“Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery.” — Bill Watterson

What a difference a day makes.  This is what it looked like out my bedroom window yesterday morning:

 
Every one of the trees against the fence is taller than the fence.  The poor tree behind the chair, flattened, is my beloved smoke tree.  It is about 1 foot taller than the fence.  I don’t think it will make it.

Before I left for work, I hastily sent a message out to the membership of our Airstream club — the Free Range Rally was cancelled.  I was filled with deep sadness.  When I got home from work, I called the clubhouse we rented for the event to cancel.  By late afternoon 25 cm had fallen.

As I was calling to cancel everything, I got an email message from Paul.  He had skidded off the road, but was fine.  Never, in all his years of driving, had he lost control.  The snow had been accumulating and blowing, yet there wasn’t a snow plough to be seen. 

While he was waiting to be pulled out by a tow truck, a Toyota Tundra hit the same patch, and ran off the road too, narrowly missing Paul by a few inches.  When he saw the truck heading toward him, he thought he was a goner.  Later, another car lost control near him.

Then, it was time to go outside and shake some trees.  Our Japanese garden is a mess.  Paul has been training a limb on the maple to spread over our patio.  The limb snapped.  

We can usually walk under the limbs of the maple, but only Poppy can fit now.  She’s the only one who found joy in all of this.   
This Evans sour cherry tree may survive; however, it had a shock this year already when we moved it a few feet to the left.  Look at how much snow is on the tops of the lanterns.

A casualty in the front garden:

  
The flamingo tipped over from the weight of the snow.

By this morning, 30 cm had fallen.  We broke a record that was over 100 years old.  It’s still snowing. 

However, the weekend is not a whole loss.  We might not be camping, but we are still going to hold some of our events for the rally for those who are here.  One family will be coming in from Alberta and they are going to have a sleepover at our house!  Mom, dad, 2 boys, and 2 big dogs.  We will have a great time!  Poppy loves her big boyfriend, Chester.  Chester is an enormous Labradoodle.  He looks more like an Irish Wolfhound.  Poppy will be ecstatic to see him.  He was the first friend she ever met when she came to live with us.  She met him at her first Airstream meet about 2 weeks after we got her.  Chester’s sister is 9 years old, but she just came to their family this past May.  I’ve mentioned Chester and Janie before in earlier posts.  Janie is a rescued Golden-doodle (or is it Goldenoodle?) She’s sweet and timid and having the best life imaginable since she found her new family!  Daisy and Janie have a lot in common:  sleeping, getting love, and living out their golden years.

 Daisy and Janie at the Dolls & Dogs campout in August.

There is always a silver lining when you own an Airstream.  I won much more than $1.20 when I met my Airstream friends.