At long last, we got some serious snow. The cedar and hemlock trees outside my window are covered with an icing of snow so thick it almost doesn’t look real. However, having just returned from the big doggie walk, I can report that it’s quite real. Because the trees are so laden with snow, the trails through the forest have a cavernous feel. The dogs were far too busy snuffling and cavorting to notice, but it really was beautiful.
The first big snowfall always reminds you of all those snow-specific oddities you forget after three seasons. For example, this morning, James got into his attractive, deisel-scented tractoring garb and dealt with the rather considerable plowing situation. He remembered that the engine heater in the tractor causes the GFI breaker to trip, which is why he doesn’t use it anymore. (That’s one of those little things we’ve been meaning to look into but haven’t.)
Another thing the dogs have definitely forgotten about is that the roof makes a particular noise when the snow slides off it. We have a metal roof and you can hear the snow crawl down as gravity and melting takes its toll. The migration starts as a slow thump, thump, thump and then gets faster until the big WHOOSH when a huge slab of snow shoots down to the ground.
In any case, the brave defending canine team seems to think that all this thumping is a marauder on the roof. So they bark ferociously every time they hear thumping. There’s a lot of snow up there, so all this thumping and barking is getting old.
The publishing division of LEI really hopes that the canine division of LEI gets a clue before Spring, or it’s going to be one looong winter.