Snow only the beginning.

Shoveling the one inch or so that fell overnight proved ineffective. But then a roaring south wind driving heavy rain on a rising thermometer took over where we left off, and we were down to bare pavement.

Pax and I walked a truncated loop today, stopping by the post office on our way. I had on my waterproof coat, hat, and gloves; Pax went more au naturel. Arriving home eventually (due to still slippery walking conditions) I remained dry except for my jeans, while Pax, poor fellow, was a dripping, soggy, semi-frozen mass. Fortunately, after a good toweling followed by a good nap in the easy chair by the fake wood-burning stove, he was right as rain.

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Here's excerpt from a marvelous poem: Tennyson's Ulysses. Great at any time, but increasing in value the older one gets.

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ULYSSES

It little profits that an idle king...

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...There lies the port: the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me
—That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honor and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs:
the deep moans round with many voices.
Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,
— One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.