Snow!

I finally was able to see snow in Fayetteville (I was out of town the first time it snowed significantly in January), and it sure has been an experience! It started sleeting/freezing rain/wet stuff falling from the sky early Tuesday morning and transitioned to real snow after everything had been sufficiently coated with ice. We then received about 4-5" of beautiful white fluffy snow on top of everything.

Unfortunately, people in Arkansas don't really know what to do when it snows and are even more confused when there's ice under the snow so school has been closed (i.e. I don't have to go to work) for the past three days and is cancelled again tomorrow due to road conditions.

The first few days were really enjoyable and I was able to get caught up on some of the part time work I do outside of my full time job. Oh, and nap a little. And make cinnamon buns. And brownies...... snow days make for a hard life :)

By the third day (today), though, I was getting pretty tired of sitting around so I ventured out into the cold, white world for a walk down to the park this afternoon after doing some work for a few hours this morning. The roads around our house are still a solid sheet of ice so I understand why school is closed - I'm sure not driving anywhere. It still didn't get above 25 degrees (our absolute high for the past 3 days!), but it was wonderful to get some fresh, albeit very cold, air.

Oh, and apparently people become really friendly when they spend three days trapped in their houses. I had very pleasant short conversations with at least three other people walking around the neighborhood - more interaction than I've had in this neighborhood in the past 6 months! Hooray for snow being a community building tool!

So, here are a few photos from the park today and a few of the house and yard from the past two days when I was too much of a weenie to venture out in the 10 degree weather.....

The trail to the park - clearly I wasn't the only person itching to get out in the snow

Weathervane on the gazebo at the park - that cow looks cold.

The creek at Gulley Park - mostly frozen

Bridge in the park

Icicles!

More icicles! Something just isn't working quite right with that gutter....

Proof that the sun was out today - this was right before I turned to walk back to the house....and it got very, very cold.

Natural pruning in my front yard - my apple tree just couldn't handle the ice

Dogwood tree in the front yard - notice it already was starting to think it's spring and putting out buds - sorry for the rude awakening with all that ice

Backyard - I think it was still snowing when I took this one on Tuesday

Front yard.....with the trusty Danger Ranger tucked in by a blanket of snow

This is what else I was doing the past few days.....I told you......it's a hard life