The Ice Age Has Begun - one more time

Howling dogs, advancing glaciers, creaking wood - snowdrifts forming around everything, and great trees bend under the weight of snow. Overly bundled people saunter out into the cold, struggling against the elements that have bound them to their homes. A new ice age? Nope.

In WV, we call this February.

The snowstorm retreats southward, and the city tries to dig out. This picture was taken by my friend Jose'. It's a street on the other side of town from mine.

Franklin, Julius, and I decided to take a walk in the snow (18 inches of it). It was very cold, and we weren't out long, but it was a nice break after being stuck in the house for two days. The above picture is of me and Franklin in front of the pine tree in the backyard, what you can see of it. It is nearly buried in the snow.

Julius is the more adventurous of the two cats. Above he's bounding through the snow around the car. He eventually got stuck under it, so I had to dig him out.

And he spent the rest of the evening napping in the living room. He'd had enough of the snow.

Ah, Sanford St. Can't see it? It's that flat space between the telephone pole on the left and the parked car on the right. The city hasn't plowed the streets yet, so the neighbors all got out our snowshovels and cleared our own street, and put down salt. By the end we had the clearest street in Morgantown.

Here's the giant white oak in the backyard. It's beautiful anytime of year, but simply enchanting with all this snow.

Here is a further view of the oak tree.

Strange how the snow "grew around the clothesline, even. Just odd. This is really wet, heavy, sticky snow. It has partially melted and refroze, so it is now partly turned into tiny 5 inch thick glaciers in various places around.

Where is the sun? I will take spring and summer any day now. I know that freezes are good for planting, gardening, and insect abation, but dangit I am DONE with winter!