Let it Snow...and snow...and snow...and snow...and snow.....

I remember the first time I moved to NJ (back in 1996). Coming from the Lone Star State, I expected NJ to be this really snowy place in the winter. I was sorely disappointed. I imagine some parts get a lot of snow, but not where we lived. Maybe a few inches here and there, and that would melt in a day or so. All the times I moved away (for college, a mission, marriage...) this state has managed to have decent storms, but all the times I've lived here it's been dry winters with an occasional storm. Until this year! We've now had 3 major winter storms with another one on the way. I actually love it (probably because I don't have to travel in it). It's made taking care of our rabbits a bit difficult, but other than that it's been great. The first storm happened before Christmas. We got 2 feet. This past Saturday (February 6, 2010) a huge storm blew in that dumped 18 inches on us and ruined our weekend plans. Oh well. The picture above and below are from that storm.

The good thing about having a big 110 lb Labrador is that we just let him plow his way around the yard and make trails, then we follow up with a shovel and have paths around our yard. The shed in the above picture is currently home to our mommy rabbit. I picked a heck of a time to breed her. She had 8 babies on the 1st of February. Yesterday we lost one that fell out of the nest box and died from exposure. We were all really sad.

The night of Tuesday, February 9, 2010 another storm blew in that came in 2 waves. About 4 or 5 inches fell from Tuesday night to Wednesday. I convinced Mr. N to stay home from school because the 2nd wave of the storm on Wednesday was suppose to be really bad. This picture was taken Wednesday evening during the worst of it. I'm not sure how much snow fell, but it was a lot (maybe 10-12 inches), and it was a WET, heavy snow.

The heaviness of the snow really compressed the rest of the snow down. It was neat to watch it fall. The lights started flickering on and off, but we never totally lost power, which was a blessing.

More of the storm on Wednesday, February 10, 2010. We shoveled intermittently throughout the day so we wouldn't have to tackle it all at once. I'm so glad Mr. N stayed home because the second wave of this storm was fierce, and most of the NJ transit trains too and from NY were shut down, meaning Mr. N would have been able to get to the city had he gone, but not been able to return home.

This is what things looked like this morning. Really beautiful. I think a lot of places have lost power, but we're okay.

See how high the snow is plowed up to that stop sign!

Here's our house. We parked the cars in the gate so we wouldn't get plowed in.

See poor Harper (our male rabbit) in the top picture. The snow has made his cage almost like a snow den, which is probably pretty warm. I love how the snow packed in the chain link fence.

So you might think our share of snow is over for the season, but we have another winter storm blowing in Sunday/Monday. Like idiots we plan on traveling down to Virginia around the storm so Mr. N can see his brother who just recently returned home from his mission in Albania. We're hoping the roads will be okay for us. This really has been some winter season. I'd love to make a tee-shirt that says something about the winter storms of 2010 and global warming. It's funny when the weather's unseasonably warm everyone is going on about global warming, but when things get cold and snowy like this everyone shuts up and waits for the next heat wave. It could just be that the earth goes through hot and cold cycles...much like a menopausal woman. The earth is old after all....