The Blizzard Continues

First, it was a blizzard watch. Then, it was a blizzard warning that was supposed to end at 8:00 last night. Next, it was extended to 8:00 this morning. Now, it has been extended to 7:00 tonight, and we have been advised to stay off all secondary roads in Houghton County and Keweenaw County through the weekend and into Monday afternoon. 

The house is dark today, as we're not getting a whole lotta light through our windows.

This is the window in the shower.

Here's the window above the kitchen sink. The BBQ grill is still under there somewhere.

This is the window on the enclosed back porch - next to the back door. 

That should give you an idea of how high the snow was in front of the back door this morning. The top half of the screen door is window, and the snow was half-way up the window.

As the snow continued to pile up against the back of the house last evening, we were a bit concerned about Cocoa and wondered how she was doing in her dog house. Past experience has taught us that she does what people do in the midst of a blizzard. She hunkers down and doesn't leave her house. It was impossible to get the back door open at all yesterday, but we tried not to worry about her.

About 1:00 this morning, I thought I heard Cocoa bark - just twice - but it sounded like she was near the front corner of the house. Hmmm, not where she's supposed to be. Did she get over the fence? 

I listened for her to bark again, but she didn't. Unable to rest after that, I got up and tried to peer out the windows. You can imagine how well that went. Our front window in the living room has been without a view for weeks now,

but there's a little gap between the house and the snow - just big enough that if I crank my neck around, I can see part of the front steps.

I turned on the outside light. Hmmm, if Cocoa was out there, I couldn't see her. I really hoped she was back in her doghouse. Once again, I tried not to worry and went back to bed. 

Steve was up early this morning. He knew he had a big job ahead of him today. When he made his way outside, he noticed that the snow depth on the driveway varied from knee high to chest high! Then, he noticed some faint tracks in the snow near the garage. He went around the corner and noticed the side garage door was open. Guess who he found inside?

Hi, Cocoa here. I hijacked this blog post to tell you the story from my point of view.

It's true that I do normally hunker down during a blizzard, but I can only hold my bladder for so long. Eventually, a girl's just gotta go. So, I dug my way out of my doghouse in the middle of the night to do just that. The only problem was that it was easier to get out than to get back in. So, I walked over the top of the fence and barked a couple times outside Mom & Dad's bedroom. I didn't think they heard me, so I figured I would just move into the garage for the night. I already knew how to open the door, as I let myself in there a lot when I'm outside with Dad when he's shoveling. After I let myself into the garage, I didn't shut the door again, so snow was coming in the door all night. Oh well. I curled up on a mat in the back corner of the garage and went to sleep. That's where Dad found me this morning. I was worried when I first saw him, because I know I'm not supposed to be out of the backyard, but he wasn't even mad! He said I was a good girl. He shoveled and shoveled until he could open the back door and he fed me on the enclosed porch and let me hang out there a while. That's when Mom saw me. She wasn't mad at me either! She told me how smart I was and said I was a good girl, too. Whew! The best part of having a blizzard? Dad spent a lot of time outside with me today. I played while he shoveled.

Yep, that's the fence I walked over!

The next two photos show the snow in front of my doghouse today.

Dad had to dig it out for me again. Here's a side view of it after he cleared the snow away from the door.

Well, the sun is out now, so the worst of the blizzard appears to be over. Life is always an adventure in the Keweenaw, but Mom & Dad say that I've proved myself as a real Yooper Dog!

All is well in the Keweenaw.