EARLY WINTER CONT'D.

The day started out beautiful. I actually broke out the old touring skis for the first time in at least six years, and skied around our place. The snow was incredibly powdery. It was light as finely sifted flour. At some points my skis were about three inches under the snow, but that's okay as a few times I was a little under the snow too. After not skiing in so long, it was, to say the least, awkward. I felt like a duck just learning to use it's feet for walking.

My dogs had never seen me ski before. Mahkwi was quite amused. For awhile she kept trying to catch the tips of my skis as they moved through the snow. Notice I didn't say unerringly through snow? She was trying to pounce on them, and grab them with her mouth; all the while wagging her tail. I laughed so hard. It was a good excuse to stop every few strides and re-orient myself.

I had fun despite how long it has been since I skied. Well, except for periodically having a hidden bunch of my old friend spotted knapweed, or clumps of grass, grabbing a ski stopping it cold, or twisting it under me. Well, that and the odd hole my ski poles found every now and then. It's an interesting sensation; planting a ski pole, expecting it to dig in at a certain point, and it doesn't happen until about a foot deeper. Especially when the other one digs in about where you expected it to. The other fun part was how that fine powder stuck to my skis like wet flour. Of course, it was only one ski at a time which allowed me to ski in circles if I had that whim – which I did not.

After skiing I shoveled a little snow off the deck and front walk, knocked icicles and snow off the eaves, and called it a day. Then about 4:30 p.m. the sun went away. Actually, it's more like it fled for it's life. This is what chased it away.




All for now. Just didn't want you to miss out on any of the fun.

WINTER

So, you may be wondering how we went from Near Fall to winter? As I sit here listening to LS singing 'I Ain't the One', I am wondering the same thing. Seems fall fell...through the cracks. The trees are mostly still green, and we have snow. We had our first snow on October 3rd. That all melted off by late yesterday afternoon. You would almost never know it had snowed. I thought, "Well, that wasn't so bad."

Then last night the north wind came up and it snowed with a purpose. I opened the front door to let my dogs out about 11 p.m., and got blasted with wind and snow. I think the message was, "Not so bad, eh? IN YOUR FACE, DUDE! (literally)". Pippa recoiled from the door in the face of this onslaught, as did I, and looked at me in a way that let me know she wasn't going out in that. She's a California girl. Actually, now that I think about it, she is blonde. Mahkwi, on the other hand, charged right out there. She is really made for this kind of weather. She is as frisky as she was when she was a pup. She lays around panting in 70 degree weather, so I had a feeling she would revel in the winters here. Anyway, note to builders of future homes in country like this; north facing door – bad idea.

So, now we are really getting into the transition from California to Montana. I am told by my neighbor this is more like November weather. I guess Old Man Winter was just eager to welcome us to our new home. How nice of him. In reality he is probably saying, "So, you think you can take the winters here do you? We'll, see. I'll give you a nice long one – and see how you like me then!

So far, it has just been beautiful. We'll see if I still feel that way about it in February. As I am now hearing 'Gold Dust Woman' the thought occurs to me, maybe I will be 'Snow Dust Man'. That may be all that is left of me at the end of winter. Not even a snow man, just a snow dust man.

So far the snow has not been deep enough for X-country skiing. I'm looking forward to skiing; however, it has been heavy enough to require my going out and brushing the snow and icicles off my dish before I could connect to the internet server. I have to admit that I never had to do that in California. Just one of the little special surprises of living up here in winter for me to experience.

Anyway, here are a few photos of how things have been looking around here during this first week of October 2009. As all my friends and family are enjoying the warm weather in California, all I can say is...eat your hearts out!

One thing that concerned me about moving up here was all the great informational and humorous emails I always received from friends and family when I was in California. I worried they would forget to send me stuff after my email address changed. Those emails have tapered off considerably, but a neighbor up here came to my rescue. Seems they have a widely published little newsletter here, I guess that is what you would call it, called The Pattiwagon. It is great! Lots of information and tips for living. Things such as 'Never take a laxative and a sleeping pill at the same time'. Now who would have thought of that? Another nice thought, 'Always remember you're unique – just like everyone else'.

Businesses in the area put ads in the letter also. My favorite is a towing company that advertises themselves as the "Cheapest hookers in town". As Larry the Cable Guy would say, "Now that's funny; I don't care who you are." Another interesting one is an excavation company that says, "Your hole is our goal." I'm not sure about that one, but I laughed anyway.

For those who may be feeling stressed – relax, turn up the sound, and enjoy. The resolution isn't great, but you'll get the idea. Also, excuse the dogs disrupting the serenity of the moment at the end.



I see all those soap flakes drifting down past my window again. I better get that guy the heck off my roof. That stuff went out with the 40's movies. I'm going to clue him in that computer generation is the way to go now. It's easier to clean up too. You just hit, 'Delete'.

Well, TTFN everyone.