photo essay on February snows

Last Sunday, on February 22, we had a heavy snowfall. It continued on into Monday. We got 14 inches! (see a previous post).
The rest of the week was fairly warm-ish, a lot melted, the streets were clear. I rode my bike to work and back.

This morning, Saturday February 28, it began again.  It's not even noon yet and we have about a foot of fresh, new snow. It is heavy and wet--according to the report of the shoveler. Not me. I have a sore back and am staying in today.

Can you see how deeply it has piled on the branches of our apple tree in the back yard?  I usually use our back fence to gauge snow depth. As it piles up on the upper horizontal board, I can generally tell how deep it is. If it's over the top of the fence boards, then it's close to a foot. If you zoom in above, you can see that some areas are ABOVE the top of the fence. I can only guess that the other areas have blown off , or perhaps the power lines above dropped chunks onto the fence and heightened the depth.

Above is the view outside the window over my bed. At 6 am when I peeked out, there was just a skiff. At 7 am, there was close to an inch. Those are big blocks on that block wall, so it's really piling up.

Ah, but it's lovely. I just smile every time I look out the window and see this. I think it is spectacularly beautiful and I love seeing it.  We live in a desert, we need the water, we've been in a drought for quite some time, so, yes. We need it. But it's so PRETTY!  The flakes are so perfect. I love looking at them close up and seeing the chrystals, so perfect and divinely designed. If I didn't have such a sore back, I'd go out there and make a snow angel--just because.  One time, I went to my friend's house after a storm like this and made one on her front lawn that she'd be able to see from her upstairs bedroom window.  Just to say "Hi, Friend!  Thinking of you!" ;-)  Because, you  know, that's what snow angels do.

The other part of Snow Days that I like are:  Indoor heat.  Comfortable, clean, from natural gas, warm air flowing through ducts all over my house just to make me comfortable ( I guess I could have picked up the rubber band from off the floor before snapping the photo!)  Oooh, heat.  Clean, affordable heat. Makes me smile. Haven't you felt so sorry for those who DON'T have that on days like this.  Sometimes we think that they only lived in days of yore, but they're out there now and I feel badly for them.

And I have a backup plan in case the above one doesn't work.  But, even though our "tiki god" wood burning stove is a nice thing to have, he sits in his nook, cold and glaring. Maybe even a bit jealous over his dis-use.  We even have some wood outside. Under a foot of snow.  But if we needed it, it could be brought inside and dried out for part of the day and then burned --for heat OR cooking (if you're adventurous).  So, sleep peacefully, little guy. We're glad you are there for us if we need you.

Looking out the front door, we can see that the neighbors are all tucked inside their homes, too.  When it lets up, they'll come out and start shoveling theirs and one another's walks and drive ways because they are nice neighbors and that is what they do.

Under the very deep eaves of our house is a HYACINTH that has BUDS on it!  It will be in full bloom pretty soon. Maybe even while the snow is still on the ground.

But, for now, it is just snowing. And snowing. And SNOWING!  And I'm loving every minute of it.