Saturday, December 26, 2009, 05:53
The Snowstorm That Wasn't
We started out well with our snowstorm Thursday morning with six inches of snow that was not too dry and not too wet. It was snow that was just right for snowshoeing.
The weather forecast was predicting at least another six to 10 inches of snow, so Randy got the 460 Farmall warmed up and headed over to do the neighbor's driveway. In the meantime, I shoveled out a spot in front of the garage door and backed my truck up into that spot so it would be out of the way when Randy came back with the tractor.
My husband planned to clear out the driveways and push the snow back where he had piled it up so there would be more room for more snow when the time came.
By the time I finished shoveling in front of the garage door and the basement door, I had a respectable pile of snow over the tomato bed in front of the basement and over the daylily bed at the edge of the driveway. After all, we were supposed to get quite a lot more snow out of a storm system that was predicted to take several days to work its way through our area, and we might as well be ready to handle all of the snow when it arrived.
After Randy finished plowing both driveways, he put the tractor back into the barn. We were pleased with the work we had done in preparation for more snow.
It was all downhill from there.
Thursday afternoon, it began to rain. It rained all Thursday afternoon, Christmas Eve Day. It rained Thursday night. It was still raining Friday morning on Christmas Day.
The lovely snow we had gotten had turned to slush. The driveways were slushy. The horse pastures were slushy. The roads were slushy.
Thursday afternoon, we drove to a little church in our parish that is on the other side of town. That particular church always has Vesper services on Christmas Eve in the afternoon, and we had never been there for that particular service. The roads were very slushy, but we made it there and home again.
Friday morning, the roads were still slushy. Most people must have thought the roads were too bad to venture out for Christmas morning services at our little country church because we only had a handful of people there for the Christmas Day service.
All day Friday, it continued to rain. Not a hard rain but a steady soft rain.
The perfect snow we had gotten for snowshoeing is now slush. The weather forecast is predicting that it will turn cold now, with lows around zero. That means all of the slush is going to freeze into hard ruts. If I want to wander around the woods and the fields, I will be able to walk on top of the crust. I won't need snowshoes.
So much for the Christmas snowstorm that wasn't.
On the bright, I made a "homegrown" Christmas Day supper for Randy and me. A friend of ours gave us a chicken -- a 9 pound chicken. (Yes, 9 pounds.) She raises chickens in the summer. I had to put the chicken in my mother's turkey roaster. It was delicious. We had mashed potatoes from potatoes grown only a few miles from here. (I have given up on trying to raise potatoes because we have such a problem with potato bugs.) We also had squash from the garden. And I opened a jar of the pickled cabbage I made last fall. The pickled red cabbage is wonderful. The only thing I will do differently next time is not use quite as much salt.
The only part of our Christmas supper that was not local were the cranberries -- but they were still raised in Wisconsin. I also made a Fudge Sundae cake for dessert. My poor husband was practically groaning by the time he finished eating. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph
Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 09:14
Another Winter Storm
The weather forecast says another winter storm is approaching with a possibility of 16 inches of snow by Christmas Day.
I am glad we are not travelling anywhere for Christmas, but there are plenty of other people in this area who will be traveling, and that's not so good.
I figured maybe I ought to post the pictures from our last blizzard two weeks ago before I end up with more snow pictures.
Because the wind was so strong during the last blizzard, it really sculpted the snow over the tubs where I raised lettuce last summer (seems like a lifetime away right now).
The wind also sculpted snow around our sandstone rock table in the backyard. The wind can make some really pretty snow pictures, something that a human artist cannot do no matter how hard he or she tries.
I am also pleased to say that the Christmas cactus I planted in an old calf pail last summer and set out on the back step and then took to the newspaper office this fall when the weather turned cold is now blooming! The plant has many, many buds, so I will be enjoying Christmas cactus flowers for quite some time.
I am also happy to report that my little Miss Kitty (Kate) really does not seem any worse for the experience of being lost out in the winter weather for 11 days. I picked her up Tuesday morning to cuddle her, and it seems to me that she has gained some weight already. Yipee!
LeAnn R. Ralph