snow-tally awesome

I was FURIOUS this morning when I peeked out the window and saw NOT A SINGLE SNOWFLAKE anywhere. Grrrrr. David smilingly reported that it hadn't snowed. So when I got up again later with Dennis (David left here at 5:30 this morning), I groggily checked the window. Still no snow. And then, a half hour later, there it was, coming down hard but not sticking to anything. I ran to the kitchen window, where I have an outdoor thermometer. Still 35 degrees. Oh no! I forgot to ask the Snow Gods for accumulation. How stupid! I just wanted snow. David called and said "it's snowing now" and I wailed back "but it isn't STICKING!" and he told me to be patient and wait for the temperature to drop. So I reported to Dennis that it was snowing, and he looked out the window and said "is that rain?" and I told him it was snow and he said "where is it going?". Sad. After a couple of hours (of me checking about every 15 minutes), it began to stick to the trees (hooray!) and then a little later to the ground too. I just knew it was going to disappoint me, that it would stop before it got pretty, but I was wrong. My woods looked like a sugar-coated wonderland. Dennis and I went for a walk just when it started to cover the ground and then another later when it was just gorgeous out. He walked with his face tilted to the sky and his mouth wide open and yelled "Mmmm, tasty!". He ate snow from every surface. He threw snowballs at me, giggling delightedly when they hit their target. He stomped and ran and scooped and twirled--we had two really good snow romps. I attempted to build a snowman, but when I was just about ready to put on the face and Auburn cap, Dennis came over and tackled it and used the remains as weapons in his snow war (he pelted me with my own snowman). I had no choice but to defend myself. When he went inside for the last time, he took a snowball in with him and tossed it at (and hit) David sitting on the couch (snow grinch that he is, he wouldn't come out and play with us).

Dennis and I loved the snow. David and the dog didn't care so much for it. The cat was LIVID, like the snow was some cruel torture we had invented just for her. I could tell this by the way she plastered herself to the window with her ears folded down, glaring at me with her nastiest expression as soon as the snow started coming down. She was yowling her displeasure quite loudly when I let her in, and since I know this cat well, she went right into a crate. She lasted about 10 minutes indoors and then began reaching through the bars of the crate and shredding whatever any tiny little piece of any of her claws could reach. She spent the rest of the day cozied up in the garage.

After Dennis went in, I took a solitary walk in my own woods, reveling in the quiet beauty that comes with a good snow. The quiet here was disturbed a bit by sheep baa-ing and roosters crowing, but it was still a truly lovely tromp through the woods. I took too many pictures of everything and said my many prayers of thanks before going inside to fix snow ice cream for the boys. Snow days are like holidays, when everything slows down and it's a treat just to stay home and watch the ever-changing landscape just outside your windows. This one was a good one.