The Blizzard of '09 - Welcome to Iowa!

 

We have a good, old fashioned Iowa blizzard this week, the kind we used to have when I was a child. This is day two. Officially so far we have had 14.5 inches, although it isn't clear to me how anyone can be absolutely sure of that. There is so much wind that it is hard to tell what is coming down and what is being blown sideways.  All the highways are closed, but there is nowhere to go anyway. Wednesday, at least, has been canceled in Iowa. My husband was out taking pictures last night, but I believe that God gave us windows for such a time as this. The photo at right is the view from my living room, and I think it gives you a good idea of what it looks like here.

 This is a view of the world from my studio window. We added the room to our house about 23 years ago, and at the time I wanted north light for color clarity, so we have a bank of windows plus a skylight. Now I wonder what I was thinking. No matter how wonderful the window, how great the installation, it is cold in the winter when the wind blows. Even if it is all psychological, I would rather spend my time in some other room in the house.

The neighbors' "snowman" is almost buried by the real stuff. The wind whips his arms around, giving my dog something to bark about.

Speaking of dogs, they don't like this much either.  Larry had to shovel some snow off the deck this morning, just to get the door open for them to go outside.  Then he had to scoop a  path for them. They were grateful, but sure didn't stay long.  Barney usually loves bounding through the snow, but he hasn't been out much, except to bark at the snowplow -which seems to be the only vehicle running today. Button has a better idea...