It was bright and beautiful, treacherous and cold. I walked my property first to see how bad the damage might be. I picked my way carefully over the patches of ice. One medium branch broke on my birch which surprised me. It must have had a weak spot.
Half of a fairly young oak, toppled but stayed attached to the tree. Our oaks don't lose their leaves and are vulnerable in a heavy snow.
Another, double topped tree, broke completely off at the fork.
Three fairly large oaks, lying sidewise on my hilly back acre are held up by branches from other trees. Looks like I'll have a lot of firewood by next winter.
On the road, it was a winter wonderland though much of the snow had melted off the trees. I walked past my immediate neighbor's motor home blocking my driveway. He returned early from a seven-day trip when he got weather reports. He had to hire a plow to get his rig in his driveway.
Two lots down, the neighbors horses wore winter blankets.
Like us, they need a bit of extra protection. They have no barn and are used to milder winter weather.
When I took this picture I thought of Jim because he loves to find patterns like this.
What I like about this neighbor, when he got acquainted with the patterns of our wild life he opened up his fence for the deer to make their rounds.
I headed back to my house and saw the plowman was finished with his job. A bit earlier, I saw another plow headed up the canyon. Extra work for guys who live in the high country and have their own plows.
And Gary was just getting his rig into his driveway. All's well that ends well.
