Tuesday, January 01, 2008

A Welcome Home Gift

I drove down my driveway last night when I returned from CA and discovered a welcome home gift. The gift was from mother nature and it wasn't even wrapped in fancy paper. It was chunks of ice covered with snow.

The ice fell from my roof and transformed the front of my house into a glacier. Their were chunks of ice that were 4 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 1.5 feet in depth. My walk to the front door was blocked with ice and snow. I was able to walk on top of the mound and jump on to my front porch. After donning my ski pants, snow boots, winter coat, hat and mittens, I spent the next 30 minutes clearing a path between my driveway and front door. It was waist high deep as I was shoveling.

I spent a good part of the day shoveling the snow and ice away from my front window. I could stand on the mound and touch my roof before I knocked it down a few feet.

So much for my enjoying the CA weather that I had become accustomed to. Thanks for the welcome home gift, mother nature, and reminding me of what winter is all about - snow, ice, and shoveling. Oh, by the way, it has been snowing all day and we got another 8-9 inches. It is suppose to get colder too later in the week. How cold? The highs will be in the single digits.









7 comments:

Darlene Sinclair said...

We do live in a winter wonderland this year! And although it is prettier from inside by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate, shoveling has merits of its own! Such great exercise - ;)

www.jean-e-oathout.blogspot.com said...

I'm glad for your time spent in CA. The winter here will no doubt be more real to you, a Northerner! I don't know when I've seen so much snow. I suppose I did in Vermont, many years ago. Glad you're back home safe!

Anonymous said...

I can imagine the sound of the ice sliding and hitting the ground would be deafening to your cats! Bet they were happy to see you.

Anonymous said...

You should have seen it in the morning, right after it fell. I mean, it was incredibly beautiful standing straight up from the ground like an ice sculpture, but I now can see why people are buried by the weight of it in avalanches. It was heavy and hard to budge.
If my neck allowed I would have shoveled more. Believe it or not, I crushed some of it down a bit!
The cats seemed unfazed. Shadow was perched safely on an indoor windowsill watching it all like he had no worries. Angel sat placidly near the door waiting for me to pet her. Catty must have been scared though because I saw his bloody pawprints in the piles that I had to climb over to get in!
Ice storms, snow storms, we survive it all by the grace of God.
I am always awed by the beauty of winter though. It is so pure.
This is in keeping with my view of God. There is the soft gentleness of His Grace and Mercy and then there is the solid ice of His righteousness and power.
There is always, always, always the beauty of Him before my eyes...
Michele

Anonymous said...

What a site to come home to. If that had been me coming home to that, I would have been tumbling around and probably would have ended up head first in the show and feet up in the air. I'm glad to see that you had an awesome time in California with your family. The pics were great.

Love you,
Nancy C.

Anonymous said...

Hey Laura,
Check out my blog at:
Alleluiabelle.blogspot.com

In Him,
Nancy Cady

Anonymous said...

I miss you and snow!!