A lazy January Sunday...

As forecast, it is gently snowing here on the western plains of the Enchanted Mitten.  It is a few degrees below freezing, so the snow heavy and the flakes are large.  The prediction is 2-6 inches, though I can tell you that well more than 2 inches have already fallen.





Of course, Samson is loving every minute of this semi-blizzard.








The branches on this now dormant bush are outlined by the snow.





And who would not want to be outside throwing a frisbee for Samson?





Samson would spend all day outside if we let him.





It is very quiet and very white outside right now.  It is a perfect day to curl up in front of a fire and do as little as possible, which is precisely what I am going to do next...

Winter is here

On the western plains of the Enchanted Mitten we have enjoyed a very mild fall and winter.  We had a couple of dustings of snow on November and on Christmas Eve, but other than that, the white stuff has been conspicuously absent.  That changed on the evening of 12 January.  It rained for most of that day, then before nightfall, the rain turned to snow as the temperatures dropped.  It snowed through the night and well into Friday, 13 January.  By the time I went into work Friday morning, about 8 inches of snow had fallen.

By Saturday morning, it was time to take stock of things and, of course, take some pictures.  The image above is a bush that straddles the property line between out home and our neighbor's home to the east.


This is a view looking to the north, through our backyard.








This is an image of our wood that was covered to protect it from the elements.






With weather like this, we were bound to have a fire in the fireplace during the day, so I had to shovel a path to the wood...










This image shows how much snow had fallen.  It was well over half a foot.






Of course, what images of the snow in our backyard would be complete without a few happy snaps of Samson.








I think that he would live outside all winter if we let him.










Of course, Deirdre had to get out there, too, and snap a few images.  Look for her pictures here.





I will get a few more images later today.  The snow is really beautiful right now.