Melting

The additional snow did not show up on Thursday. Now it is sunny and the snow is melting away although there are still big piles here and there. My snowman is melting away too and leaning badly. All his hidden leaves are starting to show. I need to still dig up the carrots but for now they are still snow covered.

More coming

It's still snowing and has been since Wednesday evening. They said we'll have 7 to 9 more inches tonight, snow and blowing snow throughout the day today. All the trees and bushes are bent over and breaking. One of the sumacs just snapped off. Dale just went out to shake off a bunch of the shrubbery. Some still have leaves and are vulnerable to smashing down. I think we have over a foot of snow at the moment, maybe more.
Ever see a baby (adolescent) squirrel trying to leap about in deep snow? It slows them down a bit. The wiser ones keep to the trees. 
Tomorrow it's supposed to be sunny with a high of 40 maybe. We'll see.

Weather Changes

The last two weekends were warm and sunny, even got up to 80 one day. I finished moving a flower bed, splitting the perennials and putting in some new bulbs. Yesterday it turned to winter again with a new blizzard moving in. It started around 6 and by 11 PM there was a good amount of snow - perfect snowman snow- wet and heavy. So what else could I do but go build one. By morning he was listing badly and covered with a new topping of snow - perhaps I hadn't balanced him well, and he was so wet and heavy. We covered the woodpile to save it.  It's been snowing all day and is supposed to continue till tomorrow. We may have 8-10 inches or so at the moment. Pity the poor Halloweeners if it continues. I remember many a year trudging through snow storms with kids in tow hoping to get to just one more house before freezing to death.

Freak Weather

A surprise cold front with snow dumped on us last night leaving us at only 17 degrees F  by 11 PM last night. By this morning it was only 10. The closest we've been to cold weather so far was a couple mornings in the last week when it went down to  frost  temperatures - like around 32 degrees F so this was a major temperature drop. They said it was 25 degrees below normal. It set a record for the coldest 10th of October in history, and was the earliest date we had snow in the last seven years. We got about four inches. Most of the trees are still green with leaves. Whenever this happens it usually kills a lot of trees that haven't sent their sap down for the winter yet. It also wrecked our chances for a gorgeous fall. All the leaves were frozen and will now just turn brown and fall off. A lot have fallen already. The shock of the cold made the ash tree out front drop all of its leaves in a sudden leaf-fall this morning onto the snow. It made for nice pictures though.  It is only up to 22 degrees now at 4 in the afternoon. Alas my plans for working on the perennial bed today were wiped out. Maybe it will warm up again next weekend.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Okay we fed you, and maybe it wasn't the best idea. But you were awfully cute. And you were a nursing mom.  But now, aren't you getting a little over-eager?  Pesky, in fact?  Bold and nervy? Good thing there's glass in the door.

Turned leaves

After a cool weekend and rain all yesterday afternoon it is definitely more fall-like these days.  I finished the garden change-over I was working on and split and transplated some perennials into it, just in time before the rain came. It smells great out there this morning - the smell of rain and autumn leaves. Makes a person want to go out and hike all day but alas I have to get to work.

The birds of Fall

Fall is really here now and birds are everywhere out there digging, foraging, pecking around in the garden and gleaning the dying sunflower heads in the back yard. Flocks of them are coming through the yard eating what they can find and moving on. At any given time in the morning there are loads of finches, groups of bluejays, woodpeckers, chickadees, and flickers poking about.  We got more acorns and spread them under a tree and I watched a group of bluejays carry them away one by one.