BEAUTIFUL SNOW IN EAST TENNESSEE

Last night was an interesting night weather-wise.  As usual, the weather forecasters missed it again.  I was working on the computer at sun down when the power went out.  Ten seconds later the wind started blowing very hard and was associated with a very loud roar.  I figured this was it.  I'm not kidding.  I haven't heard wind like that since I lived in Greenback which is tornado alley.  I grabbed a light and ran out on the porch to view a virtual whiteout.  The snow didn't bother me at all but, the wind had all the oak trees bent over at a very precarious angle.  There was nothing to be done about it but go sit on the couch and share the darkness and the sounds of the wind with the dogs, who sat on each side of me with Happy on my lap.  They were stressed out.  The wind eventually slackened but kept roaring at a lesser amount all night.  Morning found the snow still falling and the wind blowing at around 20 miles per hour.  

 The snow accumulation was minimal here in the valley but, it does cause huge problems on the roads so it's a big deal.  The boats and trucks in the driveway were decorated in a mantle of white.  The ground and woods were really pretty.

Good grief!  The bird feeders were empty and my flying little friends were flocking around the feeders and scratching on the ground through the snow.  I let em down so, the first task I would accomplish this morning would be to fill all the feeders for them. 

 There are even birds scratching on the ground.  I hurried and filled the feeder below.

This amount of snow poses no intimidation to me at all, as I grew up and lived most of my life in Pennsylvania.  I took off in the truck for a short drive.   So - you think you got a tough life?  Look closely at the house below.  That's a tough life:

 Life throws some real bad curve balls sometimes.  That being said - lets continue to send billions of dollars and jet planes that cost $50,000,000 a piece to Egypt.  They need the help.  We'll all be OK, especially in Appalachia.

  I drove the back roads to the lake in order to avoid traffic.  It can't be done over here.  There was always someone on my bumper.  Push, push, push.  I did drive one side road where I didn't have to deal with another car.  The scenery was really nice but, my drive was already tarnished by the people in a rush that just had to get to wherever before the wherever disappeared from the planet.

The little shacks and old barns that sit hidden behind trees back in the woods were highlighted by the new fallen, white snow.  They're contrasted shapes attracted my attention immediately. 

 I eventually came out near Walter's Bridge that crosses the French Broad River.  The boat ramp was frozen solid with ice.  No one was going down that ramp this morning - rather, if they got down to the water, they weren't coming back up to the top.

Finally, I took a shot of the rich, brown mud banks of the French Broad, now covered in white camouflage to hide the ugliness.  Even the purity of white snow can't hide that wretched shoreline.

This would have been a fantastic morning to put the canoe in at Abrams Creek and paddle through the falling snow but, it's too far away now and there's no place around here for that activity.  Guess I'll dig up old photos from years ago when I did paddle Abrams Creek on Christmas eve in a beautiful snow fall.  That's why I take photographs.  See ya.