Snow started falling Sunday evening December 6 and we woke to a cold white world. This storm brought more snow and colder weather (23 F) than we've experienced since living here (or when building). Judging by the snow depth in the upper garden, it brought us 8-10 inches of snow. On Monday this was a fluffy wonderful powder. Tuesday was crunchy. Wednesday and Thursday were treacherous ice. The last of the snow is dispersing today in the rain (and a much warmer low, 37 F).
As seems to be the norm, this unusual storm caused power outages throughout California; we were without power Monday day and Tuesday day. The house performed very well, and I learned to heat some things (tea, cider, chocolate, scrambled eggs) on a wood stove. My "free" time was spent taking pictures (too many), frolicking with pets, turning off water systems outside (learning), tending the wood stove, and catching up on filing and reading. The fantastic light in our pop-up (quilt room) also allowed me to do some quilting. We limped along with kerosene and battery lanterns from about 4 pm on, which became tedious.
I limited the number of pictures in this post, which was hard to do. I think I have over 200 after discarding about 50. Previous snow storms have quickly melted away, so I started taking pictures during the storm. There is a second post (earlier today) with some of the pet shots; this post is more-so focused on the beauty.
These are mostly sequential, and mostly from Monday.
Our north elevation, taken a few minutes after the other shot.
Looking down our driveway from the house.
Candidate for our Christmas Card; looking up the driveway toward the house.
Looking back at our house, from a little further up the driveway versus the last shot.
Walking down our road.
That little orange-brown bump on Ron's left is Homer-Kitty. He loves it when we include him in dog activities and thinks he should get whatever the dogs get (except car rides).
Snowy house front (north elevation).
The greenhouse and upper garden. The brown to the left of the tool shed is the top of a retaining wall. The green bumps to the right of the greenhouse, well, they were tomato plants. I kept them longer than was practical, but they were still slowly producing some tomatoes. Guess what I'll be doing this weekend!
Lilac bushes, above the large turnaround retaining wall.
What good is snow without some frolicking?
A Manzanita that was just too artistic to remove when we cleared this area.
The Forest King
Uphill from the house, our former cabin is now a workshop.
This was taken late Tuesday.
Sunset, Monday, December 7, 2009
(partial view from our living room - taken standing outside on the deck)
Sunset, Tuesday, December 8, 2009
(much of the snow was still there; from the living room again)
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