First Snow!

It started snowing yesterday morning and by afternoon was beginning to accumulate. By nightfall, the wind was howling and driving the snow against the house like a real blizzard. We awoke this morning to about five inches of the white stuff, the powdery, squeaky kind. It is still snowing now , off and on.

I got up the courage to suit up and head to the barn around 11, worried about the animals in the cold. The constant battle in these temps is keeping water available. The horses have a de-icer in their bucket, but the chickens, mostly huddled in their house, were out of water. I refilled, gathered the eggs and quickly made my way up the hill in the driving snow.

Charlie, one of the cats, insisted that the barn was not warm enough and accompanied me up the hill. He whined all the way, belly dragging the snow. I guess I'd whine too.

I know five inches of snow to a lot of folks is nothing, but here in the south snow is always an event. And this much in December is unheard of. Schools are closed today and they may well be tomorrow. It's not that we don't know how to drive in it, it's that we choose not to. Much nicer to declare an impromptu holiday and sit around the fire drinking coffee and catching up on pleasant tasks. There's a sort of license that goes with snow days to do things normally frowned upon. Right now I am sitting around in furry house booties and purple long johns wondering if I could pass them off as leggings should anyone be brave enough to venture up the driveway. And I am thinking how very many simple blessings I enjoy--a warm house and clothes, a crackling fire, a sparkling Christmas tree and a snow-covered mountain farm.