Blizzard in April

I mentioned in my last post that we had several more inches of snow predicted for the following weekend. We got that, all right, and then some. It became a full-fledged, record-setting blizzard... on the 14th of April! We got around 18 inches, with wind gusting up to 50 mph. Ugh.

I'm posting these photos just for posterity. It's not like I'll ever want to look back and see them myself. As a matter of fact, I'd be quite content to never see snow again! 

The mini lilac bush in front of the house:

The backyard got more snow than we've ever had there before!

The top of the drifts were higher than the bottoms of the kitchen windows!

Grandpa finally gave up with his snowblower and got the tractor and loader out to push the snow out of the way so he could get out of here.

Such fun. NOT. The good news, however, is that it's been melting very fast. We still have some left, but here's a comparison from yesterday.

That's it. Enough reminders. It's spring now, hopefully to stay. The birds, who've had a really tough time the last couple of months, are busy singing and nest-building, and the rhubarb is peeking out. Hopefully the farmers can get into the fields in a week or so, which is very late, but better late than never, right?

Enough. The end.

We had a blizzard yesterday

Today it looks like this around here. The wind came from the northeast, rather than the northwest which is more normal for a blizzard, so the snow piled up in new places. I don't remember ever having drifts this big in our back yard before (note the LP gas tank on the left, for size reference!).

Same as above, different perspective:

Closer look at that pointy drift:

We even had sundogs this morning, although it wasn't terribly cold (+17°). Must've been from all the snow still in the air. Right side:

Left side (harder to see behind the evergreens):

Just another snowy photo (through a snow spattered window):

You'd never know there was a garden back here, would you? Even the asparagus stalks are buried:

I think my favorite view is the mini lilac bush. It looks like it's made of huge marshmallows!

School was cancelled yesterday and today, so no Courtney day this week. Good thing we got to see her on Sunday at her birthday party! I guess I'll try to do some catching up on procrastinated projects. Then there are more sewing projects in the queue, so never a lack of things to do.....

From the sewing room window

It did it again. It wasn't predicted, but it did it anyway. We had another blizzard yesterday. The forecast said it was going to snow a little and blow some... but it got to rip roaring a lot stronger than they'd said it was going to, so they upgraded it to a 'blizzard warning'. It didn't start early enough to cancel school, so the kids went... and then left for home again at 9:00 a.m. Aargh. And it's now well below zero again.

Meanwhile, I've been getting some sewing done. Heaven knows, it's better than looking out the window. Here's what I see from my sewing room, and I had to scrunch down a little to get the trees in there. 

It's a pretty gloomy view, isn't it?

BUT... look closer! There's a garden growing up from the bottom of the window!

(Click to enlarge... they're much prettier that way!)

Hey, a person has to look for the bright side, right?

A blizzard(?)... and spikes, part 1

We had a blizzard yesterday. Actually, we're still under a "blizzard warning" until noon today, but it's looking pretty mild out there. Yes, the wind is still blowing, but there's not much snow in the air. We did get a total of around 5-6" of new snow, and it blew a lot, but somehow it just didn't seem all that "blizzardy" to me. I've seen WAY worse! Whatever....

Here's our "miniature" lilac bush right outside the bedroom window this morning:

Yeah, just snow. You've seen it before. But kind of puffy-pretty.

These next photos were taken last Friday after having had fog and wind overnight. I think they're much more interesting. Look at the teensy buildup of hoar frost spikes below. The nail head in the upper right hand corner of the pic is for size comparison:

The grass had lots of spikes, too.

Isn't that just amazing, the way it can build into those formations on the narrow blades of grass? Beautiful, too!

The lilac bushes were quite interestingly spiky, too:

Did you notice that some of the spikes even have "cross spikes" on them? Or maybe it's "thorns" on the spikes. Anyway, I think they're super-neat! I wonder what makes them form like that, as opposed to this way, from a year ago:

I have more spiky pics for another day. I finally finished a small sewing project that I plan to show you tomorrow, though. And lots of sewing projects in the queue. I'm in production again! ;)

God's decorations

Yeah, I have to admit, there is beauty in the beast of winter.

Here's our poor miniature lilac bush next to the house. It got pretty battered last winter... I wonder how it'll look by this spring. But, it's pretty now.

Evergreens full of snow are always lovely looking.

And look closer... quite the shapes, huh?

Below is some frost on a window, shot from a couple different angles.

(Click any photo to enlarge.)

If I can't make it go away (I really can't, Dale!), I may as well find something to enjoy about it!

It's looking TOO MUCH like Christmas!

Like Christmas last year, that is! Whodathunk we'd already have this much snow again so soon? It did make for pretty pictures yesterday morning, though, after the sky cleared and the wind calmed down somewhat. I guess. If you like looking at a lot of snow. Again. So soon.

I never imagined Courtney would have such snowbanks to slide down again this year. They do look like they could be a bit challenging... but fun!

(Click any photo to enlarge.)

Well... Mark, Cindy, JHRME, Gwen... all you peoples in the warm climates... enjoy! At least then somebody will.

Yesterday

Yep, they predicted a blizzard for yesterday, and that's exactly what we got. It seemed to be even more powerful than the one we got last Christmas, plus it rained a little and left a thin layer of ice on everything first.

Here are a couple of videos to show you how it looked from my perspective, cozy and warm inside the house. Grandpa and the rest of the guys had to work outside (or in the barns) in it all day, of course, because none of the employees could get to the dairy. If you turn your volume waaay up, you can hear what ironically came on the radio just as I was starting the video.

Can't see much, can you? And that was in our somewhat sheltered yard. Out in the open, you could see even less. Grandpa said it was a looong trip to the dairy in the morning, because visibility was zero. But, thankfully, he made it.

Below is a shot from my kitchen window. The "stripes" down the right half are actually reflections from our living room windows. You can kind of make out an evergreen tree, our LP gas tank, and lilac bushes on the left. If you click the pic to enlarge it, you might be able to make out our yard light pole. Or not.

I don't think the cats enjoyed their view much yesterday. Pretty boring.

Here Josie was even EXTRA bored!

She was sleeping. Or faking it. (?)

More pics tomorrow morning......

(I don't know why everything is all scrunched together. I can't change it.)

Today

Grandpa can't even get out of here to get to the dairy today.

*SIGH*

Winter Wonderland, part 3

Nice fence, huh? It's actually just a wire fence covered with frost.

(Click to enlarge. They're better bigger!)

Tired of white yet? ;-) At least the heifers provided a little contrast. I'll try to add some color next time.