Same storm... the end of the day

More snow

This is one more variation on snow. The ground was wet and slushy yesterday, and almost snow free. Today the snow from the sky is just around freezing.... wet and heavy. The numbers are everywhere from 10" --> 10' by the time the snow is over. #### is supposed to freeze over by the weekend.
The pictures were taken around noon facing the South (for you precision people). One minute the sun is out. The next minute it is snowing sideways from the gusts of wind. I do not hear the wind in the house. It must be a combination of old fashioned storm windows and the pine trees that cut the wind, grown throughout the neighborhood.
One picture was through the kitchen window. The next was the snow sticking to the porch door. I pushed the door of the upper porch open to get the third picture, hoping to capture a snow devil off the garage roof. The last picture is the snow I had to push out of the way to take the picture from the upper porch. I know... cliche's. This will seem like a foreign planet when I look at this post in July.

February 1, 2008

Odd, Odd Winter. It snows. It melts. It ices. It snows. It melts. It ices. It blows and snows. It freezes below 0°F. It melts. And...... just in case you missed it. It snows.

I read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a child and wondered about snow as high as the top of a door. I remember coming home from high school walking in the ruts made by the cars in the street. Larry and I walked to a new years eve party and hid from the cold wind behind the snow banks the year we met.

Is God sending every possible variation on Winter to our world this season?

Today was a good day to not drive to work. The news was full of jack knifed semis and spun out cars in the ditch. It is no longer a challenge to my skills. It is enough.

Above is the basket ball net holding last night's snow (1-3" predicted).

Below is the yard. This was not 1-3". It is still snowing at 11:20 am.

Even so... I would rather snow than 90° and humid. At least I can go outside in some comfort, and it matches everything.

One more snow storm.

We got snow on the 28th of December 2007. It has been odd. However, I do have a photo of Larry on the roof with a shovel in December 2000.

Below is a hood ornament I thought belonged on Phil's car. I love the way the camera captures the sparkle of the snow as it falls from the clouds.
Cassandra, always my snow baby shoveled the drive, for fun.


Above is my still life: Hollyhocks in snow.
Below is another still life: Frozen Hoop.

Christmas Eve

This is how Larry's family spent Christmas eve after Church and opening gifts.

December 11, 2007 Snow

Phil took these pics while on his way to and from finals. The top 4 are of the lakefront. The bottom pic is in the UWM area.

December 11, 2007

We got snow, again. The first snow this season came the night before Thanksgiving. I drove through about 10 miles of the 'tunnel' snow anyone who has ever driven in Winter at night would recognize.

The next morning Cassie and I came back to the East side of the state through the most beautiful hilly patchworked white-on-white landscape I could have imagined. There were still clouds to the East. There was just enough snow to cover the ground, but not the color of the field beneath it. God must have had 5 gallons of white paint and 2 drops of all the other colors of this world that morning.

Most of the snow was gone on our return trip. Again, beautiful hilly fields and rock of variations of browns, golds and greens.

Above is a picture I took today of the height of the snow out side of our front door. The stoop is a step down from the storm door threshold. The snow is no longer a step down from the storm door threshold.
I don't clean up the flower beds in the fall. I leave the cone flowers, wild sunflowers and the Japanese lanterns for the birds who over winter. It also defines the walkway, should I wish to shovel it.
The blue spruce was given to Cassie when she was a preschooler by her Uncle Brian for Audubon day. That was the only year it was shorter than her. The light pole behind the top of the tree is about 15 feet behind it. I took the picture about 15 feet from it and about 8 feet above ground level. Do the math to figure out the height of the tree.
Above is the view outside of my front door. Click on the brush to the forefront to see the Winter colors of the Nanking cherry bush against the needles of the neighbor's spruce (?) trees.

Below is a view of the power pole without a bunch of utility guys in the yard. I was able to push open the porch storm door just enough to take this pic. Maybe someone should shovel the porch? Noooo who am I kidding. It will melt in April.

I love the subtle color contrasts of the trees in the neighbor's yard. Summer has so much intensity that the small visual differences are overwhelmed. Click on the pic and you should see the snow flakes falling from the sky.

Larry came home from work about an hour before I took this pic. Phil came home about 4 hours before him. You can see it is a snow just around the freeze point by comparing the snow on the cars.