My Icicles Are Bigger Than Yours

 Having grown up in Minnesota I tend to assume an expression of scorn when my Massachusetts neighbors complain about the winter blizzards.  "You call this snow?" I'd sniff.  "Back in Minnesota the snow was so deep we'd have to  go out by the second story windows."

But now it's official.  Worcester, MA has been cited as having the most snow of any city in the U.S. this winter--something around 100 inches since January 1st, last time I checked. 

By escaping to Florida  halfway through January, we cleverly missed most of the Blizzard of 2015 until now, coming back in time to experience the latest storm that ruined everyone's Valentine's Day plans and dropped another foot of snow on top of the  previous accumulation.

Here's a photo looking down at the stonewall-enclosed swimming pool.  That dimple in the middle is the diving board.  The drift against the back wall hides the rock garden and fishpond.  I'm not very optimistic that the fish will survive until spring--I'll let you know.

This is a photo of the pool from ground level.   At left you can see the backs of the plastic lounge chairs that I forgot to take inside in the fall.

Here's a photo of the front of our house that I took yesterday.  I used to wonder at the way that New Englanders never expect guests to come in the front door, but now I understand.  We use the side porch door as an entrance, and none of our neighbors have plowed out their front doors either.

Here's a photo of our house that I took today, after last night's blizzard.  You can see that the snow is deeper and that giant icicle at the left corner of the house is bigger.  Pretty soon it will reach the ground and be transformed from a stalactite to a stalagmite, I think.  This year I learned about ice dams and how they are responsible for the leak that's dripping into a bucket in one corner of the dining room.  Next year I'll know what to do to prevent them, but for this winter, it's too late.

And to make your day complete, here's the last photo I took in South Beach, Miami, six days ago.  Only five more weeks until Spring!