Snow Fall

Today the sun has been peeking through the cloudy gray sky. My eyes are unused to sunshine–Michigan gets a lot of cloud cover because of the Great Lakes–so I lowered the window blinds halfway. I hated to do it, but the sunlight was blinding.

I discovered that I can check snowfall amounts for selected dates on the National Weather Service website. I learned that since December 1, 2024, until today, our county has had more than 124 inches of snow. The weather reports always add “with locally higher amounts” so we could have had a bit more or less than that. We live in a snowbelt where we often get Lake Effect snow so I’m sure that affects the totals. According to the NWS graph, our “normal” average amount of snow is about 87 inches. The highest amount of snow was 148.5 inches in 1984-85. The lowest amount was 36.5 inches in 1943-44. I thought was interesting.

We don’t have 124 inches of snow on the ground. Some of it melted during warm days in December. The snow also tends to settle down over time and compresses. Still, we have mounds of snow everywhere. My raised herb garden, which is near the bird feeder pole that is just outside the living room window, is completely hidden by snow. I’ve notice a variety of tunnels in the snow and holes going into the herb beds and I have observed small squirrels and once a mouse going in and out. I wonder how many critters are hiding there in the garden beds under the snow? It wouldn’t surprise me if the rabbit that visits to eat the seed that has fallen to the ground is also sheltering there.

I have made my own tunnels (paths) through the snow to the bird feeders, the coop, and the compost pile. If I step off the paths, I step or fall into deep snow.

Last weekend there were deer in the yard when Hannah Joy wanted to go outside. Since the chickens don’t particularly like winter weather and they were safely shut up in the coop, we decided to take Hannah out back to the fenced in garden and let her off her leash to see how she could act. Hannah only obeys when she wants to and her stubborn disobedience is why we always keep her on her leash when we take her outside. As soon as we took her leash off, Hannah ran to the coop to sniff it, then she ran into the garden to one of the chickens’ favorite hangout places in warm weather and began to eat their leftover poop. I called her but–surprise!–she was suddenly deaf so I had to wade through thigh-high snow to retrieve her. EJ stepped off the packed snow path and fell into the deep snow. We laughed as he struggled to get up. We finally caught Hannah and got her back in the house. She failed the test. The leash stays on.

Yesterday I took Hannah outside so she could do her “business.” I glanced toward the forest and was startled to see a deer head sticking out of the snow a few feet away looking at me. We have a deep ravine around our property and obviously the deer was coming up the side. Her body was hidden by a mound of snow so all I could see was her head. It was a surreal sight. We looked at each other for a moment and then she calmly climbed the rest of the way into the yard and went over into the orchard. We looked at each other some more and she calmly went back into the forest. Hannah never saw her.

Earlier this week I got the pots and lids from the cupboard and matched them to each other. We have several pots the same size and several lids that fit them. We put a dap of paint on the pan handles and the lids that match them–each size a different color–because we got tired of having to keep searching in the cupboard for the lids that fit the pot we want to use. We hope to buy unique knobs for each size so we can easily match pots and lids to each other. I emptied a tote, put the lids in it, and slid the tote in the cupboard so we can easily access the lids.

EJ didn’t feel well earlier this week so he took Tuesday off. He didn’t have enough accumulated sick time so we will have a smaller check next week. His usual work schedule is 10 hours Monday through Thursday so he went in to work today to help offset the shortfall. He texted me that he’s on his way home so I think I must end this post. So long until next time!