Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Frosty Days

We enjoyed an "off" day yesterday due to a snow storm.  It started snowing around 11:00 AM and continued through the day and into the evening.  The amounts varied depending on which side of the beltway you live.  On the Virginia side, out near Dulles airport, they got a little over 8 inches.  On the Maryland side, around 6 inches.  That's enough to shut us down for a day.  We are not equipped to deal with snow in the greater metropolitan area.  Neither mentally nor equipment-wise.  And that is just one of the idiosyncrasies of living here.

I decided to have a fire in this cute little fireplace that was a gift to me some years ago.


I was a very chilly day.  Baxter and I were watching tv and I thought it would be nice to have a fire in the bedroom, so I set this up.  I throws quite a bit of heat.  There is an adjustment on the wick to raise and lower the flame.  I eventually lowered it because it played havoc with the smoke alarm.


Later in the day, during one of Baxter's outside visits, I took this picture of the freesia pot on the deck.  A perfect dome of snow atop the pot.  Although I enjoy the snow, I cannot wait until these beautiful freesia are in bloom in the spring.


Eventually, we had to address the issue of the accumulated snow.  On the front porch and down the front sidewalk to the street, I put down a combination of ice melt.  The blue is a pet and plant friendly mix.  The sand colored melt is a little more heavy duty.  It is plant friendly but not pet friendly.  So we did not use the heavy duty melt on the deck and in the back yard where Baxter has bathroom breaks.  Only the blue in those areas.  We don't want him to have sore feet.


A very little while later the combination of the two had already started working to melt away the snow and ice.


And before I knew it, I was able to use a old-fashioned straw broom to remove most of the snow from the front stoop.  Isn't that wonderful and I didn't break my back or someone else's back shoveling it all away.

Temperatures have remained brutally cold today.  Not out of the teens.  By Saturday we will be back into the mid and upper thirties, which is just where we should be this time of year.

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