Let It Snow

The idyllic, pristine white stuff has yielded to the better-late-than-never city snow pushers and has become that disgusting, bleakly gray, sandy mess piled high at the sides of the roads. White Christmas? Probably not. It's supposed to rain here on Friday, too, which will likely melt what's left of our winter wonderland. Still, the snow was a picturesque treat, and it made for a relaxing weekend for us.

We were mindful of our sweet feathered friends and tried to keep our feeders full. We saw tons of Cardinals this weekend. Nick called me a species feminist because I happen to like the female Cardinals better than the male Cardinals. Whatever, right? I sat in the windows with the cats and watched these guys for a long time:
Saturday while I was birdwatching, a hawk landed on our front porch, which kinda freaked me out. I wanted to snap a picture of it, but was afraid I'd spook it off before Nick had a chance to see it. I freaked out because I once heard this story on NPR about this man whose pet Chihuahua was scooped away by some kind of big bird. The dog eventually made its way back to its owner, but he did have a few puncture marks from the big bird's claws. Edison is one surly, foul-breathed ingrate, but I'd be horrified if a hawk dognapped him. I pity the big bird that tries to steal our stinky and grumpy little Chihuahua.

More Cardinals! They were thankful for their snowy seed feast.

Our backyard:

There's some raised bed goodness under here somewhere!

The only thing whiter than the snow is this dude's legs. That's right, the man I married shovels snow in soccer shorts. What a goof.
Nick shoveled a little path for the dogs so that they could get around the yard to do their business. Jordan loved racing back and forth through his little tunnel. Isn't he just the cutest thing ever?

Here's Jordan doing his version of the breast-stroke through the snow. It totally cracked us up. Edison would have NOTHING of the snow.

We went for a walk Sunday morning after the snow stopped to check on a couple of our elderly neighbors to make sure they were doing well. One was a bit grumpy over the lack of delivery of the Sunday paper, so we walked a couple of blocks to a nearby grocery store to grab him a paper. Nothing like making a 90 year old's day with a small gesture.

Heading to the canal path to take a peek around. Thankfully Nick opted to wear more weather-appropriate attire for this.

The canal in all its early morning quiet and icy glory:

And the place that puts money in my bank account every two weeks. Apparently there's some good sledding to be had there on the back side of the hospital:

It really was a beautiful weekend. I hope the snow hangs in there for Christmas!