Twas the day before Thanksgiving… a snow storm was on the way to the mountains.
David and I both had to work. We were going to be driving outside of the edge of the storm to work, where there was hardly any threat of accumulation. When we left for work in the truck in the pouring rain. We feared if we were to take the car we wouldn’t be able to get back on the mountain upon our return.
FLASHBACK:
We actually got snowed off the mountain one evening last winter. The weatherman had said the snow would start well after we had gotten home that evening. Turns out that weatherman was wrong (What else is new?). It started snowing before we could get home. When we reached our road at the bottom of the mountain, Magoo (our commuter car) wanted no parts in climbing a mountain in the snow.
We called our neighbor to see if our road was being plowed and hadn’t been worked on at the bottom yet. He did not know, so we decided to park the car at the park down the road and walk. His Royal Highness was awaiting our arrival and had the crock pot going all day. Supper was ready too! We had to get to the house no matter what. As we began to walk down the snow-covered road, a man stopped his truck to see if we needed a lift. We told him where we were going and he agreed to take us up the mountain.
What a good Samaritan he was. Not only was he going to attempt to take us home, risking the chance of a potential accident, but he didn’t even live up our part of the mountain. As we began to make the climb up, our neighbor called. He was coming down after us! I told him we were just about up to where he was and to wait there for us. Being that our driveway is very difficult to turn around in on a clear day, we had the good Samaritan drop us off in a place easy for him to turn around. It was only about a few hundred yards for us to hoof it to reach our neighbor who was waiting to carry us the rest of the way.
We thanked the kind man who generously took us up the mountain. David even tried to pay him, but he refused. We walked up the snow-covered road and met our neighbor who was waiting with his vehicle. He dropped us off at our driveway and then went back home. Had it not been for the good Samaritan or our wonderful neighbor, it would have taken us quite a while to climb the mountain in the snow. Thank goodness for those two men! That will not happen again. Any threat of snow and we will be taking the truck!
Flash Forward:
While at work I kept an eye on the radar and cleared the weather alerts from my phone a hundred times. I looked at some of the social media sites to keep in touch with what was happening back home. My neighbor posted a video showing the snowfall. In 4 ½ hours the rain had switched to snow and by 10:00 a.m. there was about 4 inches of snow on the rail of his deck. Outside at work, it had only begun to mix and change over to snow.
Fortunately, David and I both got to leave early for the holiday that afternoon. When we left work, it was snowing hard and it was just beginning to stick. Even though David offered to drive, I refused to let him. After our accident near Bull Run, I feel like I am more in control and prefer to drive myself. David would have to sedate me to have any sanity on the way home anyway.
As we drove further west towards the mountains, the ground got whiter and whiter, but the roads were clear. It was almost 70 degrees two days prior and the ground was still really warm, our saving grace!
We reached the bottom of our mountain and locked the truck into 4-wheel drive to make the climb.
The road had not been plowed in a while. The trees limbs hung low due to the weight of the accumulating snow. Some even brushed the top of the truck as I drove under them. The snow in the road was a bit slushy and the truck got good traction all the way up without slipping.
We had almost reached our house when three turkeys crossed the road in front of us. I was beginning to think that may be the only way we would get a turkey on the table for Thanksgiving.
I pulled into the driveway and eased down the hill there were about 6 inches of snow!
Luckily we made the right decision and left Magoo at home! He would have never been able to climb up the mountain in the snow.
The temperature was right at 30 degrees and was supposed to drop that night.
We made a fire and I couldn’t help but go outside in the snow for a few pictures while it was still light. I can’t help it, I love the snow. It makes me feel like a little kid and it is so pretty!
We would have to wait and see how things were in the morning light before we knew if we would make it to my mama’s for Thanksgiving.
Every year, we go down to my mama’s house for her Thanksgiving feast. I have had mama’s food every year for Thanksgiving since birth. Not going home for Thanksgiving would have broken my heart. She’s 73 and still does all of the Thanksgiving cooking herself. She is really something else! I only hope I can cook and do half of what she does at her age.
We woke up Thanksgiving morning to a thick fog that blanketed the mountain. You could hardly see past the deck rail. We decided to wait for the fog to burn off before attempting to leave. The same turkeys we saw crossing the road the evening before made another appearance in our yard at the edge of the woods. They were lucky snow turkeys I guess…
The fog began to burn off slowly and by the time we left the roads were clear.
We arrived late for my mama’s awesome cooking. Fortunately, we got to see the whole family and my sister-in-laws parents, who we had not seen in a long time. We had a great Thanksgiving with family.
Friday, David went hunting and I relaxed and visited with my mama. We returned home that night to find that the snow was still laying on the ground. I guess this winter is going to be as bad as they are predicting because we have already gotten our first snow. Oh well, we will take it as it comes. If we moved up on a mountain and didn’t see snow we would be mad.
His Royal Highness begged for his Mema’s turkey. He loves that stuff!
I hope everyone had a safe and blessed Thanksgiving as we did.
DesignsbyJeanneR says
Good gracious, woman…stay warm & safe! Give HRH a kiss for me, what a doll he is!
Debbie Spivey says
Will do, Jeanne. He isn’t as sweet as he looks though…lol! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
DesignsbyJeanneR says
That’s the the thing about cats…they only LOOK sweet!
Debbie Spivey says
😉
Colleen says
Glad you made it to your Mom’s for Thanksgiving and that His Royal Highness got a little bit of turkey. Brenna has been snacking on her leftovers for the past few days. Thanksgiving must be the happiest time of the year for kitties!
Debbie Spivey says
Thanks! Definitely turkey love in the air. 🙂
dorannrule says
Your deck looks like my deck and your part of the world looks like mine too. Are we neighbors? What a harrowing story! And I’m like you too about snow. I get so excited…… maybe because I grew up in Florida? Great shots of the snowy road and the lucky turkeys!
Debbie Spivey says
Thanks for the kind words.We live outside of Front Royal. Can almost see the Northern entrance to Skyline Drive from our house. 🙂
dogear6 says
Too funny! I didn’t realize you guys were so close to each other either – well, both on the western edge of Virginia that is near the Shenandoah. It was cold here in Richmond, but no snow thankfully.
dorannrule says
We are just outside Lexington, Virginia and can see the Blue Ridge from our deck….
Anna Buckley says
Fabulous pics Debbie. At 8pm last night in Melbourne, Australia it was a sweltering 90 degrees…..
Debbie Spivey says
Wow! That’s hot!!
Chitra Jagadish says
Lovely pics… glad you made it to your momz place.. cute kitty. .. 🙂
Debbie Spivey says
Thanks, Chitra!
"Cheffie Cooks" says
Wow Debbie, the Roads look so narrow and no guard rails, Yikes!! Glad you made it to your Mama’s- how far away is she from you? All’s well that ends well. Cheryl
Debbie Spivey says
The trees are the guard rails…lol! Mama is 3 1/2 hours south east as long as there is no traffic.
"Cheffie Cooks" says
HaHa-dang better not look down or away while driving or else you’ll be over the mountain! I did not know your Mama was quite that far from you-but accessible not like 8 hour trip one way. I hope you both have a good week!
Your Fl. Bud, Cheryl
Debbie Spivey says
Thanks, Cheryl. You too!! 🙂
Andria A says
Great photos! Good thing you guys have a truck! Does your snow accumulate throughout the winter or does it fall and melt several times before spring? I thought it was always warm in Virginia…that’s where you are right?
samuelwthomas says
So glad all worked out well in the end. Stay safe and warm!
Samuel
Debbie Spivey says
Thanks, Samuel! Hope you have a great week! 🙂
Patrons of the Pit says
Good stuff. Classic. Those kind of holiday breaks often go down in the memory banks as some of my fondest, I think. Something about the ambiance of a big snow fall, and extended leisure that I quite enjoy.
I also like the name Magoo for a commuter car! You guys have too much fun!
Debbie Spivey says
Definitely one to remember for sure. Hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving also and didn’t over do it too much…
David named the car, because it reminds him of the cartoon character. Speaking of too much fun, if I can ever figure out how to use the movie software on my computer I am going to share our 2nd Annual Pumpkin Roll!! I have it ready, but need to figure out how to save it so the file size isn’t astronomically large. Stay tuned…
Patrons of the Pit says
Sounds like fun! I think you just need to save it as an Mpeg1, Mpeg2, or Mpeg4 file. AVI files are ginormous. But one of the mpeg ones ought to squish the file size down a tad. I dunno. Just my first thoughts. I could be way off too. I mostly just eat meat….
Debbie Spivey says
Well that probably explains why a 2+ minute video is 17gigs!!! Thanks for the tip kind meat eater!
Amanda says
Wow. Beautiful photos!! Thanks for sharing. We used to have wild turkeys in our house growing up too. It’s so cool to see. What a storm!
Debbie Spivey says
Thanks for stopping by, Amanda. I believe we have seen these turkeys on and off for the past two years now. Guess they like life on the mountain, no matter what it brings! 🙂
dogear6 says
I enjoyed the photo essay – you did good getting the pictures and putting it together in a story. I laughed at Dor’s comment, because I felt the same way when I looked at it. My thought was how far away does Debbie actually live because that looked awfully familiar. And it was.
I love the cat pictures! I had Siamese for years. One of them looked just like yours – the other two, not quite so much. I miss them, but with a miniature pinscher as a lap dog, I don’t need cats for the time being. Nothing like a Siamese though to point out how insignificant we are. They have enough attitude to fill the room up!
Nancy
Debbie Spivey says
Thanks for stopping by, Nancy! I love Dor’s posts and she isn’t too terribly far away either.
HRH is not a full blood Siamese. Can you believe that? He had two brothers, one black and one black and white. He looks like his mother did and her mother was black and white. I had a Maine Coon (not full blooded and HRH’s great-great grandmother) I always said it was in her blood line. Each generation’s litter of kittens had strange markings. You would never know he wasn’t a full bred Siamese. ATTITUDE!! 🙂