This is the view to the north of us after the storm had cleared on Sunday morning. That is the home of our neigbors, Dave and Betty Schutte, with the Blue Ridge mountains in the far distance. It was very clear and very cold! What a beautiful day!

The heavy snowfall caused closure of almost all Sunday services for Churchs' throughout this part of Virginia, including our own LDS Bedford Branch meetings. Too many members live too far away on secondary roads and backwoods lanes that have not been plowed.

We spent a quiet peaceful day at home, watching church services on BYU-TV and reading, visiting together and taking calls from our family.

The early morning sun shines through the ice that is still clinging to the dry broom grass, creating sparkles of light. There are so many beautiful scenes created by a new snow fall!

This picture was taken on Sunday morning, Jan 31, looking east across the vacant field to the north of our residence property on Hopes Way, outside Bedford.

Our good neighbor, Dave Schutte, came to our rescue again. As the storm slowed in the late afternoon on Saturday he fired up his tractor and cleared the road all the way out to the highway and then returned and plowed our driveway. He then ranged around the community and plowed out driveways for any number of residents, all with no thought of being paid for his services.

He told me that one woman came out on her porch as he was plowing her drive and wanted to know why he had taken so long in responding to her call. She was even more perplexed and chagrined when he told her that he was just doing this as a neighborly gesture, not because anyone had hired him. He told her she better call whoever she hired and tell him not to bother coming over since the drive was now cleared.

He said he really enjoys helping clear the snow for people, but he does get very cold sitting on the open seat of the tractor in this below freezing weather.

The second big snow storm of the winter season swept across Virginia and surrounding states, beginning late Friday evening and continuing all through Saturday, leaving a good 10-12 inches on the ground here in Bedford, January 29-30.

I took this picture early Sturday morning, while it was still coming down. Temperatures dropped into the single digits when the storm cleared.