February 6, 2022

Martha O'Kennon

Yes, it's still winter. Well, folks, I told you that on Groundhog Day, the average low temperature begins to rise. It could still be true. The weasel word is "average". Apparently Punxsutawney Phil decided to go back to bed for six more weeks. (But according to the Philadelphia Enquirer, PP has only been right for 39% of the time.) What DID happen is that a huge swath of snow covered a lot of the country. Chaim dug out the sidewalk and driveway, and I came out the next morning to try to uncover the car. I've never seen it piled so high on top of Rosebud. (I name all my cars Rosebud.) Since I only have a hand snowbrush, it took me about a half hour to uncover the windows and lights and as much as I could reach around the car, then another half hour to defrost the windows. The windshield was covered with ice. I must have used up almost all our wiper fluid!

We knew it was coming. It was already snowing lightly but evenly in the morning. I dutifully opened the bathroom window (the only one in the house that opens easily) and snapped here and there. The flash on my camera lit up everything white. Here is the old redbud tree. Next is a shot of the Pond. Doesn't it look as if there are lots of pairs of eyes looking out of there? I wonder what the strange beings might be?

      

Maybe I hadn't opened the window when I took this one, or maybe I had and the color gremlins had woken up. The second shows the Redbud and Pond after "sunrise".

      

Here is the pond covered in even more snow than last week. It didn't deter local animals (cats, raccoons, who else?) from coming for a drink of some of the coldest water they ever tasted. Picture 2 shows Tripper, who went out to check the world when the man who came to check the furnace left the door open just long enough to let her out. My neighbor Debby saved her by phoning me. I think Tripper actually knows where she lives! Thanks Deb!

      

I couldn't not show you some of the best pictures friends sent in. Kathleen Seidl sent in this one of her sister's pet rabbit Selah. And another of a scene with tomato cages left in the ground, where they collected some embellishments from the skies. Amazing to think a thin wire can collect this much snow on top!

      

One more picture -- this one shows the scene on the deck. The round things are flower pots. The arm-like appendages are still a mystery, but they add just the right touch of sinister*! The snow on top of the storage container on the right seemed to be 8-10 inches deep, which is what we were promised. But someone told me we actually got closer to 12 inches. The very good news? No wind to speak of!

*English Stackexchange.com says "Sinister is traditionally an adjective; but if you want to use it as a noun, that's fine. People might complain but they don't own your usage of the language."



That's it for now. Let's see what the next week brings us! I do hope all of you came out of the storm all right! Oh! One more thing: this year the date for Groundhog's Day was a one-time happening: 2/2/22!

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(Hopefully) Forward to February 13, 2022

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copyright Martha O'Kennon 2021