So, pull up a chair (if you can find it) and we’ll have a chat.

The verdict? We got 8-9. Not as much as they received in the city, but still a substantial snow. We were not in the sweet spot for this particular storm. I guess we can be thankful for that. Johnny is getting a true workout so far this year. And Rick is very thankful for his Christmas gift (that was tagged as being from Mother Nature) of waterproof storm pants that keep him warm and dry on his snowblowing chores.

While it did snow during the daylight hours yesterday (and it was beautiful with huge flakes) we seem to be in a trend to get most of our snow overnight and by morning it’s all over with. Such was the case with this storm as well. So, I took advantage of a few peeks of sunlight and headed out with the camera.

This is the second set of stairs that go down to the pool. Neither the dogs or I use them in the winter for obvious reasons.

Remember the lights at the end of our driveway? Maybe I won’t bother turning them on tonight.

I just love shadows on snow.

Bella says: when life gives you snow and ice—eat it!

(Yet another giant icicle that had to be removed from the gutter.)

My Sorel® boots have a permanent place by the sun room door. The small snow shovel leans against the wall just inside the front door. These are things I need on an ongoing basis! Another snowfall last night dumped about 4 inches or so on us. More shoveling. More plowing up of the white stuff. Our piles keep getting bigger and bigger. Sheez. We are beginning to hear rumblings about yet another storm on Tuesday of next week. Click here for the forecast as it stands now.

The snow did not melt with our freezing rain the other day. Well, maybe just a little. What it did do was add a layer of thick ice on top. That stuff ain’t goin’ nowhere! It’s like trying to move concrete. Plus, it’s not supposed to get out of the teens in temperature this weekend with our first below zero nighttime temperatures. Brrrrr!!

I’m not complaining; this is what winter should be like. This is the kind of winter that I had always thought New Jersey had but since we’ve lived here the winters have been pretty mild without a lot of snow. This is more like what I remember winters being like when I was a child growing up in New York.

Written on the back: Lynne, Blizzard 1961, Hyde Park, New York.

I am starting to feel closed in. I can’t really go for walks easily. Yes, the street is plowed but there are still some icy spots. The dogs have caused me more injuries over the years than I care to count, so having them pull me while walking over a piece of ice is not something I care to have happen. I can go for walks on my own but then I feel guilty that I am not taking them. All I see is their big noses pressed up against the window,  their sad eyes following me as I walk away from the house.

Last weekend we did manage to take them for a nice romp down the path in the woods. We didn’t go all the way down to Green Turtle, but it was enough.

This tree fungus still had a snow hat on!

Spring will be all that much sweeter this year when it arrives!

Once upon a winter week in rural New Jersey, two icicles formed. They came about as a direct result of snow melting off a roof and, most probably, clogged rain gutters. They started out on the modest side of icicle size.

But the melting snow fed the hungry icicles well and the weather was perfectly set at below freezing every day. Every morning the snow melted a little bit and ran down their sides only to refreeze again by mid-afternoon, adding layer upon layer of fresh ice.

Day by day their girth widened and they got longer and longer. They acquired sharp pointed ends.  And, pretty soon they looked like this:

Each day the dogs of the house thundered underneath them on their way out the door and down to the yard. The icicles were afraid that the repercussion from the crazed barking of the dogs would loosen their grip on the rain gutter, but they managed to keep holding on as tight as stalactites. The woman of the house carefully skirted around them instead of going under them (which she would have had to duck to do anyway) and admired them greatly. They preened and winked in the sunlight. Especially the larger one who was very vain.

Like anything that is overfed and indulged, the icicles became quite nasty and menacing. They needed to be taken care of before things got out of hand.

One morning, without warning, they found themselves snapped off in their entirety by the man of the house. SNAP! Just like that they came free of their icy home. When the woman of the house saw that they were missing she was sad. But wait! The man had saved the broken-off icicles for her and laid them carefully in the snow.

She picked them up and raised them high so that the whole world could see how glorious the icicles had become.

But one of the dogs of the house was also interested in the icicles as you can see.

So the woman of house, whose hands were growing quite cold by then, handed off the largest icicle to the dog.

And so our story ends as the dog carried the icicle down into the yard to become the coldest “bone” the dog had ever chewed upon.

THE END.

More...

The sun coming up in our woods the morning after our snowfall this week.

We’ve had snow on the ground now since the day after Christmas. First the blizzard snow of 20 inches, then last Friday’s 5 inches, and this week’s 7-incher that fell over Tuesday night. We never got rid of the first snow even though we had one warm day and a little bit of rain that helped melt some of the snow pack. Still, there’s an awful lot of snow still on the ground.

The temps hover in the 20’s during the day and at night plummet to the single digits and teens. The wind has been blowing quite nastily too so I haven’t really been taking the dogs for their daily walk. Today the wind is calm, so we did manage to get a walk in.

Bella likes it when I shovel and throw some snow her way. She thinks it’s fun and she hops around and barks. She’s bored because she can’t find any dirt to dig holes in. Thank God.

I haven’t been anywhere since Tuesday! At least not in a car. Only in the yard and a walk down our street today with the dogs. I’ve been reading, knitting (birthday present for neighbor Kim but I don’t think I’m going to finish in time) and watching my TiVo’s shows.

Rick has been on a bread kick lately. We recently bought this book:

So far we’ve made the french baguettes (last weekend) which turned out pretty well, and this whole wheat pizza dough. The pizza had a delicious wheaty flavor but the crust did not get crispy like we like it. It was really good though! Don’t you think it looks good?

And, he has another dough for a ciabatta resting in the fridge for this weekend. So far that’s our only plan for the weekend. It’s supposed to snow a little tomorrow so we’ll probably spend the day sitting around the wood stove while the lovely aroma of baking bread fills the house.

Hope you have a great weekend no matter what you have planned (or not)!

Yet another beautiful sunrise has graced the skies above my house. This time the color does not foretell a storm like it did the last time.

We’ve had temperatures in the 40’s for the past few days and yesterday it rained. With that combination of weather conditions the snow is melting like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy tossed a bucket of water on her { I'm melting ...} What a mess. Snow is lovely when it’s freshly fallen, all pristine and white. After a few days it starts to look grimy around the edges where it meets the road and after a rain it just turns to slush. Then it refreezes and we get snow the consistency of a snow cone.

Not much else going on around here. Rick has been pretty much off throughout the holidays, either with a snow day, a paid holiday or taking some vacation days. The days have been lazy and we’ve only gotten in the car to go somewhere a few times. We’ve watched movies: a marathon of the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy, a few old favorites that we finally bought ourselves on DVD like Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring {French subtitled in English}, and Rich Man, Poor Man the first mini-series ever to air on national TV. (We’re still in the process of watching all 27 hours!) We’ve played video games, played with our iPads, read books and pretty much did whatever we felt like. The dogs did get a few walks in too.

I have no resolutions for the coming year. At least not yet. The year is too new yet and who wants to spoil it with a bunch of regulations and restrictions?

I do know that I want to continue on with pottery classes. Just not the classes I was going to before. When winter is over I will pursue a few places “over the mountain” in Warwick and Sugarloaf. I don’t really relish the idea of driving over there in winter weather. So, I"ll wait. I haven’t shared photos of the last object d’art I made because it needs a bit of touch up work. I’m not really happy with how it came out in the end but I learned a few lessons. One is don’t let other people influence what your vision is. I"ll be posting pics soon. It’s not bad, just not what I truly wanted to do. It’s not me. Enough said.

Does it sound lazy not to have goals all laid out for the new year?

The dogs did enjoy the snow before the big melt. Here are a few pics.

Hailey and Bella

Bella

Hailey attempting to catch a snowball.

Bella trying to look serious.

Alex looking regal.

Hailey looking cute.

Poor Bella just kept collecting balls of snow in her fur! The first pic captures her personality perfectly. See the devilish glint in her eyes?

Mom ... these snow balls are getting heavy ...

And a couple of backyard visitors that aren’t dogs! The blue jay with his feathers that look like an intricate mosaic and two tiny Carolina wrens.

I hope your list of resolutions for this new year doesn’t weigh you down too much!