Spring? Not just yet!

 

Crocus?  Or daffodils?  Whatever, near to the foundation, the escaping warmth of the house and the warm weather of late is encouraging something poking its little fingers out of the ground!

But first!  Beware, even as I'm seeing these little fingers reaching up, the forecast has us in a high wind warning, with the S word overnight Tuesday (snow, y'know).  2 to 5 inches of fresh stuff possible by the end of this event, sometime on Wednesday.  Will let y'all know if it lives up to the hype.  

Still, the past couple of weeks, with several "above average" temperature days got Ember and her hu-mom outside on leash, and that felt good.  Her eyes sparkled, she smiled up at me, and my heart melted all over again, despite her finding new places on the carcass of the leather couch to tear at!

On the human task front, I started working on the taxes Monday.  Hunting down the documentation, the first phase.  It does not matter whether you hire someone else to do your taxes or do it yourself, you still have to track down all those documents.  Oh, yeah, the transfer of one IRA from one financial institution to another... have to find that collection... it's around here somewhere, I know.  Puppy distractions can end up with things in odd spaces!

In Emberville, the little diva got her first trip through the car wash.  She was most interested when we got home to sniff around the outside of the car.

I went and picked Ember up about 4 p.m., as the wind was up, the front coming through, and the first wave of rain had passed through.  Got her home as it was changing to slush and then snow.  I fed her supper, gave her a chew stick, but the weather was freaking her out.  She continued to destroy the couch, knocking down the baby gate three times.  She performed zoomies in the snow outside, and eventually, I just put her to bed with a yogurt smeared alligator toy and a peanut butter covered Milk bone.

I put the puppy music on the TV, and after a few complaining barks, she fell into exhausted sleep.  I came upstairs to work on my dental routine, listening to the wind howl outside.  We're in a blizzard warning until 3 a.m.  After I get done with my routine, I shall go downstairs and spend the night on the couch.  That's the plan.  Because my baby is troubled by the storm.

Anybody else in the path of this thing, I hope you are home, safe, warm, all buttoned up for the duration!

High Wind warning extended to Noon Wednesday.

Hu-mom spent the night on the couch, as predicted.  Did not offer last call as the weather was too wild at the time.  Did offer a middle of the night "outing" at 11:45 p.m. when the wind wasn't quite as bad, and told her it was OK to pee and poo on the deck if she wanted.  She did pee on the deck but went down the stairs and under the deck, so I kind of expect to find poo there when eventually I get around to poo colleciton!

Finished my night on the couch at about 4 a.m., with weird dreams.  Opened the door for the kitty, who turned up his nose at the very thought, although he was the one who asked for the door to be opened.

Ember got a little braver, once she really needed to go, and continued to pee on the deck, but trotted down the steps to explore the patio.  

We made it to puppy nap #1, and I took a short mommy nap.  My plan was to wait for the wind to die down before I headed out with the shovels.

I shoveled some on the deck.  This photo was taken before that clearing session.

This was a wet, slushy snow, and the temperature is relatively mild, although the wind is strong.

We do have some bright sunshine.  Even when it's cold, the sunshine somehow makes the clearing easier.

It got increasingly milder, and a neighbor helped me with the deepest drifts on the South sidewalk.  Clearly, it's melting and soaking in to the grassy areas faster that I got the cement areas cleared.

In any case, it looks as though this storm is pretty much wound down, leaving room for the next one to come through in a couple of days!

Spring is "just around the corner" but it hasn't quite rounded it yet!

Life is good.  Keep on sparking!