The smells of winter

I love the woodstove in the winter. The smell of woodsmoke and the crackling of the fire are hearwarming as well as room warming. The cool crisp air is free from the fouler smells of decaying fish we have earlier in the fall and I think I can almost smell the snow in the air. The mountains are half covered in snow now. It seems everyday that white line creeps further down the slopes. Even the lower elevations are white frosted now and I know soon it will reach sea level. The snow falls straight down and is heavy and wet. In the dead of winter it will last for a couple of weeks, but these first few flakes will be washed away with the rain. I love to watch it pile up on the porch railings to see how high it will get before it blows over or the kids (who are destined to knock it off) get to it. We put studded tires on the car this year. That is the first time we have ever done that. All those Michigan winters we lived through without studs...but, everyone here says its the safest way to drive the winter roads. We will have to change them out again in April, but I guess that will be a sure sign spring in on the way.