Snowcats

When I call Mama and Daddy on Sundays, I usually report on what the cats have been up to, there not being much else to tell of late. Mama told me I'm lucky we have the cats. That and the weather give me something to talk about. At least I don't have bad news to report!

She also asked how much snow we have on the ground. I wasn't sure, and it is coming down again today. They are saying we will have picked up another four to six inches by the time it ends tonight.

Of course, we have had a handful of warm days in the 30's and some has melted. The snow at the end of the sidewalk by the garage where Tom has shoveled and piled it up is about shoulder height on me. Some of the pink flamingos are completely covred and others have only a tiny spot on the top of their heads above the snow.

I just tried to go out into the middle of the yard to poke a stick down and see how deep it is, but the snow is piled too high around the drive and walk to be able to get out there. I leaned out as far as I could and got a measurement of about two feet right now. I suspect if I could get to a place in the front where there is no tree cover, it would be more like two and a half feet deep. On the deck it is about a foot and a quarter, but Tom shovels it and it melts there much faster, so that is no indication of how much we have had, either.

One friend called about something else and mentioned that she had planned to ski today -- but there was too much snow!

The Tao Te Ching says that the one who knows he or she has enough, is rich. Well, I know that when it comes to snow, I've had enough.

Tom says the record total snowfall for a year here was back in 1950-1951: 77 inches. I don't know where we are compared to that thus far. Madison has already broken their record.

To show you how much we like extremes, the highest temperature recorded in the state of Wisconsin was here in Wisconsin Dells in July of 1936 -- 114 degrees. In July of 1993 the Baraboo area got seven (7) inches of rain in one hour. But we mustn't complain. The highest snowfall for one season was up in Iron County in 1996-1997: 277.7 inches -- more than 23 feet!

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That's not one of our cats, but it sure looks like Cassidy.