Gate City Gazette: The "Cherylina Critter Cafe"

The month of February usually brings our best chance of snow in the Carolinas. The pattern is always the same. Massive storms develop along the Gulf coast and push their way through the Southern states up to the Mid-Atlantic coast and eventually into New England. Nothing new this time, except it carried a huge reservoir of moister that dumped enormous amounts of ice and snow along the way. Thirty-six hours of weather will empty out a lot of sleet, freezing rain and snow on an area. Our portion was twelve hours of snow, followed by six hours of sleet, followed by six hours of freezing rain, a brief reprieve and then seven more hours of snow. It ended with a blinding flurry that was comprised of two hours of heavy, wet snowflakes. We only had six inches, but neighboring counties had up to seventeen inches!

Very few cars meandered down my street, the roads were icy and slushy all day. Most of my neighbors, like me, stayed home and off the streets. It was a good plan, but we had work to do. When the inclement weather arrives, we open up the Cherylina Critter Cafe on our back deck.
All who are hardy enough to venture there will be rewarded with a few morsels to help them through the storm. I told Cheryl that God always provides for the animals, but she says that he counts on us to help out. I suppose that is true because they certainly know how to find our deck during a storm. I get aggravated when the squirrels gang up on the others, but they are hungry too. We have a smorgasbord menu that features only the finest in birdseed with a large variety of tiny seeds for the smaller birds and sunflower seeds for the larger birds and squirrels.
This storm dropped six inches of snow and sleet, so the little critters were coming throughout the daylight hours. They disappear just before dusk, I'm sure they are retreating back to their nest for the night. It is entertaining and somewhat satisfying because we know that they would not eat otherwise. We refill the trays as soon as they are emptied and the mob returns shortly after we vacate the scene. We enjoy watching them fight over the food.
As we dig out of this winter wonderland, we hope that you have a warm and caring Valentine's Day and if you ever get caught out in a winter storm, drop by the Cherylina Critter Cafe. (We serve coffee and hot chocolate to our friends)

A beautiful snow at the end