Winter 2015 Arrives

For a while, it looked like winter 2015 wouldn't amount to much. We hadn't had more than a sprinkle of snow, and—despite the groundhog seeing his shadow—the days had been getting warmer. Tulips and crocus were even starting to poke out of the ground.

Then temperatures dropped and high winds arrived on Valentine's Day. The winds howled all night and blew over the light pole in our side yard.

It only broke off a few branches of the boxwood, but they'll grow back.

The light part is a total loss, though. Cats stayed in while the wind blew.

Birds waited in the trees for me to fill the feeders.

On Monday, the snow started falling. Only a dusting at first . . . 

. . . but by nightfall, we had over an inch.

On Tuesday morning, several inches of snow covered the ground and roads . . .

. . .  and the boxwoods in front of the house . . .

 . . . and Melody. Took me a while to chip the ice off her. The barn-cats sensibly stayed in the tack-room or shed. Good thing Melody has a heated bucket. Her water tubs were frozen over.

My husband used his tractor to scrape the driveway and the road from the house to the barn. Then he scraped driveways for a few neighbors with health problems in case they needed to get out.

By afternoon, we were able to go to Kroger. The main roads were clear, but the side roads looked bad. School has been closed all week, and more bad weather—only a little snow but bitterly cold temperatures—are expected shortly.

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