When the weather folks first started murmuring last week about a Winter Storm heading to Texas, I didn’t pay it much heed. The Northern half of the state seems to inevitably get snow at least once every winter, but it’s not that common for any kind of real frozen precip to make far enough south to effect us. Especially not down where I am now, Southeast of Austin. You might get some snow every few years, usually a light dusting, and it may or may not actually accumulate at all. They didn’t seem sure of how south the system would go, and it had been in the 60’s all week leading up to Sunday, so… call me skeptical. But I’ll be damned y’all… it snowed. Like… SNOWED.

It started out as just rain for a few hours, and then slowly turned to a mix of sleet and snow before going all the way into big fat wet flakes. It was still 34 degrees and the ground was soaked so I wasn’t sure anything would actually stick, but sure enough it finally started to accumulate. It snowed pretty much all afternoon, and we ended up with about an inch of accumulation. Which probably sounds absolutely comical to you Northerners, but for down here it’s A LOT.

And in thinking about it, I realized that Presto has never really seen snow. No more than a dusting anyway, and from inside his stall at the boarding barn. So, while the horses were safely and snugly tucked into their stalls yesterday, I had to go get Presto out to see what he thought of the white stuff when the fat flakes started to fall.

He really thought he wanted to play in it. He really really did. And then he actually got out in it and the snow started hitting him in the face and he wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic.

After laughing at him for a few minutes I put him up and went back inside, and it just kept on snowing. For hours. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it snow that long here. Towards the end of the afternoon when there was more accumulation I got Presto out again. Maybe he’d change his mind when there was more of it on the ground and less of it hitting him in the face?

Okay maybe not. I had to take advantage of the ultra-rare opportunity to get pictures of him in the snow though. I mean, how often to we get that chance?

He just really couldn’t figure out what to make of it. Very weird cold stuff that isn’t even fun to eat. I don’t think he was impressed with this winter thing. Makes sense though, since he’s a giraffe. Summer is more his jam.

Henry, being from Arkansas, isn’t nearly such a stranger to the snow. He wasn’t impressed by it and seemed content to ride out the Texas blizzard from the comfort of his stall. I did get him out for pictures too though, because what kind of crazy mom would I be if I didn’t. This is the first time in the 7 years I’ve owned him that I’ve been able to get pictures of him in snow.

And naturally Henry is a professional. He knows how to pose for photos so he can go the hell back to his stall.

The snow started melting pretty much as soon as it stopped falling, and this morning it’s almost gone. Which, to be honest, is my preferred way to experience winter. The snow is fun and novel and all that, but one day of it was enough. Thanks for letting us borrow it, but you Northerners can keep the rest. We’ll be back up to 60 by tomorrow, as if nothing ever happened.