This is how ugly the weather looked this morning - and actually, it was the brighter part of the whole day. It has been snowing and blowing like January all day. The snow came in squalls and with temperatures in the 20s, it was really cold when the wind blew.

I actually measured three inches of snow at 9 a.m. Then we got more snow, so I have no idea how much there is out there now - I was only out for a few minutes this afternoon. We went to the Danville Health Center for our flu shots. It seems seniors get a different dose this year than younger folks. Whatever that means. I guess we're more vulnerable. I sure hope we don't find out in a few weeks that this year there's a whole different flu strain that this shot wasn't designed to protect against.

With all this snow, I'm thinking back to last year and if I'm remembering correctly, we got snow early and it stayed. I foolishly opted not to wrap up my shrubs a couple days ago when the weather was mild, thinking this would just be a sprinkling of snow and it would all be gone in a day or so. But perhaps not. My poor shrubs may have to weather the winter without my help this year. Or maybe I'll just go out and stick stakes in the snow around them and wrap 'em up however I can - preferably when the wind has calmed down.

I was grumbling a bit as I cleaned the snow off the deck this morning. It all went well - like it was only a couple of weeks ago that I cleaned it off for the last time and was looking forward to  summer flowers. Sometimes the first real snow of the season is great fun - but not this storm. Too much snow, too windy and cold, and way, way too soon. What happened to our Indian Summer? Someone asked my yesterday when I thought the pond would freeze over, and I said probably around Thanksgiving. Just a wild guess, and I wouldn't put money on it, but today I'm thinking I'm probably right on! By now you've probably guessed I'm feeling just a little cranky tonight. And this time I absolutely blame the weather!