Grab a cup of coffee, because here in Moscow, Russia it is -15 C and going to be -25 C tonight. It has snowed for days and days and the worst is yet to come. Last night it was incredible as I walked Boza at 1:00 am. The wind was blowing and drifts everywhere as we tried to find a spot for him to do his doggy stuff. It was not easy and I have to admit that I am ready for spring. Winter is really long and with a taste of spring last week as the temperatures hit +2 C. We all got caught wishing too hard for spring and Old Man Winter slapped us in the face…
It has according to some sources, snowed around 120 cm in Moscow! That is about 4 feet of snow and in Moscow the snow never melts all winter. I counted 30 layers of compacted snow and ice today on a section of sidewalk, that they are cutting out as the temperature gets warmer. That means at least almost all the snow is still there from the first snow we had. If we ever got 12 feet of snow at a time like I have seen before in America, we would be in big trouble. For the damn snow never melts until April at the earliest. So from October to April we walk on elevated sidewalks on hard packed nasty, salty, sandy, dirty and slippery walks. I think it is pretty cool… 🙂
Boza spies another dog…
The photo above is interesting because you can not really tell how much snow is on the ground. I know by the cut off bushes on the right side of the path. They are definitely over waist high when the snow is gone. They are getting ready to disappear in the deep snow. The tallest metal fence pole on the left of the path is eye level at normal times. I have hung my coat and hat on it many times. The slide in the background is twice that height and it is hard to get a grasp on how tall the walkway we are on is above normal ground level…
I will tell you that picture is us walking on about a meter of packed sidewalk…
Then I found this wonderful natural made Snowman. The snow built it on a tree sucker that was growing out the base of the big tree…
Praying Snowman…
I loved it and it looks to me as he is praying with head bowed as he talks to god about all this snow that has fallen. I realized that the fork in that tree is normally around a meter off the ground and in this picture it is ground level. Now that is some hard packed snow, as you can walk all the way around the tree if you wanted to. The conditions had to be just right for the creation of this snowman by nature. I think it is just so wonderful and felt lucky to have gotten a snapshot of it before it was destroyed by people and dogs. You can see that dogs have already been checking it out…
I shook my head at the Russian bloggers and knew that we would get paid back for talking about spring. I learned a long time ago not to jinx yourself and keep the mouth shut when it comes to weather in Russia. I knew that with all the “It’s Spring! It’s Spring! It’s Spring!” stuff I was reading, that it was not a good thing. It is okay to be wishful, just don’t piss off “Old Man Winter!”
But hey! I got to take a picture of a really wonderful snowman and I am having a wonderful winter here in Russia, with my sweetie Sveta and my doggy Boza! What more could I ask for?
Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…