February is fickle

I had been planning to leave Wednesday morning to visit my good friend from high school, who’s lived in West-by-God-Virginia for decades.  The 22″ of snow we got on Tuesday squashed those plans.  So we’ve rescheduled and will try again.  That’s one of the beauties of being retired from paycheck jobs and self-employed…schedules are much more flexible, for both of us.

This shot of my 4 1/2 year-old grandson will give you some idea of how deep the snow was.

While this snow made my arms incredibly sore from shoveling and delayed my trip away, it was certainly beautiful.

We all know that nature isn’t always pretty.  Everything comes to an end.  Yesterday morning I saw where a small bird, with all the dark feathers I’m guessing a tufted titmouse, met its demise, apparently becoming breakfast for a larger one, I’m guessing a hawk.

Now, on Saturday, the temperature is in the middle 50s and things are melting.  Sidewalks that weren’t previously cleared down to the concrete were so slushy that there was a splash with each of my footsteps this morning, so I quickly reverted to walking in the road.  This is when the snow stops being so beautiful and mostly gets gray and unlovely.

But not so everything!  I’m finally sharing with you one of my Christmas presents.  At my request my talented son, working with one of his colleagues, made some iron artwork for the outside of my house. He was able to get it installed before the storm hit, but I didn’t get a good shot of it then.

The light spots you see at the top & bottom are where he had to place wedges to keep it stable.  They will be replaced with a more permanent and less obvious alternative in the spring.  No matter, I just love how it improves the front of the house.