Nine Degrees and Overcast On Ground Hog Day

Snow Shoeing Long Point During Blizzard

7:10

Sparrow and Cardinal

Sparrow and Cardinal

Snow Shoeing Long Point

Frosted Pine at Long Point

Up at 6:40, just in time to get the last twenty minutes of Click N Clack on NPR.  It looks like we had about an inch of snow last night, so the snow totals the last couple of days is close to a foot and a half, more in some areas.  Snow flurries are forecast, with one to three inches of snow predicted. It sounds as if Buffalo, however, may get  six to ten inches of lake effect snow but we are supposed to miss it.   A good day for yoga, to be outside if it warms up a bit.  Perhaps a hike through Dobbins, or walk the CI, depending on our mood.

Yesterday was an amazing snow day, as we shoveled a couple of times but best of all, we went snow shoeing late morning at Long Point.  It was like entering a cathedral of snow, all the trees, especially the pines, were weighed down by a heavy frosting of snow, the rest of the leafless tree branches were covered.  We made our way through the virgin trails, the only ones in the woods, the snow a foot and a half deep in some areas, tough going, in others, about a half a foot, a result of the winds.  We loved it, the snow in our faces, the quietness, the emptiness, and the beauty of the dark green trees, the whiteness of the snow, the grayness of the sky.  We walked for close to an hour and were quite tired when we got home.  Snow shoeing is much more rigorous than hiking.

Our afternoon was the typical, lunch, TV and reading.  I did go to the Smith Library, through a brief blizzard, to return and check out some books.  I need a stack  on my book stand, especially if we are snow bound for a couple of days.  For dinner, we had the left over chicken picata, still great, and watched the first two episodes of Netflix's attempts to become a major player, with House Of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey.  It's a very cynical look at Washington politics, with Spacey playing a Machiavellian House Majority whip, smart, amoral, knowledgeable, able and willing to do anything for results...the ends justify the means, and the ends, in his case, are often revenge.  Quite a contrast to the West Wing, a somewhat idealistic look at life in the White House.