Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Thankful for the snow.

Snowball fight!

I love how it snows here. It's a wispy swirling mess that tickles across your face. It doesn't make you wet it simply dust off like sand at the ocean. In fact a lot of our surroundings are reminding me of the ocean. From the squeak of snow under tires (same silica sound as sand) to the beauty of sunset across lakes I see little reminders.

Well, minus the wicked cold.

And I do mean wicked.

We haven't gone below zero yet but I'm waiting on it. We're also in the midst of a snow drought which honestly causes me a bit of relief. I had been confused about the stories I'd heard about Wisconsin snow and what I was seeing which was like 1990's Tennessee snow. Right now there isn't enough snow to properly cover the ice that formed after we had one December day of 42 (!) that was just enough to really make a mess. 

I've learned our road will not be clear till spring. Many roads around town are cleared with a plow regularly and then sanded. With enough traffic it clears where you can easily see pavement. We aren't so lucky. Sunday the road wasn't cleared enough to drive on until about 2pm. Thankfully we have a car with AWD now (yay!) but I still didn't trust the road with ruts 6 inches deep and ice. 

People keep asking how much snow we have here and it's terrible to try to answer. The wind blows all the time and causes the snow to shift and drift. Here's two measurements taken 6 feet apart in the front yard yesterday afternoon.


They read just under three inches and just under nine inches. And they're in the same front yard! I'm sure areas of the yard are over the twelve inch mark and as I type this lake effect snow is coming down at an alarming rate (lake effect snow is ultra fine and almost like a mist, however like a fog it's really hard to see through) and the sun has set. 

Still it is a special beauty. It's hard to keep your heart from singing as you drive through the snow (as messy as it might be) and spot an eagle or deer and watch the trees slowly slump under the weight of their white coats. 

2 comments:

Cindy said...

I like looking at your snow, but am glad there is none down here :-) Stay warm and be safe on those roads.

Unknown said...

Cindy ~ We're as safe as we can be. ;) This amount of snow in TN would close schools for the month... it's really nice to be able to enjoy snow without the fear of what might happen because the city isn't equipped to deal with it. At the same time I could stand getting warm right about now. :)