Being a novice about snow and cold weather, I have been amazed when driving home at night. Or more accurately, being driven home at night, but that’s because I let Jay drive. Anyway, I have learned that snow on the ground reflects the car lights back in a bajillion tiny flecks of light that sparkle with a silvery glow. It is absolutely beautiful.

We have had snow fall on Dec 25th and Dec 27th. A large storm was projected, but we only got a few inches. But the snow was tiny flecks of snow, which did not mount up, but floated through the air looking like a mist rather than snow. And on Thursday, midafternoon, looking toward the South from my kitchen window, those tiny flecks of snow reflected the light just like it does at night, so the falling snow sparkled like tiny diamonds. It was also absolutely beautiful.  I didn’t believe I could capture the image with my camera, so you’ll just have to come and see for yourself.

We activated OnStar on my Tahoe at the beginning of the month. It was a little rocky at first, because we weren’t getting good reception and were frustrated. I found out that OnStar works primarily through cell phone connections and not satellite communication. The Tech dept did some magic and reception improved. We were concerned that we don’t get cell coverage at the house and in the mountains, and might not get coverage if we had an emergency, but we felt it was still a safety issue and important. Yesterday, Thursday am, in the light snow, Jay left to go in to town to pick up Ted.  About 20 minutes later, I got a call at the house from OnStar. They were patching Jay through to me. He had not gotten down our driveway as far as the second neighbor’s house (Dan) and a deer ran in front of him and he swerved into a snowbank. The Tahoe was stuck. But it was good to learn that the OnStar emergency button did work and worked well. It saved Jay a long walk. I drove the Landrover down and picked up Jay, we went on and got Ted, and returned home. Jay took the snow plow down to try to unstuck the Tahoe, but it wasn’t enough. Fortunately, the car was to the side of the road and we were able to get up and down without difficulty in the other car.

Today, Dan and Jay tried to dig out the car from the drift, then to pull it out with the Landrover. (I held items for them and stood out of the way. LOL) It didn’t work, it was securely wedged. We ended up getting the local tow truck to come winch us out  this afternoon.  Note the left rear tire of the tow truck is up off the ground as it winches the Tahoe out of the ditch. But it got the job done. Curtis, the tow driver, said that he had spent the entire day pulling cars and trucks out of the snow today. We felt good to have the car free again, and happy that no bambi’s were injured in the adventure.

Ted and his friends: Stephanie, Ted, Tiffany, and Jessica. Nice group.

We went to town last night for dinner and bowling. We discussed the tracks with JB, who felt it was most likely rabbit, but it was hard to tell from the picture on the camera itself. Mary Beth was the first to suggest rabbit on the blog, so she will get the prize. Congratulations, Beth! It will have to wait until after Christmas, to go out in the mail, sorry. However, Matt should get a prize for most creative response. Jay and I did a lot of looking on the web at animal tracks in the snow and I have determined to do a better job of photography next time I have something to identify. A close-up wouldn’t hurt!

On our way home last night, the car thermometer said it was -5 degrees F. I will admit that was cold. However, the car warmed up quickly, so don’t be afraid to visit.

Ted has a job working in the Red Rooster Cafe at the local bowling alley (where we spend a lot of time). He starts next weekend.  It meets his criteria of indoors and a job. More info later on his acclimation.

We had snow last night. A big storm was projected, but we only got about 3 inches. But it was enough to cover all of the dog tracks from playing in the back yard and leave a smooth unbroken surface. We saw some animal tracks on the deck and the snow in the yard and being city kids, we don’t know what they are. I’m posing the question to you, my loyal friends, outdoor persons and hunters (at least some of you.) Do you know what animal made these tracks? The first person to correctly identify the tracks, (corroborated by someone else… either from other responses to the question or a local wildlife expert, will get a prize. It will be something from our local community. And if you want a full size copy of the pictures, just let me know and I’ll be glad to email them to you. Thank you for helping inquiring minds who want to know.

Note, this does not say Sunday thoughts, although this is Sunday, but sundry, as in varied and diverse. A collection of diverse items for your perusal follows.

On Thursday evening, when it was snowing again and I was wrapping packages, the button fell off the jute bracelet that my niece, Jennie, made for me (& all of my siblings) with a button from my Dad’s pajamas. Since putting it on at the Friday evening memorial service, I had not removed it (three and a half months). However, I was able to sew the button back onto the bracelet and it is back on my wrist. I figure I can continue to do this until the jute itself disintegrates and can’t hold the button stitching any longer. I don’t know what I will do at that point, but I hope I won’t have to cross that bridge for a while. You can see the bracelet on my right wrist later on.

On Sunday, Dec. 9th, during our most recent weekend of snow, Ted was visiting with friends in town. They are all experienced snowboarders and when opportunity presents itself, they try to get some practice in. They build a snow ramp in their alley, and get pulled behind a pick up truck and try to make it up the ramp and land. In the following pictures, Ted is wearing the black jacket, hoodie and blue jeans. It is my belief that the snowboarder flying through the air is a girl. Jay told me I should get out of the car to take the picture, but there was a lot of snow. Forgive me.

Mike wanted to see a picture of the valley with snow, so just for him, I took a picture this morning. We had about 18 inches here in Westcliffe between Friday, Dec 7th and Tuesday, Dec. 13th. I posted pictures of the trees out of my windows on the 8th, in case you missed them. This is the view we get to see every morning, and which you could see in person if you came to visit.

Wallace is in Japan again to report about the various projects he is working on for Tokyo Electron. He says that the two projects that he is involved with are at the top of the priority list in his company. We hope he has a safe flight home and quick recovery from jet lag.

I have a new project/hobby. I have started knitting. Now… I have been around my mom for 50 hmm hmm years and I would bet that most of that time, she has been knitting off and on. It is rare to see her without her knitting project, most recently baby hats for premies at the children’s hospitals. The size needed for the premies would cover a tennis ball! Also, she is part of a group that knits or crochets prayer shawls for individuals in need of healing, etc. The shawls are given to the Life Touch Hospice for the patients’ use, and to other care facilities or to individuals. They are very soft and cuddly. I decided that I wanted one for my shoulders when I sit and read, or watch tv, etc. and would make one for myself. My mom gave me the directions and info on the yarn and told me I could find directions to knit on the internet. I followed her suggestion, found a great website with helpful video instruction, and got some scrap yarn and practiced. I finished the scrap piece in Alba at Thanksgiving and started on my shawl. I am still working on it and it is going well. I am on my second skein and since it will be for me, I won’t mind any blemishes. You will notice in the pictures my repaired bracelet on my right hand. Also included is a picture of Lacey trying to be a lap dog. She crawled into Jay’s lap last Sunday for no particular reason, but she was very insistent

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And I have saved the best news for last. Brenda and Denise, my two BFFs, (best friends forever) have purchased airline tickets to come see me. I obtained three more tickets to go to another Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson taping of “The Quilt Show“, for the end of March. Jay and I went in August, if you remember. I had hoped that with a specific date and a specific reason and enough notice, that they could work out a visit. And tonight, I got the news that they have purchased tickets and are really coming! I am so excited. Thank you, Brenda and Denise.

I’ll be excited whenever family and friends come to visit. So don’t be shy about inquiring about directions, or setting a date. Skiing season has opened here, the resorts have gotten a lot of snow in the last two weeks. We are even considering making our first venture out to Monarch Ski Resort (we have season tickets) this week. More to come on that project!

It is with regret that I must tell you that Ted will not be joining the Navy. Monday, prior to leaving for the Denver Military Processing Station and the actual swearing in, he tested positive for marijuana. He claims it came from second hand smoke, but the Navy has a zero tolerance policy and he will not be allowed to enlist. He made a poor decision and now we must regroup and make a new plan for his future. Thank you for all of your encouragement and good thoughts for Ted and his future.

Matt took a proficiency test last Saturday 12-8-07 for his work. He found out today that he passed. He had been a Level 2 Linux System Administrator (sys admin). He will now become a Level 3 sys admin. As he explained it to me, they work “tickets”, which are problems to be fixed or improvements to be created, for the servers that host the multitude of websites their company handles. It is not a call center, but as part of their “Fanatical Support” for their customers, the sys admin also talk to clients. Level 1 sys admin work tickets and take calls, Level 2 sys admin handle overflow calls and escalations (as in: let me talk to the next guy up or this is a bigger problem), and Level 3s get less overflow and the big escalations, especially if servers are offline and won’t boot up. Matt says he’ll have extra training, most of it in San Antonio. Eventually, he will see a change in his paycheck, but being able to do the bigger, more interesting jobs, is a reward in itself. Congratulations, Matt!

Celebration: To observe an occasion with appropriate ceremony or festivity. We have three this week.

We finally closed on the house this week! Yeah! Now we can get some remodeling done on this house. And to celebrate we were going to go to dinner in town at the new gourmet restaurant and then to color pin bowling with our teammates from the Wed am bowling league. BUT, nature has intervened. We have had snow falling since last night, and by 3 pm, we had nine inches, with more projected overnight. Our celebration was canceled. When I called to tell the bowling alley that we weren’t coming, they said they were closing because of the weather and were getting ready to call us, so we wouldn’t try to make it in. The snow is beautiful and the dogs love to play in it. Jay got to practice with the snow plow today, twice. Once on his own and once with our second neighbor, Dan, who wanted to ride shotgun. The snow wasn’t that high that it was imperative, but it was a good time to practice. I took some pictures from various windows about 4 pm today. The trees close to the north side of the house didn’t get much wind, so the snow pack on the branches was impressive.

Tomorrow is Jen’s 30th birthday and she is celebrating tonight with friends and family in LA at a party sponsored by her wonderful husband, Wallace, and her parents at her Aunt and Uncle’s home in North Hollywood. Happy Birthday, Jennifer. We love you.

It is also the middle of Chanukah right now. I made latkes last night, but lighting candles isn’t quite the same without a chorus of voices and bright young faces looking for gelt. Happy Chanukah to all of our Jewish friends and family.

Well, it has been a year, since Matt set up the blog for me and a lot has happened: Matt moved to Austin, Ted graduated from Martin HS, we moved to CO (and love it) despite the doubts of our friends and family, Ted enlisted in the Navy, my dad received a diagnosis of cancer and died within one month, there were 5 family or best friends’ weddings (Megan & Kevin, JD & Mariann, Sara & Sean, Joey & Emily, John & Victoria), Jen’s work trip to China, and our trip back to Texas for Thanksgiving 2007. Wallace and Jen stayed at home, they both have traveled so much this year that they wanted to stay put and have a quiet day together.

Matt and Julia both had to work on the Friday after Thanksgiving, so we planned our Turkey Day for Saturday, the 24th. On Thanksgiving, we had red beans and rice and watched the fire in the fireplace and the Cowboys play. We invited Jay’s friend, Al, a Texas Wesleyan law school classmate and lawyer and his friend, Jill, to join us for our Saturday Thanksgiving. Julia and Ted each brought a guest, Amanda and Garrett respectively. We also had some four legged guests: Lacey and Amber, of course, Matt’s ferret, Lylah, and Amanda’s new chihuahua puppy, Nolan. It was a full house, warm with a toasty fire and good food and friendship. The pin ball machine and ping pong table got a work out, as well as the beds for a post Turkey Day nap before dessert. We had the promised birthday cake for Matt and Jewls and the required off key rendition of Happy Birthday.

Everyone was gone by Sunday afternoon, Matt had a 6+ hour drive home due to traffic on I-35 (it took him about 4 hours to come on Friday evening). Jewls had a hard time saying goodbye to Ted, since she won’t see him for a while. After some time at the laundromat in town, we packed up Sunday night.

Jay decided to bring the boat back with us, so we had a long drive home on Monday. Everything went smoothly until we got half way up our driveway. The snow was about 4 – 6 inches deep and there were only the animal tracks making designs in the snow. It was quite pretty at 10:30 pm (11:30 pm CST). But Jay’s tires on the Landrover were not snow tires and it didn’t have the strength to pull the boat up the hill in the deep snow. So we left the boat in the driveway and came on home. The next morning we took the Tahoe, which has better tires, and retrieved the boat and brought it up to the house.

We are glad to be home. On Wednesday, Ted had an accident with the Explorer, rolled it and totaled it. Fortunately no one was injured, except a fence and the car. The car was totaled and we sold it to a salvage yard. Ted is set to go to basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station, IL, on the 11th, so we only have a short time to chauffeur him around. That’s the news from here to date.

On our way up our driveway a few weeks ago, we met some local wildlife at play. They were locking horns and wrestling with each other. When we stopped to admire their skill, they looked up at us for a few moments, then went back to play. I was at an awkward angle, but was able to get some shots. We left them to their play and went on up to the house. Note the snow on the ground, this was left from the October 21st snowfall. We feel privileged to be able to come across such beauty in nature on our own driveway.