Perhaps a few wintry scenes and white things might entice winter to come and stay more than overnight before spring's arrival.
This year it has only snowed three times, not exceeding 2 inches for each event. The past few nights we've gotten just a dusting of wet snow that disappears the next day when the temperature flirts with 50 degrees.
It's actually fortunate that the snow has melted, because each snowfall has been followed up with high winds a day later. If we all had wind turbines, there would be an abundance of excess electricity with all the 40 mph winds we've had.
Add even a slight bit of snowfall to that wind and you have blizzard conditions.
The school-aged kids would be down with that, as they have only had one day off since Thanksgiving, but that was for FOG!
I'm sure some snow days would be welcome for students and teachers alike. I really don't want a bunch of snow, I just want it to stay consistently below freezing. My floor will stay clean because there won't be muddy paws from the constant thawing! Too much snow though and it gets difficult to pick up dog poo.
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My backyard, in January 2010 |
For Thanksgiving this year I drove to Boston to visit my daughter. I planned my trip to avoid the "Snowbelt" area of Buffalo. I certainly didn't want to drive on the Pennsylvania Turnpike with it's twists and turns if there was even a trace of precipitation. I hadn't driven much since 2009 before attempting 785 miles. Alone.
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Raven, Wolf, and Hawk were along to guide the trip! |
So I prepared emergency gear, a snow shovel, the snow brush for the windshield, extra wiper fluid, kitty litter for traction, flashlight with extra batteries, gloves, winter hat, extra coat, blankets, food, water, matches, lighter, and even an emergency candle that could be used to heat water or warm hands. Boy Scout motto is 'Be Prepared" after all. Plus this was the first trip by myself since the lymphoma, and truthfully, I would have probably taken all that stuff even if I had never been ill.
Either it was the gods smiling down on me, or a twist of fate- but the entire time I was in Boston it never got below freezing! In fact, many days it was as warm as 60 degrees! I kind of chuckled at all the locals (including my kid) that were walking around bundled up as if another Nor'Easter was imminent.
In early October they had gotten a snow storm that caused damage from Maine to Vermont. In the city, there wasn't as much wet snow as areas west and north of Boston got. Because leaves were still on most of the trees due to the mild fall weather, tree limbs were going down everywhere, creating widespread outages that took days to rectify. The combination of wet leaves and wet snow exceeded the weight limit of the branches in dramatic fashion.
As I got into Massachusetts there were limbs down all over the place. I stayed overnight in Chicopee at the Motel 6, and had I not needed a handicapped accessible room, I wouldn't have had anyplace to stay. All the tree cutting crews from out-of-state were staying there too, the motel parking lot was packed. When I left in the morning and got back on the MassTurnpike every 10 ft or so, I could see little piles of sawdust where the downed trees had been.
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Headstone in Granary Burying Ground.
North End of Boston where Paul Revere is buried also. |
I was pleasantly surprised at all the balmy weather, the only precipitation was a bit of rain both Mondays I was there. We took full advantage of it too. Kate took me to The Museum of Fine Art, The Museum of Science, and I went to the Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University.
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Exhibit at the MFA, "Beauty as Duty: Textiles and the
Home Front in WWII Britain" |
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Entrance to the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston |
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View from Museum of Science overlooking the
Charles River and the Boston Skyline |
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Portion of the "Wiyohpiyata: Lakota Images of the Contested West"
at the Peabody Museum. Many sketches from the 1850-60's depicting their most
valuable ally in the wars to defend their lands from hostile takeover: the Blue Roan War Horse. |
I drove up to Salem, MA for a day and explored around the unique shops and cemeteries. I would have gone to the Witch Museum, but they all closed for the season on November 1st. Guess they have to recuperate after Samhain. These are pictures from one of the oldest non-indigenous cemeteries in the United States, located a block from downtown Salem. Pretty fall day...After Thanksgiving...in New England....bet those freezing, starving Pilgrims wish they had had Global Warming!
On second thought, I guess I don't want enough snow to build one of these guys, but an inch or so with some good old fashioned 30 degree weather would be awesome!