I've fallen a bit behind lately; it's been more than three weeks since my last post here.
Not coincidentally, it's also been just over three weeks since we brought home Charlie, the little ball of energy and fur who's been filling our days with the highs and lows of puppihood.
This past weekend brought more snow—a surprise in that the inch or so in the forecast ended up as nearly five inches of light, fluffy powder. Here's Charlie, now eleven weeks old, exploring his first snowfall:
And here's a look at Charlie and The Bean, getting ready to romp in the snow together:
And, ever resourceful, Thoreau came up with a good use for the cardbox box in which Charlie's crate was packaged—a surprisingly efficient homemade sled. (That's my boy!)
Talk about impeccable timing. Winter break for Thoreau and The Bean began with the end of the school day on Friday, December 18th. And, just a few hours later, the first of the snowflakes began to fall. And fall.
By the time we turned in for the night, our neighborhood was already feathered in white. By the time we woke up Saturday morning, it was an alien world cloaked in at least a foot of snow. And at the time this photo of our backyard and patio was taken, there were several more inches yet to fall. Our best guess at the final total was somewhere around 16 inches—maybe more.
Three-quarters of the way through the snowfallIt was almost too much of a good thing. The Bean, confronted with snowdrifts nearly up to her waist, could barely navigate the stuff—but was having the time of her life, nonetheless.
Shoveling the driveway took place in several passes over two days, but once I'd created a large enough pile, Thoreau had fun tunneling through it, as you can see here:
When we arrived in southeastern Maine for the week between Christmas and the New Year, it was strange to find it green, having grown accustomed to the white blanket of snow back home. But on New Year's Eve, it did snow—giving us a postcard-perfect glimpse of Green Acre as we left Maine and headed to Pennsylvania to ring in the New Year with my mother, brother and sister-in-law.
And while it was only a couple of inches, fresh snow greeted us there, too. On New Year's Day, The Bean set to work on the red-nosed reindeer, seen here:
Meanwhile, Thoreau and Gabby were hard at work building a snow fort from giant snowballs—and demonstrating just why kids sleep so well after a day spent playing in the snow:
The snow was all but gone when we finally returned home, but Thoreau discovered a bit of it preserved in this unique find—a "snow fossil" etched into the underside of his sled:
Of course, this winter wonderland was surpassed by the even bigger snow that fell in early February 2010, somewhere between 30 and 36 inches when all was said and done!
Sitting at the gate this morning, waiting for a flight from Nashville to DC, I had no idea I'd be spending the afternoon playing in the season's first snow with Thoreau and The Bean. But a quick check on my iPhone revealed a forecast of 4 inches of snow back home—and the real-time weather cam showed trees, streets and rooftops already being dusted with snow. All of which heightened my anticipation of this first, and unexpected, snow of the season.
The DC region seems to perpetually hover near the rain/snow line, often producing soft, wet snowfalls. And today, we had at least 5 inches of the well-packing stuff, a fairly prodigious output for this part of the mid-Atlantic—especially while we're still in the tail end of autumn.
Even before I joined them, Thoreau and The Bean were turning our front yard into a wintry statuary, including an IKEA-esque snow chair and a collection of "Snowhenge" monuments. But the real fun began when we set out to build a tower of rounded blocks which, halfway through construction, changed course and became an igloo of sorts.
Shortly before dark, we finished our work—giving Thoreau and The Bean just enough time to cozy up in it, and giving Bliss just enough light to snap this photo of them warming up inside:
The Bean and Thoreau enjoy the result of an afternoon's work
Monday, February 1, 2010 at 10:40PM 
