We generally see snow from late October through early April, but with an average annual precipitation of just 11 inches of water, we usually don’t see really deep snow. This year, however, we’ve been getting a lot of snow. It’s the third-highest snowfall ever recorded this far into the winter, and this past week it really piled up. With the long weekend, we’ve been getting out and enjoying it. Blowing it, shoveling it, walking in it, snowshoeing in it.

The snowy woods

A friendly denizen of the snowy woods

Thanksgiving dinner. The usual crap.

And, of course, because it gets dark early, we’ve had time to cook up the perfect sustenance for snowy evenings.

Bust a move, snowshoe man!

More on the snowshoes: I’ve had them for a very long time, but hadn’t needed them up here so they just sat around looking good (an eventual personal goal). With the snowfall rate high and the holiday weekend, the ski trails weren’t a good option, so I decided to mush through the woods on snowshoes instead. Lots of fun and very good exercise. Judging from the tracks, the only ones out for fun were me and a snowshoe hare. Two things we had in common. After just two days of this, I blew a shoe and for the first time in a long time am wondering where to get rawhide. Oh, well. Back on skis tomorrow…

A self-rolling snowball with a conscience.

Free bonus: We got one of those deals that has a name but I have no idea what it is. It’s a self-rolling snowball thingy. It was above freezing for awhile over the weekend and a lot of snow plops were falling out of the trees. One hit just right on a hill and the gravity and sticky snow combined to start a self-rolled snowball. It stopped itself before it could become a menace and terrorize the village.

Gratuitous wintertime image

Gratuitous food image