Mother Nature needs to CALM DOWN. Seriously.

Another day, another snow storm. Yup, beginning last night and ending...well, it hasn't ended yet...we've had another eight inches or so of snow. This is the snowiest December I've seen since I moved to Maine in 2000. And I've had enough. Mother Nature, would you PLEASE stop, already?

This was the front yard earlier today. I left the door open to my car to give you better perspective as to how deep the snow is. And remember: it settles over time.

Below is the most essential piece of winter clothing in Maine: The Bean Boot (as in L.L. Bean). The pair I'm modeling is rated to -20 below zero. It hasn't been that cold yet. Of course, winter doesn't actually begin until Saturday.

I had to venture out to a doctors appointment earlier today, and I thought my Southern friends and family might like to see what happens when they plow parking lots. That mound of snow behind the plow; see it? It's NOTHING BUT SNOW. One GREAT BIG pile of snow. And it wasn't the biggest pile in the parking lot, but I needed cars or something in the picture in order to give you a clear idea of how big it is. You could play a great game of "King of the Mountain" on that pile.

It felt like it was about time for a picture or two of the "boys," so here's Leo. He loves this weather. His coat is all nice and thick, and he just prances about in the snow. He must have been miserable down South before Hurricane Katrina displaced him and brought him to us.

Roscoe's not really enjoying it so much, but he muddles through. Literally, sometimes, as you can see by the coating of snow on his little face.

And this is the two of them, playing on the back deck. We shovel it every time it snows, so this is just today's accumulation, which I had already started to clear. As you can tell, we haven't really been grilling out lately.

That's all for now. Gotta go shovel!