Texas Snow Day

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.

For Texas anyway

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.

Tiny house in the snow

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.

What the…

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.

DO NOT LIKE
this is abuse

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?

Mom no

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?

Mom why

Mom stop

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.

mebbe I eats? WHY IT SO COLD?
mebbe I smoosh?
IT IN MAH NOSE

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.

10 thoughts on “Texas Snow Day

  1. The snow is very pretty, and honestly I’d rather have the snow then what comes after it… THE MUD! Or, what we often end up getting in mid Missouri, which is ice, and then days of alternating mud and frozen ground for weeks on end.

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  2. The snow looks nice! That is until you have to go out in it, then…not so much!
    On a side note, I love that doohickey on Henry’s rope halter! It looks handy for winter use of a rope halter so you don’t need to take off your gloves to put a rope halter on and off… where did you get one? What is it called?

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  3. Somewhat east of you, we got 4″ of snowfall, which is a record for this area. Some places just a little bit north of us got 6″. For a few hours we’ve had a thick layer of snow, which is so unusual to see.

    But really it was never below freezing, so as soon as the sun is out, it will go fast. Under that pretty top layer it is mush. Don’t have an indoor, so probably no riding for a few days while the mud dries out.

    I think most of the horses in this area have never seen snow before. Their startled looks when they come out of the barn are priceless! Mine was staring at the pasture with such a disconcerted expression, “wait who took the grass?” đŸ™‚

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  4. There was a surprise Christmas snowstorm when I lived in Houston in ’89. I rolled up the entire yard (into one snowball) and stuck it in the freezer so my roommates who were out of town could share the joy.

    Also rushing off to RW to order one of those thingys!

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  5. I’m in Colorado, so snow is part of winter here. I actually purposefully did a dressage session outside while it was snowing last week, entirely so I could work on the geometry of my circles! My horse lived in Kansas and Nebraska prior to me owning her, so she doesn’t mind: though she does love that I blanket her! She gets cold easily and has pretty much no body fat.

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