Christmas this year was spent at the local community center where we served Christmas dinner and cheer to some folks in the area who didn’t have the means or the family to celebrate the birth of our Savior with. The food was scrumptious!
Archive for December, 2007
Merry Christmas
Saturday, December 29th, 2007Winter Wonderland…
Saturday, December 29th, 2007I am not trying to sell real estate when I say that this place is really beautiful even in the middle of winter. Temps hover between 25 and 32 pretty much all December. It snows several times per week – usually just a sprinkle of the white stuff to make everything look clean. It’s nice to sit by the fire, snuggle up with a cat and read a book. Still, it’s been cloudy much of the time. We are going into January which is the hardest month of the year (where in Chicago, it’s February). If we make it to March 15 without succumbing to cabin fever, we’ll survive.
The cats are making the best of it. Here’s Ethel peering at a fly that decided to come to life after we turned on the pellet stove and warmed up the room.
One thing I noticed last year but didn’t mention is how the winter weather moves down the elevation of the mountains. Here’s a shot of our house (arrow) and you’ll see by the dotted yellow line how the hard winter is hovering a few hundred feet above us on the mountain. It looks like there’s a shadow on the lower part of the mountian but it’s actually that snow is sticking to the trees more in the upper part. As winter moves forward the chill moves down and snow sticks to everything much more. It’s a very interesting for a guy who comes from Illinois which is very flat.
Also, since snow is so hard to photograph I thought I’d provide two pictures that show how dense the snow is. Here’s a before and after a snowstorm over the valley.
Snow plowing with the ATV has been going well. It is a lot of fun and work rolled into one. Some folks have wondered how much plowing we have to do. Here are three shots. 1) Our driveway 2) half way down the private drive from the driveway 3) the rest of the private drive down to the county road. In total, it’s over 1000 feet of road.
Cats Enjoying Winter Sunshine
Monday, December 17th, 2007Where there is anything warm, you will find cats. Here the kitties are celebrating a little sunshine next to the Christmas tree.
A Little Drama. Finally.
Monday, December 17th, 2007Jenny was asked to help with our church’s first annual Children’s Christmas Show. It included several worship songs and instrumentals followed by a choir and drama mix. Jenny played well with the other leaders to enable the kids to present a wonderful and worshipful show. This was our first taste of anything dramatic since mid-2006. We are already hoping to be able to participate in an Easter presentation.
Here is a shot of the kids in the choir.
Our First Snow STORM!
Saturday, December 8th, 2007
Heat-Seeking Missiles and Cats
Saturday, December 8th, 2007Cats and heat-seeking missiles have a lot in common. During winter months Ethyl and Lucy become a lot more “friendly”. They may not love us any more than usual, but they sure do want to snuggle against anything warm. At night the house is set to get down into the high 50s. At that temperature a chemical change takes place in felines and cats become glue — attaching themselves to us for warmth.
Here the pellet stove is worshiped by Ethyl
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High Noon
Saturday, December 8th, 2007This isn’t “Alaska” but it is a bit different than Chicago. Below is an image of the sun at high-noon. It appears about 30 degrees up from the horizon. In other words, the days are amazingly short up here. It starts getting light about 6:30 with the sun coming up around 7:00 and it’s dark as night at 5:00 p.m.
Click to enlarge image