Here We Go Again

This was my driveway this morning. Pretty!



Unfortunately, the weight of the snow on the trees had brought one down on the power lines, so the power was out. Also, I went to leave for work and someone in a rear wheel drive pickup had decided to back into our (downward sloping) driveway to turn around and then discovered that surprise! They couldn't move. So me, my spouse and a passing neighbour had to push a pickup out of the way before I could leave my house. We shoved and shoved while the wheels span, and managed to get him out onto the street where the truck promptly slid sideways down the camber and into the kerb. But at that point, he became Not My Problem. (My car with all wheel drive and winter tires drove past him effortlessly.)

I really love driving to work in the snow. The schools are closed and there's hardly any traffic, so I actually get there faster, and it's all so pretty and peaceful.

Fortunately the power came back on an hour before I got back from work. Spouse spent the day texting me photos of the cats on the cat beds which he lined up in front of the fireplace, that being the only source of heat.







He works from home remotely, so when the power's out, he gets a free day to tend the fire.

I'm still chasing the last of winter while it's impossible yet to chase summer instead, so I went snowshoeing again on Tuesday.

( White stuff and trees )

It snowed around six inches/ fifteeen centimetres at our house overnight, and carried on adding a few more during the day. The woods are lovely, light and fluffy.



Before I took myself out for a walk, I decided to introduce the void cats to snow, since it's all new to them. Kuro-kun has always taken a very dim view of anything that makes his delicate little feet the slightest bit chilly or damp, and basically restricts his walks to sunny days when it's at least 60F/15C.

Neko-chan has made his dislike of cold days obvious recently by voluntarily ending his walks after about five minutes outside, so I wasn't at all surprised when Neko decided to emulate Kuro. I opened the door to let him outside and he stretched his nose into the chill, then turned around and jumped straight back up onto the seat where they stand while we put their harnesses on and off. So that was the end of Neko's exposure.

Yami-chan has never voluntarily ended a walk in her life, except in cases of terror when something SUDDENLY NOISY happens. She's definitely made of sterner stuff, because she was very curious about the snow. She licked at it; she bit at it, and batted at blobs of it with her paw. Then she walked out a bit further, where the snow had built up a bit more, and when her foot sank into it up to her elbow, she went, 'OOOh!'

She pulled her foot out of the hole and put it back, then pulled it out and put it back. She tilted her head and peered down into the hole she'd made with her foot. She poked holes in the snow from different angles and checked those too. And then she started digging through the snow. She just wanted to know how it all worked.

Yet somehow when she's in the house, it's cold enough to be classed as torture if she moves more than a foot/thirty centimetres away from a heater....