We are now a Level 3 Snow Emergency and I am done shoveling.....again......for now......

that was a lot of shoveling and of course the snow plow plowed us all in at the end of our driveways......over 3 feet deep in at least a 10-15 foot section I had to move

my snowman that stands 3 feet got completely buried after this last snow pass moved through....I tried to shake the snow around him off.....

There is a bush buried under all this snow on the corner

Noah is a little over 4-1/2 feet tall.......he is right about the height of the snow to the right of him

at least the mailman will be able to get to my mailbox!

Up to his neck in snow.......

Well it is snowing and blowing here in my area of Ohio.  We have over a foot of snow and it is still coming down.  This reminds me of the blizzard we had last year and I bet we soon move from a Level 2 Snow Emergency to a Level 3.  A neighbor was trying to drive down our street to come home from a night shift at work and it took her over 45 minutes to drive 1/2 block as the snow in the road was up over the tires of her car.  I shoveled once already, but will have to go back out and do it again 1-2 more times at least before they say it will stop.  I love it....and am thankful we can stay home safe.  I love to shovel....and am thankful for that.  I hope and pray everyone just stays home today and remains safe if possible.

Here are a few pics of the snow around my house so far. 

Mr. Snowman would be buried under the snow but I could not  bring myself to cover his head up with snow...so he is up to his neck in the white stuff!

The drifts in between my house and the neighbors is up to my mid thigh....

After shoveling the banks on the sides of the driveway are almost up to my shoulders....

It had drifted up onto our front walk....a couple of feet deep......

still coming down....not to stop until maybe around 5 or 6:00 p.m. and then snow off and on the next 4 days!

lemon meringue pie....

some of OUR snow........it is all so powdery! It sparkles like glitter and the bushes look like they have been dusted with powdered sugar!

CLICK TO BLOW UP AND SEE FULL SIZE!

Mr. Hawk eating his lunch on a snowy morning........and the relatives of the dead bird coming in for what looked like a memorial service after....

I never normally have this quantity of mourning doves in my backyard..but after Mr. Hawk devoured one earlier in the day over the weekend......all of a sudden all these mourning doves came in.....landed on the fence lined up in a row......and above on the wires overhead......and some on the ground. All were quiet.....some had their eyes shut...and I swear they were discussing the events of that morning and were sad for the loss of one of their mates or relatives. Do you suppose birds think things like that ...as we would? I think they do....I cannot imagine sitting on the wires overhead watching Mr. Hawk eat one of my kind...right in front of me.....not being able to do anything about it. I know Mr. Hawk has to eat too......but sometimes it is sort of sad that maybe we all just can't eat plants. Of course then we start to think about plants....and how they might feel pain when we cut them off their growing stalks or yanking them up by their roots from the ground...I guess that would leave us with water. Could we survive on water only?

it is -14 with a wind chill of -34 degrees!

Joe


Tom

please pray for Tom and Joe. Tom is a cute cat that hangs around my grandmother's house and Joe is her neighbor's dog. The neighbors do not take very good care of Joe and he is left out in all type of elements without proper shelter and conditions are horrific for him. I have written about him before..it is so very sad. I want to just go rescue him and bring him home to where I live...but right now renting this house I am not even allowed to have the one cat I do have (which I took in as a stray).

Tom-Kat we take pretty good care of, but he still has to be left outside. My grandmother is helping to keep him fed and such until I can hopefully bring him here to live too....somewhere if I can get a place that allows pets.

Needless to say I am worried about those 2 little guys and wish I already lived somewhere ...where I could have brought them both to live. I don't want to find out they froze to death during this bitterly cold weather.

My final sketches of Opie......as you can see.....he is quite the poser......

Valentine Gingerbread Cookies.......Click to enlarge

minus 9 degrees...windchill near 30 below zero......no better time to bake up some gingerbread cookies......

raining snow! at least that is what it looked like here today all day long! We have quite the winter wonderland outside!

This is when it started this morning.......(above)

late afternoon it was still coming down fast and furious!

click to enlarge and see what I am having for breakfast!

Creative Every Day Challenge 2009......my rough sketch of Opie.....

I worked...taught Noah his school...cleaned the house.....did dishes..laundry....and found myself with some extra time left over. I sat down next to the cat.....and he was sleeping so cute....I decided I had no excuses to not try doing something creative. My goal this week was to sketch something.....not spend a lot of time on it.....but to sketch something. I did this in about 1 hour. I still have to tweak the body and feet....and then add more details to the face/eyes....I can see the finished work in my mind....but I am too tired to finish it tonight as 4:00 a.m. comes too early for me!

(this is for a challenge I am participating in this year - see sidebar for details if interested)