And it's still coming down!

Our historic "blizzard of 2010" is slowly winding down, but we don't even need those last few inches to make this an amazing experience! I'm not sure what the final snow amount will be for our area (I heard 30 inches quoted for Laurel, which is nearby), but I'm pretty confident this snow is deeper than the 20-inch storm we had our first winter in Laurel.

Note: for some reason, the pictures are not formatting the way I'm used to. I apologize for the awkward layout, but hopefully you will be able to tell which text goes with which pictures!

This picture gives an idea of how the snow was coming down earlier in the day. Note the downed tree in the background: the wet snow on its branches was just too much for it!

Esther's zipper on her snowpants is broken, and Tim doesn't have any snowboots, so we improvised. Behold, the plastic bag gang! (Esther did put a coat on over this getup before going out in the cold.)

The mound of snow to the left is a car. You can just see the side mirror sticking out.

Here is Tim shoveling out our car. He commented that this is the kind of snow where you have to uncover the license plate first, to make sure you're digging out the right vehicle!

The snow is up to Tim's knees! Esther doesn't sink in as far.

This snowdrift (next to the steps leading up to our entrance) is higher than Esther's head!

I don't know if you can really tell in the picture, with the different levels of white snow all blending in to each other, but the actual snow level was somewhere above Esther's waist. She is standing on the sidewalk, which had been cleared by a snowblower earlier in the day (and subsequently accumulated several more inches).

This is a picnic table.

The way the snow stayed on the top of the fence was both fascinating and lovely!