I have always lived in the southeast. I like it here. I wouldn't mind living someplace like Wyoming or Montana (for some reason those states have always appealed to me, both the geography and my perception of the philosophy of the people who live there) but I have always lived in the southeast. Because I have always lived here, I tend to get excited about winter.
A couple of weeks ago we had a surprise here in Alabama. On Sunday Mr. Marvelous took off to fly to Northern Wisconsin for a week of company training. We anxiously watched the weather forecasts for that area and quickly ordered a balaclava for him (the beard doesn't cover the whole face). We packed all his warmest clothing and he packed a small suitcase with things like hat, scarf, gloves, and very warm (and very bulky) coat for him to put on once he got there. Then we looked at the forecast for our area. Being Mr. Marvelous, he was distressed that the weather was going to be cold and I would have to take care of the outdoor animals on my own. I reassured him that all would be well, thanked him for his concern, and sent him on his way.
I started watching the forecasts for our local weather. I noticed that while the local forecasting guru was predicting a few cold days with maybe a dusting of snow, Accuweather was consistently predicting 1-3 inches of snow. Hmm.
Tuesday morning Mr. Marvelous Jr. got up and drove in to work. I was sitting here minding my own business when I glanced out the window: SNOW!! Yippee! We were going to get our dusting after all!
My little bunnies didn't quite know what to think of it....
....but the chickens got into the spirit of things. They kept chasing the flakes and eating them.
They maybe aren't the brightest, but they know how to have fun!
It kept snowing.
And kept snowing.
And the temperatures stayed in the 20s, in spite of what the local weather guru said.
And our little road began to look like this.
That's a VERY steep hill by the way; my little truck can barely make it up in 2nd gear if I get a running start.
In a little while it began to look like this
And before too long our little road started to look like this
Uh-oh. Mr. Marvelous Jr. was still in town at work!
He called me that afternoon. They started sending people home from his office a little after 11. He was going to try to get to the house. It took him almost four hours to drive not quite a mile. In the end, he had to abandon the jeep in a parking lot (along with most everyone else who didn't just leave their cars on the road...and most people did), and walk 2.9 miles to his uncle's house. Who was delighted to have his company because his aunt was also stranded. For two days!
He did manage to get home late Wednesday afternoon but that's another story. Let's just say I was surprised. And his jeep was sad.
Poor little jeep just couldn't quite make it the last few feet!
At the end of the snow, and before things started melting Thursday (only to re-freeze Thursday night of course), I did manage to grab a few more pictures.
The chickens had gotten tired of running around trying to eat the snow by this time. Plus the bunnies were making fun of them.
Our neighbors from Michigan had no trouble parking at the bottom of the hill and walking up. Bless their hearts, they were a little confused by all the fuss!
We discovered some visitors.
And to me there is nothing prettier than a cedar in the snow.
Oh yes, Mr. Marvelous? Well it did get VERY cold up there. It snowed a little bit. The folks there yawned and kept on going. He had a time getting to the airport Saturday morning though. They had near-blizzard conditions and since they had to be on the road around 3 am, the plows and trucks hadn't gotten out to do their thing quite yet. But they made it safely to the airport and got home Saturday noon. By which time we had absolutely no snow on the ground at all. Because this is Alabama!
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