With that in mind, members of the Craig County Board of Supervisors at their April 1 meeting passed a Resolution of Appreciation for Service beyond the normal expectation by Emergency Services’ volunteers and employees of the Craig County Sheriff’s Office and Virginia State Troopers and the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Even though spring is here now as this blooming redbud shows, winter storms in Craig County were unusually fierce, prompting the Board of Supervisors to pass a resolution in appreciation for emergency workers, police and VDOT employees. Photo by Gwen Johnson

In addition to the extreme cold, other obstacles included huge snow drifts, icy roads that were impassable, power outages and of course accidents. At one point there were multiple cars in the same ditch at one time on Rt. 615. They were eventually pulled out with the help of one citizen and his tractor.

“This was one of the most incredible winters I can remember. Out of 80 days, we had snow on the ground 75 of them,” Craig County Administrator Richard Flora said. “When you have extraordinary events it takes extraordinary actions and Craig County had a lot of that.”

In other actions, supervisors:

• adopted proposed changes and provisions amending Existing Chapter 54 Subdivision of the Code of Ordinances of the County of Craig to include a provision for a Family Subdivision. The Planning Commission had previously recommended that the board adopt the proposed Subdivision Ordinance. A Family Subdivision allows the division of a lot or parcel for the purposes of sale or gift to a member of the immediate family of the property owner, and subject only to any express requirement contained in the Code of Virginia.

In only one of many cases of neighbors helping neighbors, Corey Trivette pushes snow while Robert Fisher shovels off the sidewalk at the Commons in New Castle. Photo by Gwen Johnson

• approved five new members for the Tourism Commission – Troy Scott, Julia Bradford, Carol Baker, Therese Squires and Holly Wadey in addition to Lisa Campbell and Diane Givens who are already active members.

• approved temporary closure of a portion of Barbour’s Creek along State Rt. 617in Craig County for Hooked on Fishing Not on Drugs. The event which is sponsored each year by the D.A.R.E. Program, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Forest Service will be held Saturday, May 8. The specified part of the creek will be closed on May 7 at 5 p.m. until half an hour after sunset on May 8.

• heard an update from Kristen Williby from VDOT. The Craig County Welcome signs have all been put up and Rt. 621 slope stabilization has been completed, she said. The Rt. 311 Bridge Structure Project is tentatively scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Friday, July 16, and will run until to 6 a.m. Monday, July 19. The preliminary engineering phase is under way on Rt. 629. As part of the Secondary Six Year Plan Project $529,000 has been allocated to the project. However, only one-third to one-half is covered under current funding and at this point in time further funding doesn’t look promising, Williby said.

In other matters:

After hearing members from the Craig County Public Library supervisors agreed to include the library in the county audit. This would save the library a lot of money and would cost the county very little if anything at all.

The meeting was followed by a budget work session. The next regularly scheduled board of supervisors meeting is May 6 at 3 p.m. at the Court House.

I know it’s been more than 100 years since the last known wolf was killed in the South, in the Great Smoky Mountains in 1905, but maybe we’re not living in the South any more.

Icicles in Salem more than a foot long are among this winter's more beautiful results. Photo by Meg Hibbert

Our part of Virginia has totaled more than twice the average snowfall so far. And it’s only the first week of February.

I contend Mother Nature got her winter orders for V states confused, and sent Vermont’s snowy winter to Virginia.

There has to be some explanation more fanciful than El Nino, and global warming’s effects.

I used to like snow. Well, really, I still do: watching fluffy flakes fall while I’m snugly inside with a cup of hot chocolate, wrapped in the zebra-striped Snuggie my sweet husband, Bill, got me for my birthday.

Or snows that amount to about 3 inches and melt off the roads right away.

Tuesday I truly enjoyed seeing individual flakes settle on my dark purple coat. There were needle-shaped snow bits, and interspersed, absolutely perfect snowflake-shaped ones, the first I’ve really seen up close this season.

I like watching our 14-year-old Shitzu-mix dog, Savannah, bounce up and down like a rabbit through the snow, harkening back to her puppy days.

But snow-packed-into ice on the hills I go over to get home is a different story. My husband was stuck on the hill in our late son Rex’s Hyundai and blocking the road by the time I got there Monday afternoon. Neighbors Carlton Janney and Dane Burch scraped enough ice off for him to creep up the grade after about 15 minutes.

Tuesday night is his late night because he teaches an income tax class at National College. Even though every other college in the region canceled night classes, National didn’t. Since I’m the one with the 4-wheel drive, as I write this I’m waiting at the office for Bill to carpool home. I’ve already tried Wildwood Road and couldn’t even turn into our private road because of the ice so I had to roll backwards and approach from the other direction.

I’m sure the rest of it is doable. But if not, I’ll park the Durango and Bill and I will at least be able to walk up that icy hill together. You know the saying, when share your life with somebody you love, you have half the troubles and twice as much happiness.