Outdoor whitery

I took these photos at 4:30 this afternoon.  The skies were already starting to darken.  In Minnesota our days get pretty short in the winter.  At our home on December 21 the sun will rise at 7:50 am and set at 4:41 pm, giving us just 8 hours and 51 minutes of daylight.  And 15 hours 9 minutes of darkness.

The backyard, facing south.

Now it is 6 pm and the skies are completely black.  The wind is blowing and the snow is still falling.  Hubby is making supper and G and B have finished homework and are playing with friends on the computers.  I am resting in the family room, blogging (obviously) from the comfort of the recliner.  Freya and Daniel are asleep on my bed, Kelly is asleep on the rug next to me, and Corey is taking a leisurely bath across the room.

The side yard, facing east.

After supper we will all go online and play our weekly game of Terraria with O through Steam.  We'll use Discord to chat with each other, and we'll try to come up with a strategy to defeat the Old One's Army.  Last week we tried thrice to kill all those goblins, kobolds, ogres, and wyverns, and failed miserably each time.  Wish us better luck tonight.