Blizzard of '16

We all enjoyed the big snowstorm here last week.  Had our electricity gone out, I’d be singing a different tune right now, but since our lights and heat, etc., stayed happily on, we could very much enjoy the blizzard raging outside our windows.

It was such a polite storm too!  It waited until we were all home from our Friday commute, started at about 8:00 pm here, and then snowed through till late Saturday night, giving us all Sunday to dig out.  That’s courtesy folks!  Of course, schools were closed on Monday and the train service was iffy and nothing was quite as plowed as it ought to be, but all in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better WINTER! EVENT! experience.

I dressed Owen in all one million parts of his snowstorm gear and took him outside in the morning, but he whined most of the short time we were out there.  The main problem was a rookie mistake I made in not putting on the mittens before the coat, so there ended up being exposed wrists that got all raw and cold.  

Then it was quite a windy blizzard, so the snow wasn’t going down but sideways and it was a bit rough on the face.  Plus by then we already had high drifts of over a foot, so when I plunked Owen down in the yard so that I could shovel out a small space under the bird feeder, Owen tried to walk but just sort of toppled over.

Miss Dorothy loved the snow and plowed all around the yard like the Maine girl she is.  We don’t have a coat for her though, so we had to let her in pretty quickly as she began to whimper a bit from the cold as well.

Later Saturday we went out again in the front yard this time, and I had been smart about Owen’s mittens, so no wrist was showing, plus he had the idea to bring out a few of his construction trucks, and set to on the porch steps making them dig and move snow.  We had to force him to come in after a bit.

Sunday he helped Sean shovel, and when I first went out with him, and Owen saw that he could do manly things with his father, he followed me about telling me I should go in. 

Here comes the foreman to give me my instructions:

And here he is, still telling me that I had things to do in the house.

So I hightailed it out of there and was reading a book on my bed with a warm Posy in my lap in about two minutes flat.

Later Owen and I made chocolate chip toffee bars, and Sean made a traditional stew.  And we lit a fire in the fireplace, happy that it was not our only source of warmth.

It was a nice blizzard with over two feet of snow!  I’m hoping our next one will be equally as well-timed.

Snow Please (and Happy Birthday, Dorothy!)

We had a few mini snow storms in December, and although they were wimpy by New England standards, I was quite pleased since we really have had no snow to speak of for a little under three years.  I know this for a fact, since today is Dorothy's third birthday and the December in which she was born, followed by that February broke all snow records for Philadelphia, yet since I picked up Dorothy in March of 2011, we have had no more than about two inches twice.

And Dorothy is a Maine girl who loves to frolic in the snow!  And I love snow unless I have to travel in it!  (Although I do have an irrational fear of going to work on a snowy day and getting stuck in the city.  I tell myself it should be a pipe dream, since I could stay in a hotel, say, and get my first uninterrupted night of sleep since Owen was born.  But still, my boys need me!)

But where was I?  I am blogging rusty, so you'll have to forgive my digressions.  Anyway, I love snow and am hoping that we will get a big storm this year--I'm talking about 24 inches of snow.  I'm thinking I'll have to get my sister, Martha, to visit, since whenever she is scheduled to fly here there is a storm that prevents it happening.

But we had at least two respectable snows here in December--each about four or five inches.  I even had a snow day on one of them, and stayed home and played with Owen.  I took him outside in his snow pants, parka, boots, and mittens.  Of course, in a cliched way, it took me about 30 minutes to get him bundled up, which ended up being more than the time we spent outside.  He liked it though!  He gets frustrated with his coat, as it is a little stiff and is designed for a kid with a neck like a giraffe, whereas Owen is a Boy With Very Little Neck.  But he was intrigued.  Here are some pictures of our house and yard and Owen in the snow:

Looking at the pictures makes me wonder--just how do you put mittens on a toddler?  I can only get them half on and then they hang all skewed and bunched and make his hands useless.  There has to be a better way.

Poor Dorothy wasn't able to enjoy these two storms much, since she had injured her leg with some vigorous hill-running, and so was on bed rest more or less.  She did very much enjoy the snow in her yard; we just didn't let her do much frolicking in it.

And I shall end with a picture or two of the birthday girl.  Happy Birthday, Dorothy!  You're my favorite bulldogge, even though I am not your favorite human!

Sneg Edyot

We had our first real snowfall in two years this past weekend.  And as I write those words I am rolling my eyes a bit, since it snowed only four inches or so.  But as a big fan of snow, those four inches are better than nothing!  And along with the modest inchage, it did seem like a real snowstorm, complete with white on all the tree branches and delicious snowstorm hush.  

Since last year we only had a dusting, this was Dorothy’s first real experience in the snow—and she loved it!  She wanted to be out in her yard even more than normal, and once there she raced around in the snow and sprang and pranced.  Her father threw snowballs for her and she tried to catch them, getting all confused when they disappeared into the ground.  And then later when Sean took her for a walk, she refused to walk on the shoveled bits and spent the whole time with feet on snow.  Or in the air above the snow.

That’s my girl!

I took Owen out into the snow at one point too.  Once he is in his parka, he doesn’t quite fit into the baby bjorn, so I had to lug him around like a slippery sack of potatoes.  But he was very interested in the whole kit and caboodle, and spent the entire time outside looking around at his surroundings in awe:

Here we are standing under the tree in our front yard!  

Now I am ready for a snowfall of multiple feet!  Twenty-four inches should do it, as long as we keep our electricity....