Could be that February resents being short-changed in number of days; even a leap-year doesn't compensate for the unfairness of it all. So perhaps that motivated the month to refuse to leave meekly like the proverbial lamb. It left all right, but it roared like a lion, leaving us the parting gift of an all-night, all-day snowstorm. Took a while to clean up from that one. And we've had snow-stormlets since then.

 

March, which entered the following day, decided on subterfuge, instead of bellowing in, it arrived quietly and circumspectly. But this was a ruse, and not meant to last. Last night it showed its true colours; white-on-black. On an otherwise-dark night, snow began falling, and falling, and falling. By morning it was still falling. By afternoon snow continued. That's a snowstorm of goodly proportions.

 

 

Not that we've been particularly short of snow this winter. A substantial snowpack had long since assembled itself on the landscape. So what fell and is still falling is actually white-on-white. We've a mild temperature to accompany the snow, so shovelling it early this morning out of the backyard pathways was pleasant enough, the snow sitting light on our shovels. Just as well, since we've got to lift them high, given the already-established banks of snow edging the paths.

 

The thing is, when the snow is too deep Jackie and Jillie have to wade through it and if it's over their bellies, it becomes difficult and they balk at it. In the best interests of family harmony, the paths get shovelled and the puppies are happy. Certainly we're exercised, but could be that's a good thing. When I went out to the front after breakfast to shovel there, Irving shouted at me to get back in the house.

 

He's out there now, after our ravine hike through the new mounds of snow in the forest, using his snow-thrower, that large, loud, mechanical beast, to clear away the snow in a more efficient manner than our earlier efforts. What's really irksome is that the volume of snow interfered with our getting our daily newspaper delivery. 

 

We hesitated about going out for our usual ravine hike through the forest trails. With so much new snow, we reasoned, it would be pretty tough going. Our minds were cast back decades to the time when we were the only people going through the ravine. Now, since the pandemic, people have learned to recognize the jewel this community has in its midst, and it has become a popular destination for many people.

 

So where previously we broke trail for ourselves and it was a narrow one, now with the number of people coming out to enjoy the winter forest, the trails are well tamped down and wide. And that's how we found them early this afternoon, despite the amount of snow that had come down and the fact that it was still snowing.