Blowin' in the Wind

The NOAA had predicted dire weather for Thursday.
What we got instead was about 4" of snow after a LOT of rain which added to the warm up of two days preceeding it...made for lots of slop to turn to instant ice.

The winds that followed were quite intense.

The above shot is our ridge road corner.  At the sign you can pick up the main gravel road that heads west or east.
Apparently, the wind was working hard to create drifts.

 
The top of our driveway was also quickly filling in.  Under the snow was glare ice.  I wore my snow shoes so I could keep a grip and not fall flat on my face.

The winds were supposed to subside around noon.  
So I went back out about 4pm and ...
well.
They hadn't.  In fact I thought the winds were more fierce.

Anywhere you stepped out of the cover of the woods, the snow was whipping into a frenzy and it stung.

I finally climbed a huge snow bank and got behind some trees. 
I wanted an overview of the ridge.

Here, all seemed calm and quiet.
I stood here for a while and listened to the winds howl and the trees behind me creak.

I enjoyed the clean lines of the crop fields along with the beauty of the landscape curves.

Despite the winds, it was a beautiful day to be out with a camera.

Most of the shots were taken with my pink Sanyo point and shoot pocket camera.