Winter?...

Does anyone have snow this year???

I'm reading blogs from all over the place and it seems that we're all having the same weather.
I hear people at work comment that they are happy the season has been so mild. They are happy they have no snow to shovel. They are happy they don't have to bundle up like the abominable snowman.

Well, I'm not happy about it at all. I like winter!

Sure, it's nice to take a walk on dry pavement, and not have to worry about making Annie wear her booties (which she hates). It's nice to be able to get in my car in the morning and drive to work without the worry of getting stuck in the snow, or sliding off the road into a curb or pole, or getting rear-ended because someone needs new tires. It's nice to not have a backache from shoveling the deck, and patio, and sidewalk, and driveway (because we don't have a snow blower...which is my fault...I just don't want one).
What isn't nice about this mild winter is the fact that we are not getting any moisture. We walk by the Mississippi River, and this spring, the water was so high, the big concrete dock by 694 was nearly under water.
Now we can see sandbars, or maybe they are islands, that I don't remember ever seeing  before. David said he remembers them, but...I don't always believe him...he likes to take the opposite view of whatever I am talking about.
Ducks, several kinds, geese and our resident pair of eagles are congregating in the open water. A couple of days after our New Year's Eve snowfall, ice chunks were floating down the river, but the next day they were gone. Last evening, the water was perfectly still, odd for a river of its magnitude, but never the less, it was still. I would have been able to get a great eagle picture if I would have had my camera with me, and if I would have had the lens that Kate http://chroniclesofacountrygirl.blogspot.com has. He or she, how does one tell the sex of an eagle, was sitting on his favorite branch, just looking around. I'm assuming the other one was hunting for dinner, or maybe she just needed some time alone. ha! We are able to get quite close to him...maybe I should just start bringing my camera with me, hmm, what a concept!!

I love mild winter nights when it's snowing huge flakes. It's so quiet, and still, no wind to whip those flakes around, so they just slowly drift down into piles. I love going for walks in the winter, my boots crunching the hardened snow, not having to worry about slipping on ice. I love having blizzards, as long as I get to stay home and don't have to get up to go to work the next day. Those days are perfect days to have a fire in the stove, curl up in the chair with Oliver, or even Little-Bit if he's feeling in the mood, with a cup of coffee and a good book. I love hearing the snowplows go by. I love hearing the neighbor day-care kids playing outside, trying to wade through the snow with their snowsuits and boots and little short legs. I even love like shoveling the driveway. Actually, I really do like shoveling the driveway, it's the deck that I can't stand shoveling, because the shovel always hits the screws that are sticking up from the wood. Those screws ruin the edge of the shovel and jar my arms when I run into them.

It is only January 7 today and we have a good three months of winter left, and we all know how much snow can accumulate in three months. I want a chance to wear my new winter (snow) boots and I want to go snowshoeing. I have been saying for the past three years, that we are going to go up north in January or February and go snowshoeing. We were going to get snowshoes for each other for Christmas this year but decided to wait for a sale, since there wasn't any snow at the time. Now...we might not get a chance to go at all. But, we might be able to get a deal on those snowshoes in preparation for next winter (which is really only a few months away).