As the snow piles higher and higher outside, the wood pile continues to go down, down, down. We wake up each morning and wonder which magical winter festivity will begin this day - thawing the frozen pipes? clearing the latest ice dam and the corresponding leak into the house? or, if we're lucky, chasing livestock who have decided to laugh at the silliness of those 'fences' - covered so high on both sides with snow that they really are but merely a step to cross over?
But....the goats and sheep don't seem to mind it a bit. Chickens and ducks are hunkered down inside, steering clear of all snow. Greta, with her most fabulous Great Pyrenees blood and fur keeping her warm, is in heaven with all this snow - rolling, digging, taking all her naps in the snowbanks. And so too are the kids. An entire terrain park has been constructed near the half pipe that was built last summer for snowboarding but is now for skiing and sledding on. There are pipes and rails and barrels and oh so many things that will make a really interesting backyard display come thawing time. Whenever that might be. We are wondering about Maple Syrup season - it seems such a long ways off yet before that could possibly happen. And will we have to use a ladder to reach the buckets by the time the snow melts, if we place them at any visible level before then?
Ah, but it IS a magical winter, it really is. It is as much snow as I ever remember having as an adult, and reminiscent more of the winters of my childhood. We will all remember this wild and cold winter - full of winter adventuring ... and cozy fires with lots of handwork and plenty of hot chocolate. All the best that winter has to offer. And well, seeing as how it's only mid February - the month in which snow seems to be falling each and every day - I'd say we've got a ways to go yet.
