Where is the sun, oh where can it be? It has been thick and gray since the snow began Saturday night and it snowed again last night and this morning, adding another inch. Though the temperature had held in the upper 20’s to low 30’s for days, it dropped last night to 20, staying in the 20s today and dropping into the teens tonight so no melt today. The wind kicked up last night with 40-50 mph gusts. When that happens, sleep does not. I live in a sturdy log home, but the screens rattle, the dormers quiver, and I worry about the shelter over the heat pump blowing over and taking out the heat pump. When we were building the house, we made the decision to place it on the south side of the house instead of the west side, so the snow sliding off the roof caused a bent fan blade twice one winter before Son 1 built the shelter, very sturdy with an angled roof of left over matching metal roof on top. I’m sure it is quite stable, but still I fret, and snow guards were added to the roof, so snow doesn’t crash down from three stories up anymore. I did inquire about moving it to the west side as some point but didn’t want to incur the expense.
I venture out a couple times a day to toss down scratch for the hens, refill their frozen water bucket, gather eggs before they freeze, and keep the bird feeders full. Yesterday I walked up to the mailbox, a steep uphill walk, twice. The driveway was icy and the snow beside it almost deep enough to go over the tops of my garden boots. I figure the nearly quarter mile walk up, then back twice in the snow was my exercise for the day. Two crunchy walks to the coop so far have garnered two warm eggs. Glad the hens are cooperating in the cold this year.
But I guess at 73, I’m not too old to play in the snow at least once. My ski pants still fit, even over three layers of wool tops including the heavier hoodie. With my hooded parka, ski gloves, ski pants and one of the sleds, I managed a few fun runs on the hills and one on the driveway on the way down from the mailbox. It is harder to get up than it used to be, I get more winded walking uphill in the snow, but exhilarating fun all the same. It would have been more fun with the grandkids and daughter, but fun just the same. Though they said the snow would stop by noon, it is almost 3 and still lightly snowing. So much for the mild, wet winter. So far it has been cold and most of the wet has been white.
