Snow and Pox

Just when we thought spring was on the way, Mother Nature laughed in our faces. Thursday and Friday brought non-stop, heavy, crazy-making snow to Hokkaido. Aaron and I spent a large portion of the past two days alternately shoveling and resting. Not much of a vacation for me, but at least I’m home with Aaron to help out. We worked for hours yesterday to clear the driveway and the front of the house. It’s really important to keep the snow off the windows. Between the two days of snow, I’m certain we received a minimum of four feet, probably more. It was very depressing to wake up yesterday and see that all the areas we had shoveled were now buried in another two feet of snow! We exhausted ourselves clearing the driveway and front of the house and were too depressed to even try doing the back. This morning, however, Aaron went around and attacked it. The sun was shining; I had taken Holt shopping with me, so Aaron was free to work while Ridge played in the house. This picture is of what the back of the house looked like before he got started. Smart man that he is, he walked down the street first and borrowed Nao’s (Mr. Usui) snowshoes. It made things much easier, he reported. Keep in mind a few things when you look at the picture. The building in the bottom right corner is our storage shed. It’s about seven feet tall, I think. It’s taller than Aaron, for sure. When Aaron took this shot, he was standing up on the snow. The window that you see farthest from Aaron is our kitchen window. From the outside, the bottom of the window is about level with my nose. As you can see, the culprit for all the snow here is the roof. Most of the snowfall that lands on our roof sheds here to the back of the house. I’ll be so glad when spring is really and truly here!

In addition to the snow, the Felkers have been graced with another exciting event: Chicken Pox! Ridge woke up this morning and said he wanted to show us something. He lifted his shirt and exposed several dozen red bumps that were reported as being itchy. When we considered that he had been coughing and had seemed a little sick for the past few days, we quickly concluded that he did officially have Chicken Pox. I’m glad to get it over with, but a little disappointed, too. Pre-school re-opens on Tuesday. Ridge and Holt will both be going, and the plan is for them to stay all day, giving Aaron a much needed break from childcare. Looks like Ridge’s first day of school will be a bit delayed. I fully expect Holt to miss the second or third week of school, too, as soon as he breaks out in red bumps. Ah, well, the excitement never ends!

Oh, and one more photo: this is the snow in the morning on the first day, from inside the entryway. Aaron had to climb out the back window and shovel his way to the front door.

First Day