It’s blustery and snowing out there today, and it feels more like winter.
But look at the pictures I took just last week. I wore a windbreaker instead of my winter coat yesterday. It’s been my favorite Iowa winter so far.
I’m not sure I want to see what’s in store for us in May.
Yeah. Good thing we put up the swings.
Yay.
Our lights flickered for several hours yesterday. Then they went out. And stayed out. We pulled out the sofa-sleeper, opened up the recliners and camped out in the living room, where the fireplace is. I read by candlelight for a while, then made sure everyone was tucked in, blew out the candles and found a spot under the covers. I’d say I slept, but that didn’t really happen. I was up again at 2 a.m., when the power came back, turning things off again. This morning, we cleared downed branches. We’d heard the trees cracking under the ice all night.
The first blizzard of 2011 is howling and prowling outside my home right now. My husband is on the interstate somewhere, and I’m hoping he’ll make it home tonight. How many blizzards did we have last year … 10? 12? I lost count. While I’ve driven in low-visibility conditions before, wow. I can’t say it’s ever been as bad as it was today.
This? Is the school parking lot. They started pulling schoolchildren off the school buses and kept them at school because it wasn’t safe to send the buses out … on the streets. It was bad.
This was our visibility on the way home. I drove 20 miles per hour.
The kids helped watch for the house, which we never saw.
We could barely see the mailbox.
But, hey. There’s the sun. Whee.
I got sparkles for my birthday.
Santa was in town today, but my kids would rather do this.
And this.
And this.
And this.
And this.
It’s great they had fun in the snow. (And we had hot chocolate afterward.) But it makes me wonder … they got videos from Santa. Was that enough for them? Or did it scare them? Or did something else scare them about Santa? Hmm.
Ah well. In any case. It was a great day.
Spent several hours on this. Still not done. We need a bigger tractor.
We’re getting antsy. We are SO ready for spring. During spring break last week, we had a taste of it, then another shot of winter, then a touch of spring again. I hope we’re almost there.
The temperature was past 50 degrees on Thursday.
It made the beer taste even better. Remember my sun dogs? Yeah. This is my beer dog. Woof.
We had bikes.
And bubbles.
And flies. Don’t forget the flies. We opened the barn door, and they practically swarmed out of there.
We can see the snow fence again.
And the benches.
We were feeling pretty good. Then, bam. The next day we got snow. Boo.
But things looked better on the weekend. Temperatures were still low — in the 30s but creeping up to barely 40. But the sunshine was wonderful.
We had soccer.
And the start of flowers. Did you hear that? I think those are angels singing.
And follow the leader.
And swings and sunglasses.
And bikes.
Come on, spring. Can’t you see we love you? Pull up a chair and set a spell.
You’re what? Snow. Girl. Melted! (a la B-52s)
Yep. Here lies what’s left of Snowgirl. Look closely. That’s her cute little carrot nose and stick arms. That pile of snow in the middle is, I think, what’s left of her pretty hat. So long, Snowgirl.
I’d feel more smug about telling her not to let the door hit her on the way out, but I don’t think she and her pal Old Man Winter are done with us yet. That’s right. Snow in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Oh well. At least we had two glorious days with 50 degrees.
9/2011
