Hidey Holes and Snow

The North wind doth blow and we shall have snow, 
And what will poor robin do then, poor thing? 
He'll sit in his barn and keep himself warm 
And hide his head under his wing, poor thing. 

  ~Traditional :: Enki Grade One

In the spirit of "The Four Friends" math story from Enki, we took our turns at playing Minnie Minus.  In the story, she saves bits of food all Winter to share with her little friends, leaving the goodies in "hidey holes." Paddy Plus and Max Multiply find them and begin to bicker, one stuffing himself silly while the other picks them up by tens.  It is Dominick Divide who straightens everyone out and proclaims "an equal share for every hand," thus introducing the four math processes.

We took our Autumn stockpile of hickory nuts and scattered them at the bases of trees and in little hollows here and there.  It took a few days for the squirrels to find us out, but they made quick work of the gallon or so of nuts we put out, including the pile that was accidentally dumped by our front walk.  I would love to see where they have hidden them!  I'd like to think it was a real treat, since we have no hickories of our own.

The snow is pouring down today, "heavy" as the forecast described it.  We have had many dustings this year, many flurries, but not so many inches of snow.  It is good to see the air filled with snow as I sit here.  You can see my little helpful elf clearing off what snow he can reach. 

This Winter, with its false Spring and other surprises, seems to go on.  Snow could easily come for another month, or not.  Some things are starting to leaf out and the dogwood buds are opening, perhaps in time for Easter.  I'm supposed to go out to the post office today, which of course falls on a snow day, but maybe it will prompt us to take in the sights.  It sure is pretty nice just to look out the window here at home.