Beauty in the Blizzard

We had quite the snowpocalypse in the Midwest over the last couple weeks.  I don't know official snowfall totals, but on Thursday, February 21, we got around 10 inches, and the following Monday night into Tuesday, we added another 10 on top of it.  One storm with 10 inches is a lot for our area.  Two within a week?  Ridiculous.  Both were accompanied by some wind, so we had some impressive drifting.
The first one had wind from the east - so weird.  In all the time we've lived here, I only remember one storm that we got wind from the east - almost all of our storms come from the west.  So we reversed the swing of our back porch door last spring, so that the west winds wouldn't grab it and bend the bar on the screen door.  Yeah, almost all the windy days have been from the east since then, so it's already bent.
Anyhow.  Oh look, a chicken......
The east wind caused some drifting in places we haven't had it, including inside the house.  I didn't get photos of it, but somehow it came in around our sliding door, and also around the window in the boys' room.  That bothers me.  Wondering how much the wood is rotting out from other moisture that's coming in....

Halo 4 in the "just in case" bag.....
Obviously, he was so disapointed to
have to spend the night with Josh.

And of course, Paul was working during both blizzards.  The first one started just as he was leaving for work that morning.  By the time Paul's dad headed home from working nights (they work at the same place), the roads were a mess, and he ended up in the ditch on the interstate, only a couple miles from our house.  After 3 hours of waiting for a tow truck, he was informed they couldn't get out.  A man from our church went and got him in his big pickup and deposited him on our doorstep.  By the time Paul got off work, it was winding down, but our roads weren't cleared enough for him to make it home without getting stuck.  He slept the night on a friend's couch who lives near his work, and then got home early the next morningThe second snowstorm, Paul knew he'd get snowed out again.  Unfortunately, when it came time to leave, it hadn't started yet, so he couldn't use the excuse that he couldn't get out.  He left Monday night, and then didn't get home until Wednesday morning.  Work knew people wouldn't be getting home, so they brought in some mattresses.
I took some photos.  (A lot, but these are just some of them.)

Nice drift across the deck.  The boys HAD to go out and play in it.  It took longer to dress them than they lasted outside.

Paul only made it about 6 feet in the driveway before getting stuck.  Oh well - home is home!

It got downright cold.

But that frigid morning caused some gorgeous hoarfrost.

Daddy started an awesome snow fort while the boys were napping.

But the boys slept so late that it got dark while they were finishing it up.

We are so fortunate to have generous neighbors that will dig us out.

Somewhere during the blizzards, this bloomed inside!  I bring my gerberas in at the end of summer, but none have ever bloomed over the winter.

Nathan wanted to play outside, and I merely suggested he shovel the walk.  He did the whole thing, and did an AWESOME job for a 5-year-old.  I can't brag on him enough!