Update from Rhode Island: slick-soled motorcycle boots are of little use in ice and snow; if there's half a tree lying in the garden it is not because the Branch Fairy has been by; the dog, who does not trust you anyway, believes you have a switch on the wall, like the one that turns the outside light on and off, for this white falling nonsense, and are only letting it continue in order to plague him. He has left his opinion on the porch and you will discover it as the thaw arrives.