In Which Winter Finally Arrives

According to The Old Farmers Almanac, this was to be a slightly warmer winter with less snow and more ice storms. I'd say the folks out in Peterborough hit this one right on the head. It's currently mid- January. We've had maybe 3 days that I would call "really cold." The heat upstairs in my house, hasn't even kicked on yet, and I keep it set at 60. I have shoveled a grand total of zero times, and we haven't even taken the shovels out. We did buy a new extendable snow brush so we can clear the van properly, and have used that a grand total of zero times.

People, I live in NH. This is not normal. Especially my part of the state, which usually gets hammered when other parts are just getting rain/mix stuff. They got our hopes up today with "the first storm of the year!" and "3-6 inches of snow". Umm.. OK. Does this look like snow to anyone else? According to the radio weather guy, we're in for a bit of arctic air.. but El nino is sticking around till May.. and he foresees a fairly mild rest of the winter.


I'm not complaining. I love fairly mild. I hate being cold. I like the first few snows, but then it gets old. Fast. The sidewalk gets icy. The snow gets dirty. Cabin Fever sets in. I haven't walked since Tuesday of last week (due to not being home, and then this weather event/tooth pain crap), but I have enjoyed walking with just my vest on and my little knit gloves. I'll take the mild weather any day of the week and twice on Sundays. I would move to a less cold area of the country, but in all actuality, I would miss the 4 seasons. And, yes, even the snow.

While I was in the shower today, a branch fell off one of our pine trees. Thank goodness the dog wasn't out there, because she would be dead. The tree ripped her tie-out run out of the house and the tree it was secured too. The boy moved the biggest branch out of the way, so we can still let her out, and that pile of mess that is on the ground is what was left. They are calling for this to continue through the night, and then the temps will drop and the winds will pick up tomorrow which makes for a potentially bad situation. But there is something very pretty about ice coated branches isn't there?