Winter Finally Arrived

SNOW! Here it is going into the 2nd week of January and only now is it feeling (or looking for that matter) like winter. This is the first real snow we've had this 2010-11 winter season.
A week or so back I saw a few barely visible snowflakes fall but you had to have been in it to know it had happened.

This has been a nice snowfall. It's not blowing white blinding blizzard. Or drifts towering over fences causing waves across roadways.

It's been enjoyable to sit inside my nice warm house and watch the beautiful winter snowscape. I hope all of you out there are safe and warm, too.

Tracks in the Snow

Like many other places around the country we were blanketed with snow the other day. It started out rather light and we didn't get near as much as people I've talked with both north and south of us. My snowman banner doesn't look so out of place today.

After a fresh snow I like to go out and see what tracks in the snow I can find. We no longer have any pets so it's interesting to see what roaming cats, dogs and sometimes rabbits venture onto my property. I see there's been a cat up on my front porch...

...and walking around in the front yard.

Below are my tracks to and from the mailbox. I could walk out to the driveway and around but the snow wasn't all that deep.

These are dog tracks going up my driveway. I should have put my shoe print beside the dog track so you could see how large they are. The track goes up the drive but not back down. Dog must have had a destination to go to.

Pardon my expletive with the next set of tracks but WTF!!! Since when is it okay to jump curbs and drive across lawns? I realize that dogs and cats trespass, but they're innocently ignorant of man's laws concerning property. Some people's children, anyway.

Happy Tracking!

Into the New Year...

Winter has come over us here in the heartland. We've had a couple snow days...
...actually, one was at night. I woke around 4am and looked out the window, everything was white. By noon the next day it had all thawed. This latest snow cover isn't very deep...

...but it's sticking around longer. Baby, it's COLD outside. At least the wind hasn't been blowing to terribly.

I invited the granddaughters over today to try out the ballet video that finally arrived. I purchased it to late to get here for Christmas but I included a print out of the order in with PK's bag of ballet clothes. Doesn't she look cute in her pink and black outfit.

After going through the stretches and positions 1 through 5 the girls spent some time on the music instruments.

These are the more durable ones. I'm not so worried about supervising the use of these. The better ones won't go to the studio till they have a place to be stored.

Since the girls don't have school tomorrow, teacher's inservice, they decided that they were going to stay the night so we went to their house and got their blankets, jammies and cuddle critters. We set up the cots in the playroom instead of going downstairs to sleep in the guest room. The TV for the guest room is in the studio so there's no way to watch movies and the playroom has a computer that will play DVDs.

Sleep well my lovely little princesses!

Blizzard of 2009

Last week Kansas was hit by a blizzard. It's been a few years since we've had one. Long enough, apparently, for people to think that this is unusual weather for here. We may not have had blizzards every year, but most years we had substantial snow cover. I remember a winter in the early 1980s that the snow drifted so deep that I could walk straight out from my back porch across the top of a snow drift. My chow dog sat out at the end of this drift with his back to the north wind, it was frosted. I called to him and he just glanced at me over his shoulder, never moving his body and then ignored me. I had him in the house the day before and he begged to be back outside. It was just too warm in the house for him. Below are pictures I took the first day after the blizzard. You can barely see the logs around my firepit...
...with all the white, it's hard to determine depth.

See the pile of snow across the street? The snow is to the top of our bales to the right. We didn't have near as much snow here as they did in a lot places. I believe Pratt had the most at 28 inches.

Maybe this will give you more of an idea of how much snow we had.

By evening the streets were pretty clear, but we had a drift across our drive plus what they plowed up at the curb.

The street is clear and open all the way down.

The next day I went out and shoveled the sidewalk. This wasn't that easy since there was a layer of ice on the bottom.

Got it nice and clear all the way to the drive.

Then I made it all the way to the end of the drive and as soon as I broke through the snow at the curb my drive filled with water.

At that point I quit. My winter banner was still out.

This is the next day. Most of the water in my drive is gone along with the snow.

All that's left are spots that are in the shade and big piles that are melting down.

Here's my firepit, the snow had nearly buried those logs around it.

For good measure, I put out my spring banner, though it's still cold here. But the snow is gone.

Snowstorm - January 27

I'm glad to be inside my warm home on days that blow cold like the ones pictured below.
It was so cold that the snow froze to the north side of the limbs and branches. It was quite pretty.

The yellow grass turned into frosted grassicles. In a day it was all gone again.

Sample of Posts to Come

I have been so busy the past week that I haven't had a chance to add any new posts to my blog, and I DO have things to post. Here's a sample, the Golden Wheat Chapter of AHSGR had it's Folklore meeting on the 25th. This is always a fun meeting.
I have a couple of snow pictures I'd like to share from our snowfall on the 27th.

Yesterday T&S Mobile Projectors set up our big screen at Big Boys Toy Show in Wichita KS for our 4th year. We had a very nice turnout all day long.

Be looking for these posts in the next couple of days. Oh! and I'll have Super Bowl at Genesis in Hutchinson pictures to show also.

Don't Like the Weather? - Wait a Minute

Did you see my Christmas Day pictures? Did you see that there was no snow on the ground and everyone was outside in jackets? The next day, Dec. 26th the temperature got up to 69°F here, a new high. The following day....
....SNOW! And big fluffy flakes at that.

Since I was needing milk and some other things I headed out to the grocery store.

If you haven't read my blog before, we have a grocery section in our hardware store, but I was needing a little more than what they carry...

...or closest grocery store is just under 16 miles away. I drove to the store...

...with these big pretty flakes pelting my windshield. But when I had finished my shopping and came back out to my car it had stopped and I could see the clouds clearing off. Today as I write, the snow is gone and the weather is warming up again.

Fleeting Snow

Trying to get caught up on my picture postings. Tuesday the 16th I took these snow pictures. It had started snowing Monday night and Tuesday morning we had this lovely snow cover. The prints going up the center are mine coming in from getting the paper then the mail. The little prints going horizontal across the middle are bunny tracks. I haven't seen them lately but their obviously still around.
The snow was really pretty and there was a nice covering over everything.

Hardly a breeze to blow the snow off branches...

...or into drifts, just piled up where ever it landed.

I was glad I didn't have to get out into it. Going out for the paper and mail was as far as I wanted to venture.

The snow cover lasted till Thursday night. I had gone into my office Thursday late afternoon and I keep the heavy curtains closed to keep the cold out. There had been complete snow cover at that time. Sometime later in the evening I had gotten up and gone to the kitchen, the security light out back had been triggered, probably by a blowing limb, and was on. I was surprised to see the snow was ALL GONE! None to be seen anywhere. I had heard the wind pick up, felt it the coldness blow through my leaky north wall/window, but didn't realize what it was doing to the beautiful white covering outside. I only have to wait there will be snow covering again. But it IS Winter!

I Miss My Camera (was Winter's Here)

Monday's weather wasn't too terribly bad, but Tuesday we had snow and ice. I stepped out my front door and took a couple pictures and this is why I really miss my Canon 40D. The lens cover on my little digital doesn't always open and I don't usually notice till I put the pictures on my computer. But you can still see the snow...
...the news said that there were over 400 accidents in Sedgwick county due to the ice and snow yesterday. People are just really stupid on the first day of slick roads every year. But I think they outdid themselves this year.

It Blows! ...Or... It's All White Now

I don't remember the last time we had this much snow. This is a shot from earlier today, snowin' and ablowin'.
It's not blowing so much now and we have a nice snow cover. There are bare areas because the wind has blown the snow off some and stuck it on others.
We DO have drifting! Not so bad as I've ever seen, but more than the last snow. I don't think I'd be able to just drive my car out of the driveway. I'll wait till Monday morning before I think about shoveling it. The sun may pop out tomorrow and melt most of it away.
Here's my living room window with my Christmas sitting in it. Snow has stuck to several windows.
And here's the tree taken with the flash. I finally got a picture that was in focus.