Snow, Ice, Rain, Fog, and More Snow

The weather has been winter. All-at-once, every-kind-of-bad-weather winter.

Yesterday's snow stopped with about 7 inches and it was beautiful. Overnight, the temperatures warmed up and it started to rain.

Rain!

With all that snow on the ground. The rain froze on contact to trees, buildings, plants, wires and anything else it hit. It was beautiful and not worrying because the ice wasn't too thick.

Oddly, there was also a heavy fog--and flood warnings were out for flash flooding because of the rain and melting snow. How many kinds of weather can you have at once? At least five, apparently--snow, rain, ice, fog and flooding. Weird.

There is a saying "A January fog will freeze a hog" which means, I have been told, that you will have as many frosts in May as fogs in January. Have you heard that saying, or a different explanation of its meaning?

We managed to get the truck out and ran to town for milk and bread because there is more snow on the way. We stopped at Derek's to see the kid's igloo, and Larry took a sled for a run down the hill. I'll share pics when the internet is more dependable. The ice on Elk Fork was braking up and an ice jam caused the creek to back up pretty seriously. It was an interesting sight.

As we were leaving Derek's, the rain changed to snow and it quickly turned to almost blinding snowfall. I was so grateful to get home! Another 1/2" of snow was on the ground before that little squall moved on, and Larry decided it was now or never to move my Buick up the hill. We were both leery about the chance of success because the driveway is about 2 inches deep in slush, with ice under that--and his big 4WD pickup did some serious sliding on the way down the hill. Not encouraging.

But little Buick trotted up the hill without spinning a wheel, even pushing snow as it went. It is now safely located where we know I can get out in the morning unless we get another 6 inches of snow tonight.

Now we are waiting to see what the evening brings. Will the predicted snow arrive? Will the electricity go off again as the wind is picking up and icy branches are falling? We're staying tuned for the next episode in this winter weather blitz.

Some of my friends ask me why I live so far out, and I know the people I work with wonder the same thing. What can I say? This was home before I ever had a job, and I cherish the memories, solitude, and beauty of this place. Inconvenient it can certainly be, but no comfy house in town could provide me with the riches I find here. Those who live "out" know why I choose to stay.