The Winter That Wasn't

With a technically a month of winter remaining I know I'm asking for trouble from Old Man Winter making a statement like that. In defense of my title, this winter (so far) has been the most un-winter-like we have ever experienced in our 13 years of living in North Idaho.

Our house

The last two winters were the snowiest on record for this area since they have kept records. The the year 2008 we received over 300" of the white stuff because January 2008 and December 2008 were both record breakers themselves. But weather like that here doesn't make the news like it does when it happens back East . I guess the media just expects us to deal with it or that we are used to it.

The barely frozen pond

We when walking around our property last week end. Our pond is still barely frozen but there is no snow anywhere. It's weird walking the back acreage with no snowshoes on.

Ants

Check out this ant hill we found, covered with ants, in February! Robins are out and daffodils are poking through the soil in our front yard.

Emma atop of moss

The moss on some of the rock outcroppings is so green it looks like grass. Grass is starting to sprout in the cattle pasture. I saw an elk out there last night when I tucked the chickens in for the night.

I looked at the forecast for next week and they are predicting snow for us. But right now we are enjoying highs in the low 40's. I'll keep you all posted...didn't that groundhog see his shadow?