After the snow storm

Well, we survived the worst of the big storm that blew up from the SW and dropped snow on our western Michigan location. Granted, we were inside for the most part babysitting kids, but we could see the grand amount of snow falling all night Monday, and practically all day Tuesday. That called for me to get busy again shoveling the snow from the driveway and sidewalks. Using the edge of the snow shovel, I cracked several frozen parts of ice that was over an inch thick and more!!vehicles just get in the way

We cranked the car and moved it onto the cement overflow off the driveway. In such snowy areas such as Michigan, vehicles are not allowed to be parked on the street since plow and salt trucks need 
to move freely around neighborhoods and main roadways quickly, and for that to happen smoothly, cars are not to be parked on the streets. Sounds like a good idea to me, but unlike New York state, there are NO signs posted about this here; I guess they expect everyone to know, but what if you aren't from the area?

Our poor but bright red minivan resting in the chilly street

Yes, that is about 4-inches of white stuff!

Monday we took a short walk around the neighborhood, and on a snow-covered trail, we heard birds and later saw the birds too!! Of the three types of birds seen, one was a bird we haven't seen ever, being a Northern Flicker (Yellow-Shafted) which makes it a tiny bit different from any of the other usual Northern Flickers! If anyone is interested, I'll put up a picture! 

In the meanwhile, here is a picture snapped at just about the spot we saw that bird! I love Winter and its stark landscapes and scenes of overlying whites. It's so tranquil and abstract in its own way, but Nature does that!

Unretouched S5 image of the trail