(New Orleans) Snow Dogs on Thursday

Every New Orleanian I know desperately wishes for snow each winter. Or anything remotely resembling frozen stuff falling from the sky. I have experienced 4 snow events in New Orleans during the thirty-something years I lived there, and one of those lasted only about 10 minutes. But I remember them in great detail (except the big snowfall when I was 1 year old, but I have all of the pictures my parents took) because they were such wonderful and rare events. None of my nieces and nephews have experienced a snowfall in New Orleans in their lifetimes, until last week. I had exuberant phone calls from most of them to spread the good news. Sadly, it started melting later that day.

As I was reading the Times-Picayune (the New Orleans newspaper) online, I found some pictures of some residents who probably never saw snow before and will likely never see it again in their short lifetimes. But did they make the most of it while it lasted! These pictures made me feel so good, I had to share them with everyone today (although I realize that those of you who have spent the past several days without power may not feel in a frolicky mood when you see these).












And it wasn't just the dogs loving the change of weather...

Mike the Tiger (LSU'S mascot), wishing he could be traded to MU or points further north)

Here is one of the naturalized monk parrots that obviously wished to return to captivity - at least for the day.

But, before you start feeling sorry for the little guy's fate, rest assured that there are growing colonies of these urbanized parakeets thriving in such diverse places as Nashville, Brooklyn, Minneapolis, and Montreal. New Orleans' guys may be the toughest of all, since they survived Katrina. So what's a bit of snow?