Snow-bliz-magedon?

These photos were from yesterday. It is snowing and blowing right now and I've been out to check my animals and they are all doing fine. I still have electricity so I think we are good!

 

This is where you can hear the sleet pounding our house while the windblown snow obliterates the view of the shed. I live in a hollow, so imagine what it was like on the ridge in the open!

Sunday was wild. I woke up when I heard thunder, saw lightening, and heard what sounded like glass hitting the house.

It wasn't glass. It was sleet. I've heard of Thundersnow so I posted that we had Thundersleet on the NOAA local site and a lot of folks replied they had the same...at 4:30am.

Here the mule gals choose to rest while eating with their butts to the wind. By afternoon they'd taken snow baths and rolled off the snow blankets they had. Yes, they were warm and dry under that snow. I know because I go out and put my hands on them.

I am pleased to say that Hannah had no qualms about going out with Charlie yesterday to do dog stuff. Eventually the sleet turned to snow, then to rain, then to snow, and then we had a lull in the weather.

During the lull I took the two 'kids' out for a walk. They actually did great in the crystalized snow/sleet that covered everything. 

They ran, they chased and they played. 

They wore themselves out. We headed back home for supper and some quiet time.

With the dogs asleep, I was able to take out stuff from my 'creative' boxes and do some toy photography indoors. 

I was in the mood for dinosaurs. I did use a spray bottle to imitate rain but it just made the T Rex angry, so I used an overlay of rain to keep things from getting out of hand.

Maybe that's how I felt about the weather and why I chose and angry looking T Rex.

😂

This morning our gravel road is impassable even after the town grader came through. The drifts on the roads and around buildings are at least 3 feet or so.

I wonder what the day will bring.

Cold. Blizzardy. Neighbors. Good Place.

 Ok. It is officially Brrrr Out.

-11F is the outside temperature and on the ridge the 14mph winds are causing it to feel like -30 according to the weather app.

However! It sure was an adventurous time here on the ridge. 

Our first snowfall on Tuesday was 10 inches. Our second snowfall from Thursday night to late Friday night was 13 inches. 

My neighbor texted me early to ask if I knew of anyone who could pull his truck out of the ditch up by Riley Road and the Gilbertson Cattle Gate. I texted him back with names of other farm neighbors who had large tractors and front end loaders. One of them is also our township plow guy.

My neighbor was coming home Friday night and hit a huge drift and it sucked his large truck into the ditch. He walked home in the blizzard, got his 4 wheeler and was able to get his family's groceries and his work computer out of this truck and bring it home.

The end of the story is fascinating too. Saturday while he was out there digging out his truck, another fellow with a huge front end loader stopped by and helped him out. People helping people in a rural community with no expectations of money in exchange for assistance.

Here is a photo of our driveway before it got plowed. 

The driveway is in there and it is windblown. Frank came just before noon and deftly made quick work of it while I was on the ridge with Olive trying to make a sledding path.

Even with snow shoes on and dragging a sled with a child in it was an exercise in futility. The snow was soft and fluffy and we sank. The photo below is the trail of us just trying to get to a sledding spot.

Much to Aiden's disappointment, we gave up and decided to go to her house for a cup of decafe coffee.

There she is crossing the ridge below me heading for her house in the far distance. I was at the top of the hill on the ridge gathering my snowshoes and sled.

All this wide open space creates places for snow drifts when the winds blow. In places I walked even with snow shoes, I found myself nearly hip deep in snow. 

We had coffee and conversation and then I walked on the road to home. It was plowed and I was not in the mood to break trail through the woods.

I was going to save that for another day.

When I got home, I discovered that Frank had used his plow to make a path for me around part of the house. He obviously saw where I had been shoveling. He pushed the biggest piles of snow out of my way.

Again. 

How grateful can I be for good people? Indeed, a stranger helped my new neighbor, Frank and his magic plow looked after us, and all of us on this dead end road texted each other to make sure we are all okay.

I still like winter. If it warms up to closer to zero, I will probably go out and go for a walk. Dressed appropriately of course.