Winter storm Izzy

Here's a shout out to my friend Isabel, whom some call Izzy. We have a winter storm named after her! I waited until Monday morning to post this week because the prediction was for loads of snow over night and I wanted to share ours with you, especially those in sunny climates

Here is what greeted us this morning: 12 " on my snow board, but the drifts must be 16-20" for sure.

One of our sisters gave us a "fun" snow measurer. I put it in the inner courtyard where all could see it--however this is a high drifting area, too. I think the markings on the left may be at the 14-16" level!

Here's one of our many bushes, covered with heavy, wet snow. Note the windows and side of the house.

Here's a tree right outside the northeast door. Pretty scenes everywhere, if you can get to them.

And here's the path I had to shovel to even get to my snowboard, which you see on the right, after I dug it out of its 12" coverage. When I tried to open the door to get outside, it would only open about 6-7". I thought I was pretty clever to grab the shovel and step sideways a foot out the door and scoop the snow away with the shovel and keep opening it inch by inch. Finally got it fully open and saw the amount behind it--WOW!