Gates and Alleys - Snow gate

Reflections - of snow

A snow covered yard reflected in the door window.

Weekend Reflections is hosted by James of Newtown Area Photo.

Reflections - Red snow

Our red front door gives a red cast to the snow reflected in our storm door last month.

Weekend Reflections is hosted by James of Newtown Area Photo.

Full birdbath

Tuesday morning

Wednesday morning

Out on the roads

Our street

Yesterday the road in front of our house was in good shape. Marianne had a regular checkup with her dentist; so we made a trip out. While she was at the dentist, I saw her hair stylist nearby. He wanted to change her appointment (was for today). She then got her haircut and no trip out for her today. I also made a trip into the edge of Frederick to restock a few items. The main roads were in very good shape (with high piles on the side). Side streets were slippery and traffic was heavy, making it along time to get out of the parking lot.

Waiting at a red light

Shopping center

Tuesday morning

A little sun and a lot of digging to do

After nearly 30 hours, the snow stopped while I was clearing a path from our front door. The sky was clearing and the sun popped out. I uncovered the van and got part of the driveway cleared. The street is not very drivable yet and I have a bunch of snow to remove behind the van.

We got snow!

Around 18 inches and still coming down. This is my 1,000 post.

Here we go again!

I saw the first snowflakes about 10:30 AM. When I took the above shot about 1 PM, not much had stuck (snow in the field is from last week). At 4:30 (picture below), the flakes were large and the snow was sticking. The forecast is for 2 feet (or more) before ending Saturday night. Tonight the winds will pick up and I expect a lot of drifting.

We do not often get a foot of snow in this area - maybe every five years or so. This is the second major snow storm this winter which is a record. (May have happened back in the ice-age, but those records are not online yet!) The local governments got ahead of this one: schools are closed and snowplows are ready even before the snow started. Local TV stations are in full snow coverage mode with reporters standing in the snow by the roads telling us to not drive. One reporter is even doing live reports from a moving car! Airlines are canceling flights.

More snow and Photoshop

This image was cropped from a shot of our backyard on the morning of December 19 as the snow continued to fall. I applied auto color correction turning the gray day white.

Then I applied the glowing edges filter making a negative.

Finally, a shift in the blue level of the image and we have a white tree with blue snow.

Squirrel hide and seek

You can't see me!

Now you can!

Where's the cat?

And now there are four

After the snow

After the snow Tuesday night came the rain - almost an inch and a half. Wednesday morning was cool and foggy and by afternoon, the creek across the field could be seen well out of its banks. According to the Frederick News Post more than a dozen roads in the county were closed due to high water.

Night snow

The storm that raced across the USA leaving lots of people digging out of mounds of snow only dropped a little snow here. As on 1:00 AM Wednesday the snow has changed to rain and a flood watch has been issued.

Two signs that winter is not over

Tree and its shadow on Tuesday

and icicles on Wednesday

but they are predicting 70 F next Sunday!

Then and Now - Snow

Then - February 1983

We don't get many big snows here, but every now and then we do. This one was above the wheel wells on my car and really piled up when we shoveled the driveway. Also note the size of the trees - what a difference in 26 years.

Now - March 2009

Rear Window View - Snow

7:35 AM snowing

10:01 AM beautiful

2:16 PM clearing

Moss and snow Feb 2, 2009

Winter scenes

Gulls waiting for spring, Culler Lake in Baker Park

Carroll Creek, Baker Park

Our yard, late afternoon shadows

Snow sprinkle

We had a sprinkle of snow Saturday morning, but by 11 AM it was gone.

Footprints in the snow

Mine on a trip across the backyard Monday

and a local critter on the patio yesterday morning.

Day 52 - After the eclipse (revised)

After I posted the pictures below, I decided to try my recurring theme "rear window view" in moonlight. The above was taken from my ground level office. To the left of the bird bath and on the other side of the fence is a deer. There were 15 of them grazing in the snow-covered field.

I took these pictures from our dining room window a little before 1:00 AM EST. The snow had stopped, the sky cleared and the eclipse was over. Looking up I got some reflection from the window in the picture of the moon through the trees. Below is the shadow of the same tree on the snow. I set the camera on my tripod and let it do the exposure automatically (about 6 seconds). I did go out earlier to see the eclipse at about the half-way point, but did not want to set up the tripod in the snow.