snow

Well we so rarely see any snow at all here that it’s a shock! And I know this won’t look like much to some of you but trust me, we go YEARS without seeing a single snowflake. I remember, when my family and I moved here 25 years ago in November — we hadn’t wanted to move anyway but it was a job thing for my husband — I was so distraught over the holidays — we’d had to leave our beautiful home that my husband built on 20 acres in the mountains of Virginia where we got lots of snow — and what made it even worse, as I said to my husband at the time, was that there was something VERY wrong with living some place where you could get your Christmas tree in SHORTS! It’s often positively balmy here on Christmas. But we have had such a long stretch of really cold weather here for us, down in the teens even, that I heard a report that it hadn’t been this cold for this long in our part of the country since 1918! Well we’ve got snow now, on top of a couple of inches of ice — it’s a real mess out there — and the pugs aren’t thinking much of this AT ALL!

Truth be told I’m not feeling very well myself today, I’ve spent hours just watching the wild birds. I could tell there were a lot of them out there, the sky was full of them, but I had NO idea just HOW many of them there were until I walked out onto the deck to carry a fresh bowl of water out (The one I put out yesterday was frozen solid!) and when I opened the door of my studio where the 5 feeders are SCORES of birds flew off from the feeders! There was just a cloud of birds in the air, and the squirrels too of course. I put out food 2 or 3 times a day for the squirrels. I was just stunned to see how many little people were out there and thrilled too to see them. My deck has become a haven for the wildlings and with everything positively frozen solid I think the word has spread that there is a huge buffet here and plenty for everybody! I’m SO glad I got all the feeders up and filled a few weeks ago because they really need the food now. And I change out a big water bowl of fresh water for them every morning because by morning the water is frozen…

I went to look out the front door to see what it was like out there. It’s so pretty. It will be gone in a day or so but it’s lovely to look at now…

And while I will hate to see it go — snow is such a rarity here — it has just been a nightmare trying to get the pugs to go out. Yesterday by early afternoon the ice storm had started and went for several hours. By evening the snow started and snowed all through the night. I could not get the pugs to go out at all. Some little body or other went potty inside but the others just held it and went to sleep and just didn’t get up until morning. Then I had to practically shove them out the door. I went with them but they just did NOT want to be out there. The only time anyone actually went out last night was when it was still freezing rain and I had to go out in the dark with a flashlight and a hammer to bang about carefully all over the top of the heat pump which had a solid sheet of thick ice on it and was making the most ghastly sounds. I came in wet and frozen solid which is why I think I’m not feeling so well today but it got the job done and it was okay through the night. A pug or two followed me out when I went because they can’t stand for me to be out of their sight but Delilah ran in before I was finished. She said, “Oh HELL no! Are you SERIOUS???” Darling little Pugsley stayed out with me but he was happy to get back inside.

I need to stop here, my stomach — pardon me — it roiling about and making threatening sounds. And it’s almost time to get the pugs their dinner. I think I will make another valiant attempt to get them out, feed them, and then curl up in our big chair with them under a couple of blankets and watch a movie. What else can you do on a night like this? Not much!

I hope you’re warm and cozy wherever you are. We are waving from our winter wonderland and ready to call it a night. Warmer days will be ahead, but tonight is a night for snuggling…