A brief whack of winter

What is this? Almost a regular blog update?! Amazing!

It is quite a simple update this time round, though, as basically it's lots of pictures of snow, snow falling, us in the snow, the puppies in the snow, us shoveling snow and then the snow melting. All in all it's about snow.

There are some videos as well, sprinkled through the update.

I will open with a video, and not one of snow. This is how you keep a puppy occupied with minimal effort from yourself!

A collecting wood as the snow falls

Rambo laying in the kitchen enjoying the heat

Snow drift on the window of the guest room

Digging out the kitchen door

Rambo looking in

Snow drift into the wood shed; a great shape

This drift is up above my knee

It started snowing on Monday last week but the main thing was the wind; the snow was quite dry and it drifted massively on the high winds, though actually not all that much fell and there were quite large areas that had only the slightest dusting. It was cold, though, and A took pity on Rambo and let him inside for a bit; he does like it for a while but then he gets uncomfortable and wants to go outside again. I had a nap in the afternoon and when I woke up there was a huge drift of snow on the window ledge. We actually had to dig the kitchen door open as it was drifted up so it wouldn't swing. Of course one of the best things about the snow is watching the puppies having fun in it and so there is an obligatory "so deep they almost go underneath the level of the snow and disappear" video. The drift directly outside the kitchen door was over knee high, while the wood store really needs a front on it for this type of weather; the wood was buried in snow.

A white morning greets us

Clean snowfall

A gets ready for shoveling

Thelma with her ball

Louise staying inside

A gets started shoveling the snow

I take my turn

Nearly done; who said a 90 square meter balcony is a good idea?

The next morning we woke to a white world, deep snow, and A got started straight away clearing the balcony. What with the wind it was drifted up here as well, while some areas had less than an inch. Thelma was enjoying chasing her ball, and snowballs, while Louise stayed inside in the warm; sensible puppy. I helped out for a bit and then had to get back to work and A did a superb job of clearing the lot. The best thing about this change in the weather was the fact that the sun was back out; I've missed blue skies and sunshine.

Balcony isn't clear any more

Puppies by the fire

Making their way through the snow

Louise wants picking up....

... but then she's racing ahead with Thelma

Snowy ridges

Thelma waiting impatiently

Rambo really does love the snow

Thelma also really loves the snow

Louise doesn't so much

The Old School in the distance

Of course that night it snowed again and we woke once more to a white balcony; typical. This time we didn't go out to clear it yet but instead left it for later. It was a cooler morning and the girls were both happy when the fire was lit, though they both wanted the same bed. At lunch time we got ourselves wrapped up and took ourselves out into the snow with all three puppies to stretch our legs, get some fresh air, and appreciate the snowscape; I don't know why but I absolutely love walking in the snow. We made our way all the way to the end of the ridge looking over the town, river and road below, then made our way back. It was quite hard work as the snow was so deep and soft. A really good way to blow the cobwebs away though.

And then more snow fell

-17 degrees so the fire is lit

A glorious start to the day

This year the tractor cleared to our gate

Snow locked village

A different view of home

Leaking tap

Exploded tap

Snowy hill

Icicles under The Other Brother's car

Our so amazing neighbours

Not long after we got back it started snowing again and laid down another inch or two so we were glad that the attempt wasn't made to re-clear the balcony. A had headed onto the roof terrace to check that out as well and it was really deep however I have no pictures to show you, sorry. That night I took an early-ish night and the forecast was for very low temperatures so we had the fire lit in there for the one and only time this winter. It was lovely to lay there listening to it thrum and it kept us warm all night. The next morning was beautiful and clear with bright sunshine greeting me out of the bedroom window. We were going to head back out onto the ridge again but decided instead to take the rubbish up to the bin. One of the standpipes in the village always leaks and had a a chunk of ice however it was nothing to a burst pipe outside another house that was still spraying and freezing. We also bumped into The Other Brother, The Little Lady and The Special One and she asked me to take a picture of them together.

Two puppies looking like one

A hungry woodpecker

Almost all the snow is gone

Thelma and Sassy say hello

Fascinated by each other

A took a walk down into town the next day and it started raining while she was there. I was really pleased that she got to enjoy the walk down in the snow as it is a beautiful walk. It was still cold, however, the puppies were determined to be warm and they both squashed into the tiny bed; you can barely see Louise is even in there. This cold weather has been hard on the local wildlife and while I was washing up I watched a couple of woodpeckers looking for food on the ground outside the window. The rain continued all night and by the next morning almost all the snow was gone/ While feeding Sassy Thelma said hello again and they were sniffing each other happily for quite a while.

Flags coming up by the path

Flags and other bulbs coming back to life

Thelma loves shouting at her kong

Game time

With the snow melting spring really does feel like it is here. Saturday was actually warm and sunny. We had a bit of a stroll around the garden while I was doing my chores and enjoyed the sight of the bulbs breaking through even more than before. Thelma doesn't care though so long as she has Rambo's giant kong to play with. The melt was pouring out of the drainage, into the lane; a couple of years ago all of that would have come through the house! We also played a game during the day, which was a lot of fun, and sat on the balcony in the sun during breaks; it won't be long now before the temperature rises and we can start to live outside again.

The last vestiges of snow

This morning there is just the tiniest touch of ice and snow around, it's all gone. It is also overcast; the sun has gone too.

I can't wait for summer!