Hard to imagine that a few short months ago we could sit happily by the pool.

I know, I know. Are you tired of tuning into my blog only to see yet another post on the white stuff? I seem to be fixated on SNOW in my posts lately. Maybe that’s because it’s been snowing. Alot. Right now as I type big, lazy flakes are drifting down from the sky. It’s not going to last long, but still. It’s snowing. Again. And tomorrow it’s predicted we might get 6-12. It’s starting to sound like a jail sentence. [Finger pointing] ‘You there! You get 6-12!’ The driveway is coated with a light dusting but it’s not enough to do anything about. It’s supposed to get above freezing today and the sun should be out a bit later so it will all melt away. Unlike what we already have on the ground.

If you are not having winter where you live, let me help you out.

Here’s the ever-growing pile by the front steps. Please note the Christmas garland still wrapped around the railing. We’ve not been able to get the Christmas decorations down yet as we can’t really get to them. I guess I could take the garlands off but they would have to be put somewhere to thaw.

Here’s the end of our driveway on one side with a view down our street.

A rock in our yard with undisturbed snow on top of it.

Tracks in the snow in the front yard.

Our main driveway.

Let’s take a closer look at our lights on the driveway markers.

They put out a feeble light when we turn them on. I suppose I could get an ice pick and chop away at the snow, but as yet I haven’t. I didn’t manage to get the Christmas bows off that I had on them either, so they are buried in there somewhere and probably ruined.

But really, I’m not complaining. Really, I’m not. Yet.

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!

Or should I say adding ice to snow? Yesterday morning we woke up to about 3 inches of snow or maybe a little bit more. While Rick was out snowblowing it turned to ice pellets. Those sting! Before long, just as predicted, we had freezing rain.

I had waited a few hours before shoveling the front steps and a pathway on the deck for the dogs and I’m sure glad I didn’t wait any longer. Trying to move that snow with a good crusting of ice on it was no fun. Plus, the snow had turned pretty slushy by then.

Everything was encased in a coating of ice. Even our clothesline. This poor goldfinch in his winter plumage looks miserable, don’t you think?

It was not a day for being outside. It kept it up all day long. The snow melted some but it only got above freezing for a short while. I could not really get out to take photos without getting me or the camera wet, so I shot a few photos from the safety of the overhang of the roof.

In this one I think it looks like a tiny ice sculpture of a bird (on the left). See it?

Can anyone tell me why snow accumulates whereas ice accretes? At least that’s how they call on the weather report. Interesting ...

This morning I went outside to take a few ice shots before it all went away. It’s above freezing out there now (only just) and as I went outside I could hear the ice melting and dripping like rain everywhere.

Now on top of this fine mess we are supposed to get more snow Thursday night into Friday. Not a lot as I understand it, probably only about four inches or so. Still, it just keeps coming in one form or another. Frankly, I’ll take the snow over the ice any day!

Look what else I saw this morning when I looked out the sun room door.

Bella, of course. I’m not quite sure how she got up on the table! I think she was after a tiny chunk of suet that I had tossed on the table for the birds before our last snow. Silly dog!

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)!