Buried in snow

Bitter cold and snowy. That describes the beginning of 2010 in these parts, where we've had several inches of snow already and are expecting another storm to hit Thursday and Friday, dumping even more snow and bringing "sharply colder weather," to quote the weatherman.

"'Sharply colder weather?" I said. "Isn't that how we'd describe what we've been having a lot of lately?"

But, no, it turns out that this weekend in Ohio we will see temperatures of 5 degrees on Sunday morning and that's in the city. We, in the outskirts and to the north, will surely dawn even colder.

Oh, how I dislike January, especially given that there is so much of it!

Lizzy and Pepper, on the other hand, absolutely LOVE this weather and chase each other around in the four-inch-deep snow like it was grass, showing absolutely no discomfort or preference for being inside the warm house.

As my husband points out, I'm very lucky that my good Bronx-Puerto Rican friend has as crazy a dog as my own and that they get along so well. "Better than you two," my husband likes to say, even though I think we get along just fine.

The snowman above was courtesy of her and her son, who came to take care of Lizzy while my husband and I were traveling on the 1st and built what I think is a rather cool snowman. It's enough to cheer my January chilled heart every time I look out onto our lovely yard and all I see is a cold blanket of white.

P.S. My husband calls that photo he took of Lizzy and Pepper the "Dogs of (Snow) War." :)