Buried in Snow – Sunday Photo Fiction

I love a challenge, and I certainly enjoy the challenge that Alastair Forbes hosts: Sunday Photo Fiction! The challenge is to write a bit of flash fiction using no more than 200 words, and the story has to go with the photo prompt. Here is my entry for today!

After the Snow

He predicted snowfall measuring no more 6″. Forecast models indicated that the days to follow the storm would be sunny and bright. Would he be right?

Cody sat outside on the deck, wearing a down jacket, mittens, and sipped on hot chocolate. The snow was light at first. It started to get heavier with flakes as big as half dollars. He headed indoors early. He had to leave for work at 3:00 a.m.

He awoke to the shrieking alarm clock, wiped the sleep from his eyes, and crawling out of his nice warm bed, made his way to the kitchen. With the coffee just beginning to brew, he went off to shower and shave.

After enjoying his coffee and toast, he donned his jacket to head off to work. Opening the door, he found himself staring at 2′ of snow, and it was still coming down! This was much more than expected.

Heading back inside he realized that he would not make it in to work. Calling the station, he let them know. He loved his job as a weatherman. Why did he? Because it was the only job, where you could be wrong and not get fired!
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Thank you Al for hosting this challenge! And, thank you dear reader for taking the time to stop by for a quick read!
Be well! ^..^

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We’re Expecting!

I have some exciting news to share with you! We are expecting! Not a baby, but a mix of rain and snow! Wahoo! This has been one of the driest winters here in the foothills for more than 100 years! The coming rain and snow will begin tomorrow and will be with us through the weekend!

We had more warm days in January breaking a number of records. This warm spell has affected a number of things. The warm temperatures have caused my almond tree to bloom! Yes, two months early!

An almond blossom

They measured our snow pack recently and it is at 20% of normal. This is where the water comes from for our agriculture here in this state, so predictions are that produce prices will be triple for the consumer here in California.

Have you heard of creative visualization? Well this post is dedicated to the visualization of copious amount of snow and rain with photos from the past! So visualize with me!

Snow at the winery

From the kitchen in the morning

Snow in December

Snow!

Quail crossing in the snow

Keep your fingers crossed for us that we do get a lot of rain and snow!

Thank you for dropping by so I could share our news! I wish you a terrific Tuesday!

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Frozen in Time

Yesterday, walking up the driveway and looking at the snow and ice covered road, and having had such a scary ride yesterday, I opted to stay home rather than brave the roads. Did I mention that the County does not clear the roads here and any attention that we get is minimal at best? Well that is a whole ‘nother story, not for today.

Today’s post is devoted to “Frozen in Time.” I ventured outside today to see what I could find that depicts this theme! Let’s take a look from our comfy seats inside this time! Grab your cuppa and enjoy!

The bird baths had accumulated water, which has been frozen for the last week…This fits for frozen in time as you will see what is trapped in the ice!

Under ice

Of course I found bubbles! They seem to always get stuck in the ice! Have you noticed?

Bubbles on ice

There are tracks everywhere in the remaining snow…These belong to one of the multitude of robins that have come back for winter!

Tracks of a robin

Like icing on a cupcake the snow and ice cover the ground still.

Icing on the ground

Not going anywhere now, this stack of wood is frozen in time for the winter…

Covered in snow

Not all trees have lost their leaves…Look at the lovely green in this oak that survives in our cold temperatures!

Surviving the cold

One last photo…This one is last night, the sun setting cast shadows on our back deck on the snow that still remains.

The sun sets on the snow on our deck

Thanks for dropping by today! I hope that you enjoyed your visit! I know that I did! See you tomorrow? You betcha!

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Snow in the Trees and Other Views!

Yesterday was a scary day on the road. If I didn’t have two tailgaters following me to town, where I was driving at 15 miles down to 5 due to the ice on the road, I would have turned around. We do not have shoulders on our roads, only drop offs that are precarious at best. So there was nowhere to do this. My 20 minute drive to work took almost an hour!

We still have loads of snow around due to the hard freezing temperatures we have had for more than a week now. When I took photos the other day, I not only took photos of the changes as the snow came down, but of sights that struck my creative eye after it stopped…Care to see? Then, put on your snow gear and come and follow me back outside!

The first thing I did was go to check how the roads were doing…This says it all! Yesterday, I drove through a lot of this. Most of it was compacted down and it had turned to ice.

The way out from my driveway

Heading back to the house after seeing what I saw, I captured these photos around my property…Your feet will be icy cold by the time we head back in. Are you dressed warmly?

Looking over the gate to the back

Can you see the patch of strawberries? It is actually under the snow on the upper left…

The vegetable garden

Here is one of our crepe myrtle trees. The snow is hanging on!

Snow on the Crepe Myrtle

Where are the grape vines? Behind this snowy fence!

Grape vines reside behind this fence!

Looking up at the snow hanging on to the trees…This is snow in our black oaks.

Snow in the oaks to the left

Snow in the oaks to the right

All of the snow you see in these photos is still here this morning! Take away about half the snow on the road, compact it, melt it a bit, re-freeze it and this is what I have to drive to get to work! Going in late again today hoping that a lot of this melts before I have to drive over it!

Thanks for putting on the cold weather gear and coming out with me today! May you have a terrific Tuesday! See you tomorrow? Hope so!

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We Had Snow!

I love it when it snows! We had a low pressure system descend upon us that gave us perfect conditions for snow. Add a bit of moisture to it, and voila! So, today I thought I would share some of the photos I took of what we experienced! Put on your warm jackets and let’s head outside!

At 5:30 p.m. the snow begins…

It begins…

After an hour…

One hour later

We later headed off to bed and the snow was still falling. When we got up in the morning, this is what our front deck now looks like!

What we woke up to find…

Stepping outside, I shot these photos around our house…

A shot of our house

Looking towards our backyard

The truck

Brrrr! Temperatures never made it above 35 degrees. In the afternoon, it started to snow once again. I love the gently falling snow and how quiet the world becomes…

It starts again!

In the late afternoon, the storm moved off to the east, the setting sun broke through the clouds, and I stepped outside once again and snapped this shot!

The sun breaks through

While it has been a couple of days since, we still have quite a bit of snow on the ground. The high yesterday was 38 and the overnight low 19 degrees!

I hope that you enjoyed these snow photos! Enjoy your Monday and thanks for stopping by!

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The Day After the Snow

There is the quiet beauty that is found after a snowfall. And it starts on a clear morning after a storm when the sun rises slowly in the east.

Sunrise

As it comes up and graces the world with its sunny smile, the brilliance of the light gently kisses the tops of the snow covered trees.

Gentle kisses

The lights come on in this once sleepy world.

It lights up the snow covered world

Branches are laden with the weight of yesterday’s storm.

Branches laden with snow

Trees patiently await the melt off so that they can once again lift their branches and breathe.

Redwoods heavy with snow

The local roads are covered, never to be plowed.

One of our roads

Corners are shady, snow is deep, and the road quietly rests.

One scary bend in the road!

As the world comes back to life after the snow the snow beams and sparkles in all its glory.

Sparkly snow

As the cold seeps into my fingers and toes, I slowly walk back to my home greeted by the warmth that resides within its doors.

Home is where the hearth is!

The snow melts. The world returns to the quiet beauty that was there before the storm.

Thank you for stopping by today, and have a wonderful Thursday!

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The Beauty of Snow

I love the snow! As it falls everything gets really quiet. There is something hypnotizing about the gently falling flakes! I could sit for hours watching it, which I did yesterday. I shared some photos yesterday, but wanted to share a bit more of this beauty with you today! I have a few shots in this post, and a video that you can watch too!

Let’s go and check it out!

On my back deck

The dog loves the snow! Here he is eating snow! I swear that he is smiling!

Astro

A break in the clouds as the sun sets

The sunset

I love the way the snow sparkles!

The sparkling snow

When I got up this morning it was absolutely glorious! Clear skies and blue and white everywhere! Here is the sun rising in the foothills.

The sun starts to rise

One more shot!

Sunrise today

I did take a video yesterday of the gently falling snow…If you would like to see how beautiful and peaceful this can be…

As I am unable to drive the roads yet, I am grabbing my camera to take some more photos to share! See you tomorrow and thank you for stopping by!

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It’s Snowing!

Today started like any other day. I got up, had a cup of coffee, wrote my blog, and decided to head off to work early today due to an impending storm that was to finally give us some snow. Here is a photo of the incoming storm clouds.

Morning Sky

I got into work earlier than everyone else by an hour and a half. Immediately I started having computer issues. I could not get anything to load and I was getting error messages. I looked out the window wondering if we were ever going to see the snow. A light rain was falling across the canyon but I could see that there was snow at the higher elevations due to what looked like white-out conditions there.

After a couple of hours, I ran an errand for the company while my computer was being put back to rights. As I drove back up the hill the light rain turned to light snow, but it was nothing that would amount to much. About an hour later, while I was on the phone with a co-worker, I said that if it was going to come down the way that it was then it should at least stick. A few minutes later I noticed that the vineyards were starting to turn white. Looking out of my window I could see the snow sticking to the deck. Time to leave!

As I drove I took a video with my cell phone. If I can get the video to work right, I will post what part of my drive home looked like. After an hour and a half of it snowing, here are some shots of what it looks like outside right now, but add another two inches…

Looking up our driveway

Big flakes

Three inches in an hour and a half

Looking towards the sky

I also took a couple of videos so you can hear how quiet it is and so that you can watch the beautiful snow as it falls! That will come later!

I hope that you enjoyed my photos! Stay tuned for more snow photos!

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Missing Winter

This has been a very strange winter season. We have not had the usual rain and snow which we would have had by this time of year. December looked promising, giving us twelve inches of rain. In January we had about an inch and a half of rain, and so far this month we have less than a half inch. The prediction for this week is warm and sunny. I am having rain and snow withdrawals and decided to devote today’s post to the winter white that I miss so much!

Our biggest snow, since we have lived here in the Sierra Foothills was on December 7th 2009. The National Weather Service was predicting 3-6″ of snow overnight. They were wrong to my delight! It began snowing the evening before. It was a gentle falling snow with medium size flakes. We actually ended up with 18″ when all was said and done. Here is a photo of what we saw when we opened the front door in the morning.

Looking out our front door

And it was not done! It was still coming down!

Of course we had to go play in it!

Playing in the snow

My husband got out the tractor mower to clear the driveway.

Plowing the driveway

I took a walk around the yard…

The greenhouse

Pristine

When the sun broke through the clouds we ventured out in our neighborhood. There are no snowplows where we live. They cannot get them up here due to the narrow windy roads. Here are a few shots around the hood…

The lake behind our house

Frosted pine needles

Dyer Lake

The road to our house

I am hoping we will still have rain, if not snow, before the spring and summer months arrive. I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope that you have a great Monday!

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Crystals of Ice

I wrote a post the other day letting you all know that we were slated to have snow. OK, so I get a little bit nuts about snow…Just a big kid I guess. To help it snow, I do the snow dance. My husband tells me I beat out Elaine from Seinfeld when I do the snow dance as the worst dancer in the world. I tell him that it is necessary so that I can catch the attention of the Snow Fairy. Well, I did the snow dance and caught her attention. While I wanted inches she teased me by delivering some of the tiniest flakes that I have ever seen, and dust she did! What was unexpected was that she delivered more dust the following day. Braving the cold yesterday morning, I ventured out to capture photos of what she left behind…

Here is the tease she gave to us!

The dusting of snow

Looking out into the backyard

I was so cold, and went back in to put on a few more layers and then went back out to take a closer look at what the Snow Fairy left behind…As the snowflakes started to melt and the cool temperatures settled in overnight, here is what I found to my delight! Crystals! Now if you can look closely, you will see that each of the spikes coming out of these crystals appear to be tubes! Ready?

A field of ice crystals

Crystals on a seashell

Crystals on dry foliage

Ice Crystals on a sprinkler head

One large crystal

Aren’t they amazing? I hope that you enjoyed today’s photos! Now go out and enjoy the day, and thanks for stopping by!

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