Austrian Flexibility

Nature is pretty cool.  We've received 13-15 inches of snow in the past 24 hours (depending on which part of my yard I measure in).  School has been cancelled for the first time in our district's history due to white out conditions in areas.  The guys remodeling my house have had to reconfigure their work space because they can no longer cut tile in my driveway.  But this tree?  It doesn't worry about the snow, or the wind.  Sure, its branches are bending but they're only shedding the snow that continues to fall,  not breaking.  Its life is not being disrupted, it is just going on with its day.  This Austrian Pine has enough flexibility to deal.  Flexibility is a good thing.

You ought to be more flexible.
(I couldn't resist a quote from Mrs. Incredible, a.k.a. Elastigirl.)

Snowy Night, Silent Morning

One of my favorite things about winter is waking up to an utterly silent morning.  It snowed here most of the night and when I woke this morning, I sensed the quiet immediately.  The light filtering through the curtains was extra soft, and I knew we'd gotten a decent blanket of snow while I slept. Enough to dampen every sound, inside and out.  Moving through the house, I was the first one up.  Well, the cats were up but even they seemed to walk on softer feet.  I slipped outside with the little Chihuahua we are sitting to smell the crisp air and snap a quick pic.  We have about three inches of fresh snow on top of the two or three of crusty remnants that have been here since November.  It's supposed to snow all day today and most of tomorrow.  We should end up with a foot or so of what I'm thinking right now I'll call silence. 

Its hard to get a sense for new snow over old, but I couldn't get Sal the Chihuahua to go out in it for scale.

Dogs Love Snow

We've had a super mild winter this year.  We had a little snow for Christmas, but spent January in the mid-60s.  It was lovely weather, but we did miss the snow.  Last week we got about a foot of the stuff and it melted pretty fast.  Today we woke up to snow just plunging from the sky.  It accumulated quickly (we've got almost another foot as I type) and the dogs didn't really want to go out in it.  Once they were out though, it was happy time.



Exibit A:

The Perfect Winter

I live where I do in part because I enjoy truly having four seasons.  I like them all and I like the variety.  I could move 45 minutes away and have a completely different climate, where it's pretty much warm and sunny all year long.  But I don't.  I like it here.  That said, winter does seem to be the longest season so I get tired of it long before spring. Not this winter though.  This winter has been The Perfect Winter, warm and sunny with only two large storms to speak of.  The kids and I were actually missing the snow (not so much the cold).  We were happy to wake this morning to several inches of the greatest snow on earth.  The dogs were surprised, but Rex was happy to go romp around a bit before coming back in to his warm bed.  Ginny, bless her sweet old heart, went only far enough to find a potty spot.  That was enough fun for her.

Come on guys, let's play!

Nope, not playing.

Rex loves burrowing through the snow with his nose.

Ginny, happy to watch Rex have all the fun.