Snow Event

We’ve had our first major snow event of the season. When I went out this morning to measure, I had to break through the crust of ice that had formed due to the sleet at the end of the day. I’ve heard that sleet causes the snow to decrease somewhat.

So, I measured 2 1/2 inches, which means that it was more like the 3 inches we guessed at yesterday from our kitchen window.

Snow is beautiful, if a bit impractical.

These are black and whites with a blue filter.

out to the far corner of the yard

view from back door

SNOW!

What a beautiful day!

We were predicted to have snow and ice beginning about 4am. Didn’t start until after 7. But, WOW! did it start!

Coming down heavily and beautifully.

Snow is beautiful–but impractical. Unless, of course, you’re a kid off from school with a sled.

Everything is white and the silence is deafening. I love it. Always have.

The amazing thing is the difference between here in the Northeast and the Southwest. Where we lived in Missouri, we had to wait until the storm passed before any trucks came out with plows and/or salt. Here, however, the trucks begin within an hour of the first snowfall.

Now, here is the really wild thing about that. In MO I lived on a county highway that was a major thoroughfare. Here, I live at the end of a lane. The truck has to make a turn around in front of my house to go back up the street. In MO it was no problem.

In Missouri, schools shut down with the threat of snow. Here, it is business as usual–unless a blizzard comes in.

I know that it takes money to run the trucks, and provide the cinder and salt. Here in PA we are taxed for everything, and that helps provide the necessary funds.

Right now, it is coming down as a three-fold mix: snow, sleet, and rain–all at the same time. I guess the clouds are at different levels, but all full and in need of emptying.

We made our mandatory trip to the store–just to see if we could make it It was tough getting back up the hill, but we made it safely.

Now, we are in for the day, and Gracie is busy in the kitchen putting together the Christmas gifts of mix that I just made.

This is a good day.

Back At It!

Thanks for staying with this.

We are back from our trip. It was basically uneventful, except for the the night we were getting into town. Freezing rain began to settle into SW MO, which made driving rather difficult. We were getting there just after dark, so the bridges were freezing. Made it without incident.

Then came the hard work of trying to load heavy tools onto an ice-covered trailer bed. What fun! I’m pushing, but only my feet were moving. I was essentially dancing with a five-foot tall drill press. Made for some interesting video, that, thankfully, we didn’t get.

Now, we are back in PA. The trailer is unloaded, and the borrowed vehicle is returned. Our daughter-in-law let us use her Ford Expedition for the week. It was great for the trip and is a workhorse.

Timber, our dog, enjoyed the long hours on the road. She travels well. She is always excited to get out and check out the new smells at every stop. She gets out of the car and immediately sticks her nose to the ground and takes off. Doesn’t even look up to see other dogs.

Hopefully, I can get back into taking care of the blog. I have the Blogged Bible Study for this week, which is John 21. It will be the last post for that study. I was blessed to be a part of that group of people who have such a heart for the Lord. I am still a part, still visit their blogs as I was doing before I was invited to share, and they are still connected. We just won’t be doing a disciplined study at this time.

Many are trying to get me to be an active part of FaceBook, but as of yet, I cannot see the value in it. I have a profile up, and have ‘friends’ who have linked. But, it appears to me that the goal is to get more ‘friends’ than anyone else. There doesn’t seem to be any real purpose to the “social networking” sites. I can post the same entries on this blog that I can post on FaceBook. Maybe someone reading this can enlighten me further.