As I was walking home from work yesterday evening, I felt as if I were in a snow globe. Huge snowflakes fell, and the darkening twilight softened the usually harsh-looking street. It wasn’t really all that cold, which made the walk even more pleasant. We didn’t much snow, nowhere near the three inches they predicted (after they predicted no snow, then light snow, then no snow, then one to three inches). Shortly after the snow fell, the temperature must have dropped quickly because the snow froze and turned my footprints to ice. When I tried to sweep the snow off my ramp this morning, all I could remove was the top layer — the rest was solid ice. Needless to say, I’m not going anywhere until the ice melts.
I’m pleased that before this storm hit, I got some wildflower seeds planted, though I’m not sure if they actually are in the ground. The snows from early December finally melted — except where I wanted to plant the seeds, that is. Oddly, although the north side of the house doesn’t get sun in the winter, it gets too much sun in the summer, which is why the strip of grass died in that area. Fifteen hours of unrelenting summer sun is too much for many plants, which is why I want desert plants in the garden area on the north side.
Since the snow hadn’t melted, I raked it off the garden as best as I could — the snow had hung around so long, it had turned hard and icy, and didn’t want to go anywhere. Still, I got the area cleared as much as I could, tossed my seeds on the ground, and scraped the snow back over the seeds. If none of these come up, I have plenty more to plant closer to spring, but I’m glad about getting some seeds safely under the snow.
Considering how early severe winter weather came this year (last year, winter weather didn’t show up until winter actually came — most of December is fall, after all), it’s possible that we’ll also have an early spring. It’s just as possible, of course, that winter weather will continue way into spring. Either way, it doesn’t really matter. Around here, we can’t really plant anything until after May fifth since that’s supposedly the date of the last frost. (I say supposedly because there have been freezes after that day.)
Regardless of what happens, it’s good to know that one more chore — planting the wildflower seeds — is off my mind.
And yay! The sun just came out so perhaps I can go for a walk later after all. It will be good to stretch my legs, and besides, I’m due for some new library books.
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Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One. “Grief: The Inside Story is perfect and that is not hyperbole! It is exactly what folk who are grieving need to read.” –Leesa Healy, RN, GDAS GDAT, Emotional/Mental Health Therapist & Educator.
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