lovely storms

This blizzard had the good breeding to show up on a weekend. Not that the weekend days are all that different from the weekdays around here - I don't go out all that much, really. We were fairly well-prepared - the pantry was full and we had plenty of firewood. We really didn't need much else.

On Saturday night, we finally shoveled our way out to the hot tub around 8 p.m., just as the heavy snow was changing over to freezing rain. We cleared the deck, went back inside to strip down and get our baseball caps and by the time we were soaking, what was coming out of the sky stung a bit. But the worst part was that the icy rain lowered the water temperature more quickly than we liked. By the time I got in (on nights like this I allow hobbitt to fold back the cover while I stay inside where it's warm - isn't that nice of me?) the water was 104° and within 15 minutes or so it had dropped to 102°. (Last night, when it was only about 8° with high winds - but no precipitation - the temperature of the water stayed relatively even.)

That's nothing to complain about, is it? Even the second shoveling yesterday, when there was no place to really move the foot of show, since we'd already built large banks of snow from the previous day's shoveling, was nothing to complain about. We still get to sit out there under the awesome starry sky, with an almost-full moon, up to our chins, and feel the warmth permeate our bones. It doesn't suck.

We didn't do much on Saturday night. We had Netflixed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and we built a lovely fire, and we listened to the wind howl. When we finally went to bed, I opened the window and balcony door as usual. The door swayed and creaked in the wind all night before finally slamming itself shut around dawn. When I went to close the window after arising on Sunday morning, it took me a few minutes to clear all the snow and ice from within the jamb. hobbitt spent a few hours clearing the driveway to the garage with the snow blower (using it for perhaps the last time - and sorry, folks, but Jill has dibs on the snow blower if we move) while I baked and cooked. Our front door and the semi-circular drive are not accessible. My doctor called to cancel my appointment for this afternoon, so this will be another slow day at druid labs, and a bright and beautiful one at that.