They are lucky . . .

That the race was Friday 

not today.

We woke to just a skiff of snow & i thought it would soon melt off.  But it snowed off & on all thru church.  Still, not too much was sticking.

The top is that Jeep when we went into Mountain Munchies - one of our favorite places for lunch.  The bottom is that Jeep when we came out.  Duane nearly got us kicked out of the restaurant, however.  He is so happy that he gets to drive that Jeep in the snow - he thought he'd have to wait until next winter.  He kept saying, "Oh, I love the snow!"  and singing, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."  He wasn't real popular with the folks.  Gary, the owner told him he was lucky he'd already eaten, 'cause he just might not get served. 

The bottom two are Duane in his "summer hat" first in bed, to keep warm, & later using Mac as a "cat warmer" in his office.  


We took that Jeep off road yesterday.  In the evening we started to take a "road" (not much more than a trail) between the Sugarloaf area & Moonridge.  But we took a "side road" & ended up on top of a hill with nothing but junk some irresponsible folks had dumped instead of taking it where it should have been properly disposed of.  Came across plenty of downed trees across the road.  We went around - once with mirrors in & three INCHES of clearance on either side.  Then, discovered that we couldn't get out at the bottom & had to go back up.  This time Duane leveraged the tree out of the way.  


We need to take a chainsaw with us next time.  Also a repair kit with sockets.  He said that had not the starter gone out in town the other day, it certainly would have with all the bouncing the starter would have come loose - & we would have been stuck.  There was town all the way around us on all sides, tho it felt as though we were out in the middle of nowhere.  BUT we would have had quite a walk & i'd not known we were going to do this so i was in sandals & short sleeves.  Fortunately Duane had two extra jackets in that Jeep for i was cold.  


(Duane said his "summer hat" looks like he used the squirrels in the above pics.  He says "there were no squirrels injured in the making of this hat.)


He's gone from singing "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow" to "Summertime, & the living is easy."  I think that would get us kicked out of Mountain Munchies, too.




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People are so different!

About once a week i check my "blog counter."  I get an average of maybe 10 folks a day who pop in here to see what i'm doing.  And i might get a couple of comments.  (Jo, someone i follow who has a large number of folks who read her, considers less than 20 comments "not many."  I'm not sure i've ever had 20 comments.)  It doesn't really matter to me, but i am curious to see where folks are coming from, etc.  I write the blog for my own pleasure & to keep a record so that i can remember later.


Anyway, today i was checking & found that someone had come to visit me from a rather mundane comment i'd made on another blog almost a year ago.  I followed that blog for a while.  Some blogs i follow for a while & then "move on."  Others are a permanent part of my reading.  (This is why i tend not to be a public follower - i like the freedom to say, "This doesn't work for me any more" & move on without publicly removing myself from some list.)


This blog was interesting.  She is an eclectic blogger.  She writes about her family life, etc.  But largely she writes about decorating & home projects.  


So today i went back & perused for a while again.  I appreciate her work & how it comes together, but i have to say, it is so so different from my own tastes.  Probably the reason i followed for a while is that she is so different, & probably why i tired of it eventually.  

I tend to not use a lot of color in my home.  I prefer white/cream walls & then use color for accent.  Of course, in this house our walls are mostly the brown of the wood used to build the house.  (I actually really dislike the stain that was used on the walls.  It looks "muddy" to me.  I'd prefer them to be the natural color of the wood, but i can't do anything about it now.)


I also prefer a more simplistic decorating scheme, as does Duane.  I have found that the cute things that stand around need dusting (!) & if they are not well placed, that my house simply looks cluttered.  


Now i enjoy visiting places & seeing pics of which the decorator style is not like mine, but then i'm happy to come home.  My place is feeling cluttered to me today, & i need to work on it because my sis & her friend F are coming tomorrow to stay until Sunday PM.  :)

 Jazz & Mac keeping warm on our bed.  I'm glad they get along so well.  

These pics were taken a couple of weeks ago on our drive down the hill.  There is more snow now as we've had at least a foot of snow drop (on the higher peaks) since these were taken.

These were driving home yesterday, on the same road as above.  It is in the valley on the other side of Sugarloaf.  There was much more smow over there than in Bear Valley.  We got to the pass (Onyx summit, 8443 ft above sea level) & the road was clear & dry.  

These were a couple i took when we got home.  Most of the snow has melted, but it was heavy.  Or juniper bushes were quite flattened by this snow, but they bounce back quickly.  The trillium has a bloom on it that is try to open, & the lilacs have tiny leaves on the end of the branches.  We still have 3 inches of snow on the upstairs deck, however. 

Mac, checking out the snow, back in February. 




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Pics !

Took a walk around the neighborhood to see how much snow is left.

Our back yard.  This is melting off fast.  A week ago this was up to the top of this metal storage box.

 What is left in the front of the house.  This is melting off fast, too.  :)

The west end of the valley has much more than this, still.

Around the neighbors' houses.

Sugarloaf Mountain & surrounding ridge.  This was taken near our mailbox, which is about one city block east of our house.  In the bottom picture at the far right you can see the top of the ski slope of one of the runs at Bear Mountain.  We are only about 2-3 miles away, but by road it is about 8 miles. 

This was waiting for me today when i got home.  :)  But it is hard to find a place the cats won't get to it.  

 This was waiting for me when i got home from my walk.  :(  It is hard to find a place the cats won't get to it. 

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Two weeks later

Superbowl was a good game. I didn't particularly care which team won, but it was well played. Coverage (replays) - not so good, however. Duane's opinion is that CBS never has good coverage.

There are a number of things going on with me which i don't feel comfortable talking about right now, so i'm kind of stifling my voice.

However, i took a walk around part of the neighborhood today to get pics of what we look like two weeks after 5 ft of snow (& we've had 6 more inches drop since then). Things seem to be melting quickly, but you tell me what you think.


I added the arrow here. It shows where our curb lies. The rest of that (big) pile of snow is all out in the street. Not sure why they did it this way, maybe because we're on the corner.

Again. See the "crease" in the driveway in front of where Duane is walking? That is the beginning of our driveway. All the rest of that snow is in the street. The road is quite clear, but there is only room for one car at a time.


More storms coming they say, & i hear some folks are freaking out. But there is only about 6 inches predicted & after nearly 5 feet 2 weeks ago, most of us are saying, "Huh! Bring it on! It can't be that bad!" Now, if they were predicting another 2-3 feet i'd be stressed.

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A few pics

Our pastor called. No church tomorrow. The church has no power, most people can't make it anyway, & they can't get the parking lot plowed. A lot of people are without power he said. Also the land lines in the valley are down, so 9-1-1 doesn't work. Only one road open in & out of the valley & they were allowing only residents in. Lovely skiing, but no one can get to the ski hills!

Out & about today. When everyone is shoveling out we meet more neighbors than ever. People who have lived here a long time say we've not had snow like this here since 1978. Well, we had a very heavy snow in Dec. 2008 & it was pretty close to this. Here is a small sampling of my pics.

(Friday AM) No Fair! We had this shoveled on Thursday!

The deck outside our bedroom Saturday AM


It is this tree in the background that we worry what would happen if it came down someday.

There is still a foot of snow under Duane down to the road!
We are a long way from having a vehicle out to go anywhere.This is path is what was shoveled at noon today. (Duane did it.)
Don't know if you can see, but i'm standing on asphalt. What is behind me,
12 inches or more is the "plowed road" They got it done some,
but it is more than a foot down to the asphalt from where they plowed.

Think we can get the car out of the garage?

Ah, Sugarloaf Mountain. Isn't it pretty?

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