Mother Nature must read gardening blogs.  She sure heard my plea for a comforter of snow.  Sunday morning, December 20, 2009, and we figure about 2 feet of the white powdery stuff now graces our space.  The exact depth is hard to tell since the wind howled most of the night and sculpted drifts of snow up to 3 feet deep here and there.  The snow gauge read about 5 inches by 11 pm Saturday, and 18 inches at 2:30 Sunday morning.  Since the gauge only reads to 18 inches, and it is nearly covered right now, we're guessing we have from 22 to 24 inches of snow overall, and when it gets this deep, what's a couple of inches either way?

The snow stopped at around 10 am or so … and I know there is a sidewalk under here somewhere.

Found the first step.

Note to self: when expecting heavy snow, only leave one shovel outside the door.  Leaving two there is somewhat counter-productive.

Shovels finally freed … time for a quick look around.

It would be a shame to spend the first hours of this day only shoveling.

  Astilbe close up.    A chilly Pieris shrub. 

Bright Winterberry … and a winter wonderland front yard.

Now, after a brief coffee break it's time to get back to work  out front.

Let's see … I know there's a sidewalk under here somewhere …