Rocks in the snowstorm

The red-flag warnings went up yesterday on the Weather Channel, as an unexpected gale developed quickly in the Midwest and morphed into Winter Storm Janus, which, if you could believe the forecast, carried the potential to drop more than a foot of snow on us. I still had plenty of wood to gather, so I spent the morning hauling what I'd cut the previous day, splitting it, and stacking it under cover both indoors and on the wood rack outside. I wasn't expecting much beyond hyperbole, but I also didn't want to be caught by surprise. I had finished my work by mid-afternoon, so I went for a walk into the gathering storm. The temperature was dropping fast, the wind was rising, and the dry, powdery snow was coming down fast and furious. Maybe Janus would amount to something. Maybe I'd need to put the shovels, dutifully waiting by the basement door, to good use. Maybe I'd have to get the cross-country skis and snowshoes out of storage.