The calm between the storms

We're at that uncomfortable part of winter where the snow is still deep but it has acquired a hard crust.  It's just hard enough that the puppies can walk on the surface with ease, but not hard enough for mommy.  I just sink in up to my knees and usually lose a shoe in the process.  I'm terrified that naughty Midge will misjudge the edge of the pond and take an icy bath while I wade through three feet of snow in a desperate attempt to reach her before she freezes to death.

This is the first year I can remember having an ice storm.  No matter how much salt you put down, you really cannot take a step outside the door without landing on your bottom!  I watched some poor guy fall three times in the same spot before he figured out that the only way to make it home was to walk in the street where the cars have left some texture in the ice.

The inversion has been rough this year too.  I hate that there's a sun up there somewhere but you know you won't see it again until another storm blows through.

So just when I thought I couldn't survive one more minute of winter, I wake up to one of those sparkling days where the trees are covered in hoarfrost and the sun turns everything to diamonds.  The sky is crystal blue and the mountains shimmer as if they're showing off.  Even the garden is celebrating as I find crocuses blooming in the back corner of the garden where the snow has melted off.  Whew.  I can breathe again.  I soak in as much of the sunshine as I can because there's another storm moving in tomorrow.

There's a part of me that relishes a snow day, but the grown-up in me says, "Put on your big girl galoshes and get the shoveling done.  Ugh.

Here are some of this winter's projects that I don't think I've shown you yet. I had intended to show you all the week's work as it happens, but as I haven't posted in a while, I've forgotten when I did what.  At this point they are in no particular order.
Enjoy.
Jill