Simulated Avalanche

We are in the middle of a snow event. We have had snow continuously for 24 hours and are expecting, according to the weather experts, the snow to continue until noon tomorrow. I've been out for two rounds of snow removal with my trusty snow shovel and the two snow throwers that live here. There is a certain cold beauty that a good snowstorm brings to the land.

Before I began the first round I took a photo out the back door. The snow was still and white and waiting expectantly to be moved. And so I did.



The first round was aided by the efforts of the Prairie Princess. We were done with the job and rested on our shovels in front of the house. So I captured her image.

News item: "A skier was buried beneath an avalanche for 17 hours in the Swiss Alps before being pulled from the snow with only minor hypothermia. The 21 year-old man appeared to have survived because he was trapped next to a pocket of air." - Today's Strib



After the first round I roamed around the neighborhood a while, admiring the way the snow engulfed the landscape. And I mailed a letter at the mailbox on Oxford. The streets looked pretty much like the photo below. I stopped in the middle of Fairmount to snap the picture, knowing that the traffic today was light and moving slow. St Paul is expected to declare a snow emergency sometime in the next 24 hours, but so far not so much. I suspect that plowing will not improve the street surface much at all. Minneapolis is plowing tonight.



Most of the rest of the day was eating and planning what to eat. When Unky Herb came home tonight we shoveled round two. The main course for dinner was Santini's "squash in the oven." That and mac and cheese with eggs ala moohoo - spiced with the correct amount of dill. And bean salad. And herring. After a day of shoveling there is no need for gourmet cooking. Yum.

That cooking blog is coming in handy.



Tennis for tomorrow has been canceled due to injury to one of the anticipated participants. A second consecutive day of rest.

"So much of life is disappointment. That's why we have art." -Joyce Carol Oates