming down.

So much for moving south for better weather.

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