First Snow

This is early. Mighty early, people. I love winter and all, but...well, it's early.

I suspected yesterday that we might get snow last night. Because basically, that's what the weather people said. Actually, I think someone in the neighborhood told me because I don't remember watching the news yeterday.

Anyway, a cold rain was falling and even at our elevation it dipped waaaaay down into the 40s, so you just KNEW something was going to be afoot at the higher elevations.

When I peeked out this morning, the clouds were right down in the valley so I was clueless. Snow or no snow?

Finally, around 3:15pm, the clouds lifted a little and I could see.

Yep. Snow.

I looked back at the pictures I take each year to mark when the first snowfall on New York Mountain occurs.

2010: September 23 (Tara's birthday!)
2009: September 20
2008: Hmmm, apparently I hadn't started marking the occasion yet

So now as I look, we're not too far off the trend. I confess I'm hoping for a very nice, long Indian Summer now. I'm not ready to wear socks.

I'd Better End Up in a Really Nice Nursing Home

February is usually a quieter work month for me. Every other month, I'm kind of slammed and so starting last week, things should have calmed down a little bit. They didn't. Therefore, I haven't posted.

So there's my excuse for being an absentee blogger.

Last Saturday, Finn's hockey team was invited to play in between periods at the Colorado Avalanche game (NHL hockey). How fun would that be to be 7 or 8 years old and play on NHL ice in front of thousands of people? Of course we were going.

And of course, we woke up to snow.

Although the rest of you are getting hammered this winter and even though the ski resorts are swimming in snow, in our town, we have not had snow other than a random dusting here and there. Not even enough to get the snowplows out. It has been very, very unusual.

But since we had to drive to Denver and be there at a specific time, of course, it snowed. A lot.

Normally, the drive to the Pepsi Center would take right around 2 hours. The journey there took about 3 1/2 hours. The journey home took about 4 1/2 hours. Possibly more. I think I blacked out for much of the drive. And by drive, I mean driving about 1 mph for several hours. No lie.

And that wasn't even the longest amount of time it has taken me to get home from Denver. Dec. 30, 2006, holds that record at 6 hours. It's a record I hope I never break.

Anyway, we made it, the kids skated, and it was very cool. I hope they appreciate it when they're older because other than one family, I think the whole team made it.

A few pics. I realize the kids look like aemoebas down there. We were literally in the top row of the Pepsi Center. Top row. The nose-bleediest seats you can get. Great for watching hockey, not great for taking pictures. If you click on the pictures, you'll see bigger versions. I think.


Finn is in a gray jersey and is wearing white socks with two small blue stripes on either side of a bigger red stripe (thank goodness for those Columbus Blue Jackets socks--they have helped me ID my kids from afar many times). In this pictures, he's right by the "R" in Pepsi CenteR.


In this one, he's right next to the rectangle that says Chipotle.


Here his left skate is nearly on the circle.


He's about to cross the blue line...


The boys in our top row seats.

Long, fun day. I didn't get to eat at Smashburger on the way home though. I guess we can't have it all.

Are You Holipausal?

So yesterday, Tara and I coined (at least I think we're the first to come up with it--I should Google it) a new phrase for how women feel at the holidays: holipausal.

I felt holipausal last year: rushed, stessed, not able to slow down and enjoy the season. This year, I'm holding steady, which I attribute to getting the shopping and wrapping finished last week, leaving this week open to lying around and complaining about the rain (more about that later).

The term holipausal came about when Tara was telling me about a meltdown she had over the Christmas tree, which they did not have, could not find, and her husband was talking about waiting until the day before Christmas Eve to get. I'll spare you the gory details, but, as anyone would assume when a woman has a meltdown, I asked Tara if she had PMS. She said, "No, unfortunately, because that would be the best way to explain away everything!"

So if you're not premenstrual, menstrual or postmenstrual, and you're still having a holiday meltdown, you must be holipausal.

Or we're just psycho. Take your pick.

Like I said, everything here is ready for Santa, but two things are causing me angst:

1. The weather. It is raining. RAINING, people. For days. This is why I left Ohio--38 degrees and RAINING. Ironically, Ohio is having a white Christmas, while here, for the first time in decades, it is Christmas week and there is not a lick of snow on the ground at our elevation and none is forecast to be. The resorts have plenty, which is important, but here? Nothing. All of our traditional outdoor Christmas activities have gone awry. No snowshoeing. No sledding. It hasn't even been cold enough to freeze the ice for the town park rink. We could go skiing, of course, but we'd wait in the rain in the parking lot for the shuttle. I do not feel compelled to make "waiting in the rain to ski" one of our new Christmas traditions. For the first few weeks of December, Declan complained and complained that we didn't have snow. "Just wait," I assured him. "Our snow will come." Apparently, I am a huge liar.

2. My Dad called to say that he had shipped the boys' presents and they would likely arrive at the post office late this week. We have no mail delivery in our town, which means everyone has to pick up their mail and packages at the post office. Hence, even at the best of times, the post office is a nightmare. The very thought of having to go to the post office is making me feel faint.

Or maybe I'm just going through holipause.

First Dusting of Snow

Hey, how about me and all of my Colorado scenery pictures lately? Sick of it yet?

Anyway, I wait for this day anxiously every fall--the day that snow is back on New York Mountain which I can see from the street that runs right through the middle of our neighborhood.

Last night, it got pretty cold at our elevation--6,600 feet. And it was raining (have I ever mentioned how much I miss a good, solid rain here in the high desert?). I suspected, and I was right, that the nearby peaks might be getting their first dusting of snow. It's always right around this week every year so far.

The clouds were still heavy when we woke up this morning, so I couldn't tell until they lifted early this afternoon, but then I could definitely see: SNOW!

I have always loved fall: leaves, visiting the pumpkin farm, I even liked Ohio's damp, cold fall weather. It's a little different out here--fall comes fast. The past two summers when we've returned home from Ohio, it's still summer here, but the heat is gone from the air. It's still warm, but not hot, if that makes sense. Nights cool down, leaves are starting to turn by the last week of August. The Aspens are lovely and yellow, but I still miss the reds and oranges of Ohio. We have one street in our neighborhood with maples that are turning red. I'm watching carefully so that when they get a little further along, I'll walk up and down that street all day and take a few pictures.

If you click to enlarge the picture above, you can see patches of yellow on the elevations below the snow capped peaks. Very pretty. I would have been even prettier with the sun out, but we had an unusual lack of sunshine today--very rare out here, trust me (a Midwestern girl at heart, I pine for some really cloudy days. Even Declan comments, "I wish it would rain.").

Here's a picture of the first snow dusting last year, which happened on the night of September 19, 2009 (versus the night of September 22, 2010, this year). Aren't I such a riveting scientist with all of this analysis.



I had thought it was a much sunnier day after that first snow last year, but clearly, it really wasn't. Thank goodness for photographic evidence.

I know some people lament the end of summer and coming of fall, but I look forward to each season here. Each one brings something new and very different so I'm ready for each one when it comes.

However, this little sprinkling of snow makes me want to dash right past fall and and run without passing go to have my skis tuned. But wait, that would mean I'd miss the Halloween candy. I'll dash right after Halloween.

Beer. It's What's for Easter.

The boys and some friends enjoying a little apres ski on Easter Sunday.

I'm kidding, of course. They didn't drink beer. They did shots.

Kidding again. We would never let them do shots on Easter.

We woke up to this:


But later it cleared and we headed to the mountain, met up with some friends, and spent the day skiing.

Finn was crabby. Found out later he was getting sick. We made him keep skiing because we want our kids to be tough mountain kids. And we're clueless. And we wanted to stay until it was s'more making time at the fire pit.


We made it to the fire pit. The kids made s'mores. I ate 4 homemade gourmet marshmellows (toffee x2, vanilla bean, kahlua). I didn't drink any beer because I didn't want to ruin my preparation for my detox food plan I was starting on Monday. Apparently I didn't feel the marshmellows would be a problem.

Preparing for Easter, the day before.



We're now busy eating a lot of hardboiled eggs. Well, not me, because I'm trying to be a gluten-free vegan for the next two weeks. I'll report back on how that goes. I've discovered it's really hard to be a gluten-free vegan when you decide to make brownies for teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week. Let alone the week after Easter.


Hunting for eggs. Note the hockey bag in the background. It's usually packed away by this time of year. This year's a little different. More on that later. . .




Here's the view out the back door this morning.


At least it didn't happen on April Fool's Day.

Mush! And Other Winter Fun

Out here in the (sort of) Wild West, there are lots of fun things to do other than skiing. Some of the local ranches offer things like sleigh rides, horseback rides, dog sledding, snow mobiling, etc. But these activities tend to be a little expensive and something tourists do on vacation. Because when you're living here, you don't often have the time to go do these kinds of things because you're busy.....I don't know, working?

On Saturday, a local ranch, 4 Eagle Ranch--which is owned by an alum from The Ohio State University, I might add--had a day of free activities. We go to 4 Eagle a couple of times a year for school functions, and last fall Eamonn and I went on a horseback ride at 4 Eagle that we won in a silent auction. It's just a fun place to go. Anyway, on Saturday we decided to live like the tourists and take advantage of the opportunity to try a bunch of things we'd never normally do.

This was my favorite:



I'm riding in the sled with Declan. Eamonn and Finn are in a sled behind us. It was very fun. And pretty uncomfortable. I definitely wouldn't want to travel very far like that. There are two other little segments of video, but frankly, they take so long to upload, I think I'm quitting with one segment. Sorry. But the jumpiness of the video may be making you sick anyway.

We were amazed at how much the dogs seemed to want to just run, run, run. When the sleds came back around to pick up the next pair of passengers, they anchor the dogs to the ground, but also to a snowmobile because they're so strong. When the dogs knew it was time to get ready to go again, they started pulling so hard they could actually drag the snowmobile with a grown man on it, in addition to us in the sled and the musher. Pretty amazing.



A few pics of the other activities available:


Stopping at the obligatory headless cowboy/cowgirl scene. That's Finn on the left, Declan's friend, Jack, standing without a cowboy body, Declan, and Jack's little brother, Reid.


The gang on the wild steer: Reid, Declan, Finn, Jack


Segways in the snow. Who knew this was a sought after winter event?


Declan and me--ready to dog sled.


Eamonn and Finn ready to mush!

Interestingly, I never heard them say "mush" once. Just in case you were wondering.


Declan meets one of the team.


Finn got a sloppy kiss.


Tubing behind snowmobiles. I think I have whiplash.


Meeting this little guy.


Taking a sleigh ride out to the sledding hill. Again--sleigh--not a comfortable way to travel. I'm feeling bad for the Little House on the Prairie people about now.


Finn coming down the sledding hill with some interesting form.


Jack and Declan (at the top) forging (unsuccessfully) a new path.


Declan took a pony ride while Jack and Finn launched themselves off a snowbank.


In the meantime, I admired the view.

The Snowshoe Shuffle

This afternoon, Declan's 4th grade class did a fundraiser for their 4th grade camping trip coming up in May (that seems like a long way away right now, but it will be here in a flash). The fundraiser was a snowshoe shuffle at the neighborhood golf course.

Hilariously, we've had so little snow so far this winter that the kids could have really just run around the golf course instead of going through the hassle of putting snowshoes on, but I guess that takes a little bit of the thrill out of the theme--snowshoe shuffle.

The kids trekked from the school over to the golf course (I forgot how fricking slow kids walk).

Eventually, they made it.

Declan with a few of his posse: Ian, Declan, Sidney, BFF Jack

We helped them all get into their snowshoes, they lined up. . .




And off they went.


I hope all these overcast skies are bringing some snow. This lack of sunshine is bringing me down, man.


Jack leading the way. Declan just behind him.


Jack takes a dive. Declan runs right past him. That's loyalty for you .

I trotted around the course in my snowshoes with a few friends. I'm happy to say I beat a few 4th graders. That always makes me feel good.


Declan crossing the finish line. He came in 7th. Very exciting.


Here he is allegedly having a heart attack. I told him to hold still so I could take his photo. He's thirsty. For some reason, he didn't see fit to bring the Camelbak I so lovingly prepared for him and put in his backpack. So I have no sympathy. You can eat some snow when I'm finished.


Declan and Jack celebrating their finish.


The Motley Crew--aka the 4th grade.

Next fundraising effort for the camping trip? The complete opposite of a snowshoe shuffle: Little Ceasar's Pizza sales. You know how happy that makes me feel.

New Shoes

But unfortunately, not for my feet.

Ghostly Encounters

On Saturday, we went to Aspen for a soccer game. I love going to Aspen, but this isn't exactly the most picturesque time to be in ski country. In fact, it's very aptly known as mud season.

Even though we're still getting spring storms (like the one that came through last night and brought about an inch here, much more up valley), there are patches of muddy earth showing themselves on the ski slopes and the snow that's left is brownish.

Even so, after the soccer game, we went out to lunch and decided to drive up to an area called Ashcroft above Aspen.

Ashcroft, while once a booming metropolis of 2,500 inhabitants in the 1800s, is now a ghost town. I don't remember too many details from the signs at the ghost town. Eamonn read them out to all of us, but I was too busy repeatedly falling through the snowpack up to my knees and thighs to take in all of the details.


In fact, here is my friend, Patricia, falling in. I had already gone thigh deep on a number of occasions trying to get to the sign. There was a lot of shrieking and hysterical laughter. We're thinking that next year we should leave our snowshoes in the car. Until July. See those people in the background? They watched us fall through. And they left. Wimps.

It was really overcast on this day and it was actually spitting a little bit of rain on the drive up.


Eamonn, Patrick and the kids try to forge ahead to the sign about Ashcroft.


The men make it.


Finn gets left behind by the older kids. . .and is not amused.


The gang up ahead, already in the "town." Patricia and I are still crashing through the snow behind everyone. We would occasionally find bare earth to walk on. Only to fall through again a few steps later. Quite a good workout.




I'm very disappointed that the saloon is closed. I'm thirsty after all that work.


The old hotel.


Later in the hike, we find some solid ground.


Some soccer pics from earlier in the day. Declan's team won. This is a competitive team where we travel and score is actually kept. As if kids didn't keep score before. . .


Declan is sometimes the goalie.


After a save.

And finally, a healthcare postscript. ..
My biopsy came back clear. They'll retest in 4 months, but for now, no worries. Thanks everyone, as always, for your support!