Power walking

Today I wandered over to the library to return a few books. One of the reasons we have inexpensive electricity here is that we generate hydropower downtown at the dam by the falls. Then we send the power all over the place on these nifty structures that preserve open spaces because nobody wants to build under them. They make nice walking corridors, and someone even has made a trail of sorts between my neighborhood and the one with the library in it, so I can go from one to another without hitting the big streets.

Why do I wait so late at night?

Another busy day has gone by. I spent my morning exercising at the gym. Well the kind of gym right out in front of the house where all that snow fell, and the county did not plow it, so I got out the shovel and exercised with it. This afternoon, once again I was doing my duty as tech support for the new computer in the house. In answer to "where should I put that?" I keep repeating my new mantra: it is your computer, put it wherever you want. Just remember where that was. We used the backup drive I bought last summer, aptly named big backup drive, to move files. I hope he likes where he put them.

It turns out the latest storm was more of a fizzle, so the kids will be off to Lookout Mountain for opening weekend for the local ski team. I booked a room over there rather than drive all the way across Idaho and back twice in a weekend. For those of you in the east who think driving across a state is no big deal, this one is 100 miles across at this point, so it comes close to the distance across some of yours. I hope that the roads are clear since it did not snow. The forecast for my house involves rain on Monday. I guess I could have left the snow to melt when it rains, but then with my luck, it would not rain at all, and more snow would fall.

Life bubbles along. I guess I need to check the kids old skis, since they may be skiing on rocks in two days. It would be a shame not to ski on the new boards, but even more of one to tear them up on the first time out of the box.

Turning from darkness to light

Christmastime is here neighbors have fervent desires
to turn night to day

then there are these strange
inexplicable coneheads
who live down the street.

Wishing you were somehow here again

After driving in snow, shoveling snow, skiing around the block on snow, I took the dog for a walk in snow. Kind of a theme and variations for the day. It is always exciting when it first falls, then it loses the allure as it stays on.

When the going gets tough . . .

the tough go shopping. Of course that would be after a day of supervising installing the new shed, washing clothes, supervising homework, moving everything from the car part of the garage to the new shed so a new car could fit there if it wanted to. Then it started snowing. It is still snowing. One of the joys of driving a white car is trying to find it in the snow.There she is behind the big white van.On Friday, it was just cold here, not snowing. Of course it might have been warmer if it was snowing.There were no lines at the checkout this time.I thought we ordered the shed with the black roof. You would never know how late it is at night with the high speed camera. ISO 3200 makes 11:00 PM look like 11:00 AM.Look what flash does to the flakes.

It all piles up

And it is all still here. Amid unearthing my desk and various other tasks that have been put off for a week or longer, I spent a significant part of the day helping my husband figure out his new computer. It helps that it is the same computer that I waited in line at 2:30 in the morning to get a ticket for it so my sister could buy it for her daughter, so I saw a little of what it looks like. I seem to answer to tech support now, along with everything else.

I did take some time out this afternoon to catch Enchanted with my daughter and her friend. It reminded me of when my daughter was young and she and her friend around the corner would make up "princess" stories with a high degree of suspension of disbelief and act them out. They would swoon over absent boys, both real and mythical. Someone decided to animate them and make it into a movie. I should have written it into a script and sent it to Disney. Of course the girls never got to the part where they fell into reality. Someone else thought that one up for them.

Looking at various complaints about the tail of the trip home, I cannot complain. We waited about five minutes after the bags arrived for my husband to show up in my heated car with the excited dog in the front seat. Why was he late? Really he was on time, we were early. Not bad for a busy travel day. The dog was ecstatic and climbed in my lap in the front seat. We shared the shoulder belt for the first little bit until she calmed down. She seems to think she is my dog, and takes great offense when I go away for more than a few seconds.

Jiggety Jog

Here we are home again I gave the window seat to the boy, so no pictures this time. We could see where we were going most of the time, and it had snowed over many parts of our state, but alas, not at our house. We are hoping that snow fell on the ski hill nearby, which would bring the start of the season.

I think I have unpacked everything. The suitcase is empty and the hamper is full. I once heard the definition of household bliss as an empty hamper and a full cookie jar. I have not made it that far yet.

The kids are happy with the new TV that Daddy bought when he braved the below freezing temperatures yesterday morning to go to Best Buy and get a magic ticket for the doorbuster sale. Then he went back and purchased said item when the store opened. Then he went back with the small car, because the big car was too small. Go figure. Of course I could have told him the little car is taller inside than the big car, because I have stuffed various items of random size in both of them for many years.

For now, it is time for bed.

Post turkey stress relief

Getting ready for turkey

Cousins have fun skating too

A hole is to dig

A tree is to climb