Sugar Snow

It was about 6:20 Sunday morning when the rain that had been falling all night changed to snow. Big, wet flakes were falling fast. It looked like the weather prediction of 5-9″ might just happen.

Despite the fact that we’ve had LOTS of snow this winter, it was so beautiful I had to enjoy it. Besides, it was warm enough that I could enjoy a walk in it without freezing.

I was a little concerned, since I had to leave home early Monday morning to drive a friend to town, and the plow dung at the end of the driveway can hang up my little car if I’m not careful.

Ok, it’s not really being careful, it’s being brave. The secret is simply to drive. Fast & hard. Don’t think about it. Don’t worry that you can’t see around the huge snow mound at the bottom of the driveway. Trust that no one will be coming up or down the road at the exact moment you’re barreling out of the driveway. Luckily, since I live on a dirt road, this is almost always true.

This is a snow pile at the top of my driveway. You can see how big it is – check out my ice chopper to the left – the snow pile is quite a bit higher than the 4 foot handle.

Anyway, we made it to and from town without a problem, and my plow guy was here shortly after I got back to clear my driveway. The sun was bright, the sky was clear, and my little dog and I couldn’t resist taking a walk. I grabbed my camera on the way out the door.

First I saw these great snow craters.

As the wet snow plopped out of the trees, it dropped heavily into the ditch, creating a wintery moonscape.

The roundedness of the snow on the side of the road struck me as a very female shape.

I tried to capture it in a picture, but when I looked at it after I downloaded it to my computer, I get the very strong image of a hippo rising out of the water.

Then I noticed the tracks of a deer who’d visited the creek.

When I was walking back up my driveway, I couldn’t help but notice that my spruce trees were heavy with snow on their east side, and bare on their west side. The lovely sun had completely melted the snow off one side of the tree.

But the thing I decided to shoot wasn’t a half-dressed tree. It was the sprucicles that were formed during the melting process.