Snow

After more than 30 minutes and four wheelbarrow loads of mulch, we finally drove out of our parking area this morning, and headed into town. It didn't take long to hit mostly dry roads, and by the time we got to UNM, just before noon, there was little evidence that it had snowed the night before. We drove home on dry roads, but as we pulled into our parking area this evening, the only change seemed to be that the four inches of snow that covered the ground was now crunchy from the onset of sub-freezing temperatures under the clearing night sky.

Last night's snow was very wet and heavy, so I spent much of the night pushing snow off the canopy that covers our deck, trying to avoid a rip in the cover from the weight of the wet snow. If we had neighbors close enough to see onto our deck in the soft, white light of a snowing night, they might have found it a little strange to see me on the deck at 3:30 in the morning in my underwear, with bare feet pushing snow off the canopy. It was 32º F, quite warm compared to the 10º F temperatures we've been experiencing every night for the past several weeks.

I let the kitties out first thing this morning, but only Rosencrantz romped and played in the snow. Guildenstern and Diné took a few steps into the snow, but Stretch and Puck wanted nothing to do with the cold, white stuff and went back inside. Mama Manx ventured out on the deck all excited, meowing and chirping, but when she looked like she was going to crawl under the deck, I snatched her up and put her back inside. Puck eventually got desperate enough to venture out into the snow, but spent most of his time under the house then up on the roof under an overhang. Laurie had to brush snow off the roof to make a dry path for Puck to come down off the roof on before he would come back inside.

Black Bamboo

Japanese Maple