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LIGHTNING PHOTOS: My snow day

Davis Young snowboards as brother Drew watches.

By Bill Moss, Published: January 16, 2022

Roads are all but impassable here in Flat Rock so all I could do was walk with my assistant Callie (pictured) seven-tenths of a mile down Claremont Drive to Greenville Highway and back to make this report.

Not much progress on road clearing, understandably. The NCDOT is shorthanded because of vacancies and Covid. Who would want to drive in this snowmageddon anyway? It's a winter wonderland out here on foot but no place for humans in motor vehicles if you ask me. In other words, don't travel unless you absolutely have to, and then preferably in a motor grader or a National Guard vehicle with chains.

Callie and I encountered snowboarders Ben, Davis and Drew Young in the neighborhood. Ben and his two boys took advantage of the 10-inch snow to glide down one of our hills here. Imagine the powder at Cataloochee and Wolf Ridge ski slopes. Except ... how does one get there?

Elizabeth keeps watch over the bird feeders, which have been attracting capacity crowds since I first looked at them at sunup. Saturday afternoon I put up the heated birdbath Elizabeth got for Christmas — just in time. The bluebird and a goldfinch were the first to find it. We may be the only cafe in 200 miles that's offering free water!

At the time of this dispatch, sundown, the boy cardinal is closing down the saloon. For some reason, he's always the last customer. Oddly, we've seen zero squirrels today — and all you birdwatchers know what a menace the gray-coated varmints are when it comes to appropriated birdseed from the intended diners. I guess they hole up. If you're in a snowy clime like Minnesota does that mean squirrels don't compete with our feathered friends for the birdseed? No idea. Tell you right now, I'm not moving there to find out.

Thank goodness for the digital world and remote work place. We'll bivouac here in the Lightning's Flat Rock bureau and gather all the news we can about winter storm Izzy.

Enjoy the pictures!