Blizzard of Oz

That's what they're calling the storm we had yesterday and the day before. I've also heard "Snowmaggedon." They closed down the interstate highway all the way across Missouri because of whiteout conditions. It was incredibly windy, cold and snowy all at once. I stayed inside, with a cat lapwarmer.

This morning I went out to see if there was a newspaper. Nope.

There also wasn't a sidewalk or a set of steps down to the street. We had around 12 inches (about 30 cm) of snow. Not much for some parts of the country--that's what I found on my rental car last Thursday morning in Massachusetts--but a lot for here. As I write this I can hear a car spinning its wheels in the effort to get up the hill. As most have done all day, it will have to slide backwards to the bottom of the hill and try another way.

Did I mention those high winds? The snow was blown around in beautiful patterns.

This is in the back of my house, after some of the snow has begun to melt--not sure how, as it's tremendously cold, but the icicles don't lie.

So now we have a sunny day, and a small puffy-headed alien in the backyard. Happens to everyone.