Big snow. Big melt. Big mess.

We got our first significant snow last night, just in time for me to drive home over the Malahat from an afternoon concert in Victoria. Dark, fog, blizzard, winding mountain highway, very slippery roads. I thought it was just the Malahat, which has its own personal weather microclimate, but the heavy snow continued right into Duncan. But I had good company to keep me calm, and good tires on the car, and I made it home safely. Then I counted my blessings.

This being Lotus Land, the day after a Big Snow means a Big Melt. And a Big Clean Up. We had some tree and shrub casualties because of the weight of the wet snow. One pretty-small tree came down entirely, considerately falling right across the road instead of on an outbuilding. The largest rhododendron lost two large branches, and one big euonymous split right down the middle and will have to come down.



If you have been reading this blog for a while you may remember I have a love/hate relationship with our many euonymous shrubs. First came the hate part: they look like insects. Then came the love part: they are glorious in the fall and have pretty berries. Today we're back to the hate part: every time I shook a weighed-down branch to clear it of snow it would snap back and hit me in the face with its many twiggy frozen bits. First I tried standing in a better position and I still got whacked. Then I stood really far back and used a good kick to clear the snow and I still got whacked. Its going to take some mighty pretty berries to coax me back to loving...

With the sun out the snow is melting like crazy, falling in drops and wet clumps from all the branches overhead. Which can make for an unpleasant surprise if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's quite meditative, watching it fall in the pond - the pond almost seems animated, or stocked with really adventurous fish.

The chickens were understandably hesitant to venture out into the world this morning. The old girls because they know better, and the youngsters because they've never seen snow before. Every few minutes one would wander over to the door, peer down at the white stuff, look to the left to see if there was snow in that direction, look to the right in case it was different weather over there, and then wander back into the warmth and safety of the coop

Kim stood outside the chicken door trying to coax them out with a "Where are my brave little chickie-chickies?" and finally she just shouted at them "What are ya, chicken?"

Old dog, first snow

Frankie may be a little too stiff to go bounding through the first snow of the year the way he used to, and the flakes may blend a little more into his ears-turned-grey. But this morning's brief snowfall was still reason for our aging guard dog to assume his favourite position on the verandah steps to keep watch over the weather.

Our sweet boy is now on anti-inflammatories, which are helping what was troubling him in his lower back, but he is showing his age in other ways: he is quite deaf now, and sleeps much of the day. The time has come when I need to be sure I'm not letting worry over what lies ahead for him interfere with the joy that is still to be had every day.

Our dude. Our handsome boy.

Winter

We have been having a strange winter (although I hesitate to use that word since none of the winters we have had here at Mucky Boots have fit the usual pattern): more sun than usual, and colder than usual. And almost no snow, which I attributed to the fact Kim and I finally got snow tires for our car.

And then, this week - snow!

It came in a few acts: four inches of soft, beautiful powder one day (unlike our usual sodden, heavy, wet snow) another eight or so two days later, then a brief flirtation with freezing rain that laid down a slick coating on top of it all. And now it's dissolving in a steady rain that is making a muddy, sloppy mess out of everything.

The best part of the week was the lifting from my shoulders of the huge weight of worry (and before you worry, please remember that worrying about anything and everything is a specialty of mine) when I realized what an enormous difference our new snow tires make. That horrible hill we need to drive up in order to get to the main road that has been the scene of more than one slow-motion icy ballet as we struggled up only to slide back down again? Hah! No problem: I drove straight up easy as pie. The drifts in the driveway that would have had us digging and pushing and swearing and pushing again? No problem: I just drove right through them.

And then there was the joy of watching Frankie in the snow. This may be his twelfth winter, but any sign of senior doggy dignity gets lost the instant his paws touch snow. It almost makes me wish for more snow.

Almost.

Goodbye sun

Usually we're knee-deep in puddles and mud by this time of year, but for some reason the weather has been really lovely: lots of bright sunshine which has more than made up for the colder than normal temperatures.

But today I looked at the weather forecast online and this is what I saw.

Saturday: rain.

Sunday: rain.

Tuesday: rain.

Wednesday: rain.

Thursday . . . Thursday . . .

I can't even bear to write it.

Snow.

Can you hear me shrieking from where you are?

What?!

This is what we woke up to this morning. Something's wrong here - this is lotus land, after all, and it is March. But don't these snow-dusted primula look edible, like frosted violets on a cake?

Everything is crispy and frozen, and there's more white stuff expected tonight. But if there's one thing I have learned in my short time here at Mucky Boots, it's that some things are just plain beyond my control, and rather than worrying, I should just go inside for a cup of tea.

Snow!

It snowed yesterday, as promised by the weather forecasters. It started about 2:00, and by the time I was driving home from a tutoring session, the roads were lightly snow covered. More snow through the evening and overnight, so we woke this morning to that lovely brightened light coming in through the bedroom windows that tells you there's lots of snow before you even look.

Snow is different this year than last. For one thing, there's a lot less of it - as least so far. Last winter the record breaking cold and snowfalls made our weekend trips here something of an adventure: driving over the Malahat at 5:00 a.m. in a blinding snowstorm (sorry, Mom), dealing with burst pipes in the pump house twice (the first time due to ignorance, the second to stupidity), being snowed in and unable to return to Victoria and having to borrow a can opener from the neighbours so we could eat a can of beans warmed on the wood stove, waiting anxiously to see if our road would be plowed, and making friends with Bruce the backhoe guy. It's different this year - other than getting William the cat to the vet this afternoon, we have no place other than home where we need to be, the power has stayed on, water is flowing through the pipes as it should, and we have our own can opener.

Three wonderful things from this morning: animal tracks in the snow (raccoon and rabbit, we think), Frankie forgetting his 9-year old doggy dignity and reverting to berserk puppyhood as he played in all the white stuff, and watching two red-headed woodpeckers chase each other around and around a snow-covered tree, creating the Mucky Boots version of a barber's pole.