And We're Back!

It's been an exciting few weeks full of drama, holiday celebrations, guests, and snow! I have a lot of catching up to do so I will start at the beginning and with the snow, because weather is the most exciting!

First, notice that I've switched the blog back to the old template. Sorry for everyone who liked the other one, but it was giving me a lot of trouble and didn't allow me to post my own banner (I have a new banner!). I'm attempting to bring some of the nicer features into this layout (like the larger images and cleaner text), so we'll see how it goes.

Ok, the beginning. Exhibit A:

He looks harmless, doesn't he? Don't be fooled. Meet Doug (only the hair and eyebrows are drawn):

Doug is the prettier side of what happens when your cat freaks out on you and chews your thumb. The back of that thumb is not suitable for all audiences, but let me just say that the nail is chewed through and there was a lot of blood. This resulted in a late-evening trip to Urgent Care and a round of antibiotics which was specifically not Penicillin-based because I'm allergic to all of those. Since most antibiotics are Penicillin-based, this was a bit tricky, but we found one.

When I was almost finished taking the antibiotics (I was literally on day 6 of 7), I woke up to a rash beginning on my stomach and slowly moving to my back. This reminded me of my reaction to Penicillin... so it was back to the doctor. By the time I got there the rash had spread and it was clear to the doctor that I was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotics. However, because the bite was still looking kind of bad and because it was on my finger (which are apparently prone to severe infection), I was prescribed yet another antibiotic (which really stumped the doctor since there are now two types of antibiotics I can't take) and an antihistamine. I was told to expect the rash to get worse before it got better. That was an understatement.

I spent a pretty miserable day trying not to scratch as the itchies spread all over my body, and I mean all over! Have you ever had a rash on your scalp? How about in your ears? The night was even worse and the antihistamine didn't seem to help at all. I hardly slept and decided to go see the doctor again the next morning. They took one look at me, because I now had a red and itchy face as well, and prescribed a second antihistamine and a steroid to help calm my body's over-reaction. It took a few days, but I finally started responding and everything settled down.

This all began about two weeks ago and I'm finally finished taking all of the medications. I'm feeling much better and beginning to use my thumb again, though I don't have full functionality yet. The rash is lingering a bit, but you can't see it anymore so that's good. We did not throw the cat out into the snow  and it was clear that he was truly sorry. Since he's so cute we're going to keep him a little while longer.

Which brings me to the snow!

It rained for most of Tuesday but turned to hail right around sunset.

There was an impressive accumulation of hail before it turned to SNOW!

My first snowball.

First snow dusting.

We watched as the snow started to collect on the balcony, then we went to check it out and discovered that it was pretty cold on our little paws.

It was Jake's late night at school so I had to drive to pick him up. I'm pleased to say that, while I drove about 20 mph the whole way there, my first time driving in the snow was a success! I did not kill anyone else, myself, or the car. By the time I got to the business school this is what it looked like:

It continued to snow during the night and I was so excited to see it in the light that I woke up at 6:30, got on my hiking shoes (yes, still no boots), grabbed the camera, and went out to take pictures. It was so incredibly beautiful, especially when the sun was coming up. I've never seen anything like it.

The reports said about 1-3 inches would fall, looks about right.

So lovely.

I took a walk to Mary Beth Doyle park and crunched through some snow on my way.

The park was magical in it's cover of white and it was completely silent except for the collection of geese and ducks that were trying to stay warm on the water.

A cold day to be a goose.

It was neat to see the change in the park. The first picture was taken on Monday, the second, on Wednesday.

The pavement was slick with ice and walking on it was like walking with shoes at the ice skating rink! So I took a few more pictures and headed home. It was getting pretty cold anyway.

At home the cat wanted to see the snow again, so we let him get his feet wet (and cold).

Kitten prints.

Snow accumulation.

Some of the snow melted during the day but a lot of it remained since we never got above 36°F. Most of the grass still has big patches of snow and there's a lot on the rooftops and cars. Today it is sunny again, but cold. We woke to "25°F, feels like 18°F" and frost. Yup, the snow had frost!

The high today is 37°F and we're supposed to have snow showers tonight. Snow again on Sunday and all throughout next week. Winter surprised us with it's abrupt arrival, but it seems to be the way the seasons change here. It's thrilling!

More posts soon about our Thanksgiving celebrations.

Happy December!