Anatomy of a Snow Storm

Phew!  What an interesting three days this has been.  Monday was dreary, cold and dull, with dirty snow and a depressed feeling in the air.  Only one good thing happened -- the Turkey Ladies made an appearance.

By evening there was a light, intermittent snow.  The sunset was muted, but beautiful.

By Tuesday morning, the world had changed.  It had been snowing all night, and it was bitterly cold.  I could tell it was going to be a good day to stay in.

I went out and shoveled, cleaned off the feeders and put sunflower seed down on the ground around noon.  As soon as I came back inside, the feeders were invaded by birds.  Poor things, they must have been very hungry, with all of their wild food covered with snow.  There were goldfinches, purple finches, cardinals, a downy woodpecker and a tufted titmouse.

But, the snow didn't stop.  By evening, everything was covered up again.  I went out one more time to shovel the area around the birdfeeder.  This cardinal was waiting in the lilac bush for me to finish.

The cars were creeping by the house.

Around four, the snow started to diminish, and we got just light flurries, until I went to bed.  It started to snow again, however, during the night, and when I woke up this morning there was much fresh snow on the ground.  It was beautiful in the blue light of early morning.

The infamous "pot garden" is covered and dead.

With the sun up further, everything was snowcovered and fresh. 

 But, the snow had stopped again.  So, out I went to shovel one more time.  I shoveled out the birdfeeder.

And, a path to the big tree, so the squirrels could get over to the feeder area easily.

 And, most importantly, I shoveled out, and around, the fire hydrant.

Then I came in and stood admiring my world, all clean and crisp and white.  The worst of the storm is over, though we are supposed to get scattered snow showers until Thursday night.  That will be great, just enough to keep everything white and beautiful.