~ SNOW!!! ~
At Ailea's Place
During January, 2002, North Carolina experienced snow, of all things, and not just one snow, but TWO, the later being a record-making snowfall.
First, though, we had a standard dusting of snow which made the shelties at Ailea's Place dance with glee...
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BEWARE THE WHIRLING DERVISH!!! If you aren't careful, she'll give you a good butt-bounce and bowl you right on over, snapping at your ankles as you go down!!! |
The three images directly above mainly star the Ding-Dong. That's Dawn on the left, Willie and Dawn inside the fence and Sheba outside fence in the middle picture, and Dawn and Willie on the right. Everyone was excited about this little snow (about 3 inches worth) except poor Black Sheba... She hated the cold!
The second snowfall in January 2000 is the one that broke records. I was so shocked - so excited - when I awakened and found the amount of snow that had fallen overnight - I didn't even wait for full daylight, didn't even wait for it to stop snowing before I ran out and started taking pictures. I just could not BELIEVE it and felt like a big kid in a candy store! Like WOW! We got 18 inches when all was said and done, totally unreal!
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This first image is a picture of the hoodlums (This, I decided, was the best way to describe those sheltie devil dogs who ruled me and my family!) nearly disappeared under the blanket on the ground. Talk about some shocked dogs, trying to plow through the heavily piled snow. Actually caught the Ding-Dong (Dawn) - at the far left - in the process of jumping above the snow as she vainly sought to find a place to pee where her little bottom wouldn't be buried.... Except for bouncing up and down like Dawn is here, the poor dogs would have been buried and lost for sure! |
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This next image is supposed to show you how deep the snow is- they are my footprints, actually, but yeah, I realize they don't really show much of nuthin and merely a perfect example of just how crazy excited I was |
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Eighteen inches of snow kind of puts a different outlook on everything outdoors, doesn't it? |
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The front of the house (right) - doesn't even look like there are steps there, does it? The drifts were something! You cannot see them, but to the right of the steps are three good-sized azalea bushes. Two of my girls took a wrong step off the porch and found themselves caught between the porch and the flower bushes, unable to move. Mama Amy had to come to the rescue (poor girls). Yeah, right. |
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Next is a picture from the front
dog yard, looking into the fence and gate of the "dog yard." A goodly portion of the "dog yard" was later reclaimed as front yard - figured a half acre was more than enough for the few dogs we've kept in the last six or seven years. |
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This next photo on right is another good graphic - and it is STILL snowing! Though we dug the van out and moved it to the top of the drive near the road the second day after the snow, Anthony's car was buried for nearly a week, and even then he was pushing snow as he drove down our road, because his car sat so low to the ground... |
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An unfortunate and all-too common sight- We lost many trees beyond the perimeter of our yard due to the extremely heavy weight of snow. Mostly the losses were holly trees, but some of the cedars and sapling pines went down, as well. Some major work to clean up when the snow melted off. |
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The dog yard, looking to the left. The fence is back there, you just can't really see the two feet or so left visible above the drifted snow... |
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Yep, our mail box is totally covered as you can see at left, and there IS a road under there somewhere! We actually did not receive mail delivery for a week after the snow, as mail carriers (rural, private autos) could not get through the private, secondary roads (they aren't plowed). When we finally dug the van out and got to Pittsboro I picked up mail at the post office! |