Winter-sated...I didn't think it could happen!

Not our current view, thank goodness!

Gloriously, the northeast wind stopped blowing this afternoon. Ah! It was lovely to wander outdoors and not have warmth whipped from your person by the icy bluster! And it was so quiet. And restful.

It is March, and there are piles of snow still present almost everywhere in our little community. Normally, piles of snow in March come from an anomalous snow day. This year, they are the remnants of a winter that came almost too late, in my opinion, and stayed a bit long.

January deceived me with its moderate weather. I had decided that this winter was going to be a non-event. Whenever that happens, I remember that year the local dealership, Snow Ford, decided they would have a contest to award a prize to the person who most closely predicted the first day of snow. See what they did there? Snow Ford? Haha! Of course, it was the first winter in several that it did not snow, not once. Oh the disappointment! Oh, the failed marketing…

So I expected to feel that kind of disapointment for the duration.

But February surprised us with bitter cold, icy, forceful winds, and snow – everything but ice. (We had enough of that last year!) I was delighted! I love winter weather – the drama, the cessation of activity, the coziness inside. And we had plenty of that…plenty.

The high winds before the snow kept the air clouded with blowing dirt!

The evening it started snowing we decided to go to town for dessert...not a great idea.

The goats were confused: "We got locked in the barn overnight and now we don't even know where we are!!! What happened to our pen!"

When you have a little fur as Rosie and the windchill is 0, you have to wear clothes, even if you hate them.

And we still are having plenty of cold. It is March and we have had wind chills of 17 degrees. We had a whole month of February winter without one Chinook wind – the kind that quickly warms to the 50’s and you can watch the snow piles shrink before your very eyes! In fact, the ground is still frozen. As I said, the snow piles remain. You couldn’t work up dirt if you wanted to. We could certainly use one of those Chinook winds about now.

The wind made a mess of the pruned out canes.

Once the snow melted, there were drifts of dirt left.

We might get another skiff of snow like this tomorrow...

I can’t believe it finally happened, but I am winter-sated and I have a little cabin fever.  I’m actually looking forward to spring, and outdoor activity – which is saying something for me.

Looks like it still may be a couple weeks off before temperatures return to seasonal norms, with some messy rain and mud in between, but for once I will say, I am ready for spring!