All Covered Up!
“Blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sins are covered.”
Psalm 32:2 NIV
A
few days ago we received the first good snow this winter, with about
4 inches of fresh powder. It was a peaceful feeling to wake up to a
white world, the ground covered in a heavy blanket of snow, trees
flocked, rooftops glistening and mounds of it on poles, doorknobs and
window sills. With the sun just coming up, everything looked serene
and beautiful! What a contrast to the bleak, barrenness of the
landscape just the day before.
For
once, the constant sound of traffic on the nearby busy road was
muffled. It was convenient that the snow had come late Friday night
because most people stayed indoors the next morning, giving snow
plows and salt trucks better access to the roads.
Our
two dogs seemed overjoyed when they raced outside onto the snow
covered driveway. While
they were investigating their new surroundings, shrieks and laughter
came from somewhere close by. The two young girls who live next door
were out in their backyard, bundled up in heavy clothes from head to
toe, furiously making and throwing snowballs. The target of their
bombardment? Rey, their cute Goldendoodle!
Rey
seemed to understand the game, running between them and around them
in circles, dodging their powdery missiles while barking loudly at
the girls! It was very entertaining to watch—from the vantage point
of the inside of a nice warm house.
Of
course, there was the other side to this weather event...causing some
inconvenience and disrupting the normal flow of life. It didn’t
take long before the sound of snowblowers could be heard around the
neighborhood. Andrew, the girls’ father, was also out and about,
shoveling off his driveway so that he could drive his marooned car
out of the garage.
When
Al looked out the window and happened to see what Andrew was doing,
he hurried to get ready, wanting to help out with his new snowblower.
Hardy Andrew was bareheaded, wearing earphones and listening to music
while shoveling. He told Al that he needed the exercise and had left
his snowblower in the garage on purpose. But Al pitched in anyway,
clearing out the sidewalk in the front of both of our houses as well
as the two driveways.
It
wasn’t easy work, dragging and pushing the snowblower to clear out
a path on the walkway to the house in addition to all of the rest.
Gusts of wind made things even more difficult by sometimes causing
the rooster tail shooting out from the snowblower to come back in his
face. He spent a lot of time outside in the frigid weather and when
he finally called it quits, was tired, wet and cold. The warm winter
hat given to him by a Springville buddy was nearly covered with snow.
Four
days later most of the state was hit by an ice storm. The landscape
was still white; however a freezing rain coated everything with a
layer of ice. Due to dangerous conditions on the roads, schools were
closed and ice on the runways forced the closure of the Detroit
Metropolitan Airport too.
No
snowblower was needed this time, but Al still had to get out the snow
shovel to scrape off walkways, very much aware of the hazard of black
ice. And the dogs were in for a surprise when they went outside for
their morning run and slid across the driveway, legs going every
which way! They quickly learned to stick to the edge where the
concrete was more slushy than icy.
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