"What a Difference a Day Makes!"

Well, the dreaded storm arrived and we got about 15 inches of snow. It started out nice and light, but we had a period of sleet, then more snow, and it ended up being very heavy to shovel. Thank goodness for the snow blower and tractor with plow. Here's the old view and the new view:

I have the area the dogs use pretty well scraped down, but their paws are still freezing after just a few minutes. Poor little things. I tell them to just do what they have to do and stop exploring when they go out, but they don't listen to their mama. The high was only 5 degrees today and the wind chill was way below zero.

 

Pete plowed out to the bird feeder in the front yard, and had to refill it today. We had noticed a lack of birds at the feeder this year, but they're all back with this snowfall. I had listened to a radio call in show with a bird expert, and he said many in this area were noticing the same thing, and he did promise they'd be back when the weather changed. We're seeing lots of juncos. sparrows, nuthatches, a pair of cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves, and a beautiful red-headed flicker eating the suet. We had goldfinches on our bags of niger seed until a couple of days ago, but I haven't seen any since the snowfall.

Here's a photo of our little sweetie Rosie. She was brought up to a rescue group here in the north from an overcrowded shelter in Kentucky. She is my sidekick, and sleeps between us under the covers every night. (Wish she would sleep through the night though - she often has to get up and take a quick trip outside around 2 or 3 am.) 

I notice she's sitting on Pete's lap in this photo. His lap is fine when I'm not around. Her only bad habit is that she's a barker. But to put a spin on that, she's a great watchdog!

Hope everyone is staying warm and dry in this frigid weather.