Winter's Fury

The temperatures have dipped low for the past couple of days, and will continue to do so through the weekend. But by Tuesday it's supposed to be around 23, which will feel like spring after the sub zero temperatures we've been having. We'll all be walking around in short sleeves!

There is a glimmer of optimism in this frigid hell; there is an obvious lengthening of daylight in the evenings. Driving home 5:15 tonight, there was still light over the mountains to the west - finally!! I swear that's the only thing that gets me through these long, cold winters.

On Tuesday it warmed up all the way to 33 degrees and melted a fair amount of the snow away. Unfortunately all of that melted snow froze solid last night and the roads were as slick as a skating rink. Driving home, traffic was moving at 20-25 miles per hour in a 45 mile zone. Most people were patient and driving very safely, although there were a few idiots who thought they could drive better - and faster - than everyone else. A few of them tried to take themselves out of the gene pool, as evident by their cars in the ditch alongside the road.

As I shoveled snow Tuesday night, for what seemed like the millionth time in three months, I noticed icicles hanging around the rim of my patio table, and looked sort of like a parasol with fringed along the edges.

I was certain that with the coming cold front, the birds would be gluttonous at the feeders, but I've seen no sign of them for three days. They usually leaves "scraps" of seed all over the ground, that the deer vaccume up at night. It doesn't mean they haven't been here, just haven't left any evidence. Perhaps they've gobbled up every little morsel to prepare for the cold snap.

The deer still come - they leave fresh tracks across the driveway every evening. Sometimes if I wake up in the middle of the night I peek out the window to see if they're in the yard. But I've never seen them. They slip in and out like shadows.

The forecast for last night and today was six to ten inches of snow in the valley, but fortunately (so far), we haven't seen any of it. I'm hoping it has either passed us by, or it's just too darn cold to snow. Since the first of October we've had 23.6 inches of snow. My driveway is 20 x 80 feet, or 230,400 square inches. So, I've actually shoveled 5,437,440 inches of snow so far this winter....

Spring arrives in 80 days!!!