More Snow to Come

This must be an unpredictable storm because there is a range of 1-3 feet of snow expected over a two day period! However, we are ready. Plenty of bread, milk and other food provisions - Hank and I also rented 8 movies in case we're house bound.

Henry is fixing a clutch on the snow plow truck today - which will be needed it seems. The cows are being feed and tucked away from the wind where possible and everyone is gathering firewood, food and drink.

Hank and I went sledding with the Johnson family. Here is a great shot of a wipe out!

See the ears of my hat flying, that was fun.

The dogs and the cows have thick coats, which if I was a Colorado girl, I would probably know that meant a cold winter! It's 5:20pm and the snow is coming down now.

Snowy blizzard changed our plans

Boy did our plans change quickly! Henry and Hank got snowed in and could't get to Alabama. I was able to fly back to Colorado on Christmas Eve so we could be together. We had a good day, cooked breakfast, opened presents and ate lunch with friends.

Hank's scavanger hunt awarded him with a used 2002 Dodge Dakota pickup truck - he was very happy. There is about 1 1/2 feet of snow remaining so sledding is the order of the day. I look forward to taking pictures and sharing them with you.

Expectations

This week I'm getting ready to go to Alabama for the holidays. I'm working for three days and vacating for 2 to spend time with family and friends. Henry and Hank arrive on the 21st. Time has been planned for parties, visiting, shopping and of course, Christmas.

Right now, we're packing, shopping, and getting the house ready to be away. Also, getting us ready is a major effort. Henry got a haircut, mine is scheduled for the weekend and Grizzly is getting groomed. Hank is coming as is...

We are having a wonderful time with the Wiggins Basketball season. Hank is playing on the JV team and is a real hustler! There is a tournament Friday and Saturday. I guess you see his picture, he's number 44.

Hank is a Wise Man in the Community Church Christmas play on Sunday evening. I think we're all glad to be included in the festivities even though its very different that our past Christmas's at Faith UMC.

Ranch activities center around feeding the cattle, preventative maintenance, and year end budgeting. My work is really busy trying to get projects wrapped up before the New Year.

Take time to remember the Reason for the Season! Jane

The Holiday Begins!

Hank and Henry went on the first skiing trip of the season this weekend. Henry's brothers, Ben and Jeff came and they all met in Vail for two days of downhill fun.

I went shopping! I toured all the usual spots, Macy's, Target, Kohls, and Walmart. Looking for unusual Coloraodo gifts, I came home almost empty handed.

On Saturday night, I met the skiers at Dazzles, a neat Jazz Club, in downtown Denver for dinner. The food was delicious, we had a good visit and then ventured out to the 16th Street Mall to see the night sites of a city all dolled up for the holidays. There were horse drawn carriges, trees adorned with twinkly lights, and colorful people. Along the 1 mile outdoor mall, folks along the way play music for tips, perform mims, sell various stuff, and generally walk along looking at the sights. A new holiday tradition was born - walking the mall to kick off the holiday!

Our Christmas tree is decorated and looks charming. The house is trimmed and we're "ready". Now we need some friends to come and warm up our home with laughter and love. We'll see.

It's Sunday and we're headed to Worship, then home. Joe and Jaelyn (two kids that live on the ranch) are headed over to spend the afternoon with us. Looking forward to a day at home.

Merry Christmas to all. Jane

Got the camera!

Hello all, I'm excited today! My early Christmas present from me to me arrived and I'm already learning how to use this fancy machine. It's a Canon Rebel XTi and it's awesome. Hope my eye can do it justice.

I posted an evening sunset shot - the colors in the sky were fantastic tonight! See Hank throwing a snowball at me, he really wound up to throw.

Also, I made a change so that anyone can post comments without being a member of the site. It does ask for your name but you can leave the address blank if you like. If this makes it easier for you to write comments, then I accomplished my goal.

Jane

Busy Weekend

Teenagers! They know how to fill a weekend with activities and thank goodness for that. After a quite morning, we left for Holyoke, Colorado, east of Orchard about 120 miles. It's amazing that highschools have to travel so far for a basketball game but that's what we did.

I figured it was a good time to explore more of Colorado and Henry helped by taking a backroad, Hwy 6, from Wiggins to Sterling, Co. the reentering hwy 34 on to Holyoke. The drive was a different route but not much different scenery, mostly flat, sagebrush, lightly snow covered topography. We passed several very small towns most which survive because of a grain storage facility that the rail cars pass by to pick up crops. (I'll get some snaps of those soon - when my camera arrives from the online purchase I made.)

In Sterling, Co Henry, Grizzly and I stopped at the Overland Trail Museum. We were met by Lana Trump, (not at all like Lana Turner or Donald Trumps latest honey) and were given a brief talk about the museum. She showed us pictures of James Michener and said he had visited the museum during the writing of Centennial. Everything from maps, old photographs,household goods, implements, furnishings, clothing, Indian artifacts, old tractors, musical instruments, and books were housed in this modest building. Really cool, I expect to go back and learn more.

After a brief stop, we continued to the Basketball game. Since the schools travel so far, and on a bus, all the teams play: JV girls and boys and then Varsity girls and boys. The first game started at 3pm and the last game finished at 7:45 pm. Although I think myself friendly and open to new people and things, I continue to be amazed that the parents of the Wiggins school kids don't recipocate an opportunity to make new friends. It was almost the end of the first quarter of the Varsity boys game when I realized that not one of the Wiggins crowd had bothered to say, "Hello, good to see ya." This depresses me and I'm not sure what to do. The road home was long and I was very quite thinking about this new problem.

It's Sunday morning and the house is quite. Hank is sleeping and Henry has gone off into the frigid cold to work - probably feeding cattle. I'm making a pot of soup which I hope to share with a ranch family, the Finnegans, after church.

The Johnson's called (another ranch family) and had fresh cut Christmas trees for us from the tree farm in Southern Colorado! We picked one out and will decorate this week!

All is well. Jane

Day 2 - It's frosty here

The phone rang @ 5:25 a.m. It was a friend and co-worker, Harry, calling to report a systems problem. I shook my head to wake up my brain and stumbled out to the computer. It's 6:25 in Alabama and he sees no reason why I'm not up and at it!

After setting the wheels in motion for corrections, I peeked outdoors to see a frosty wonderland. The gauge on the wall reported 9 degrees! Thank goodness for a great heat system.

Hank's off to school with Birthday party plans tonight. Henry headed off into the snowy land for work and I'm working from the warmth of my favorite rocker.

Hunters alerted me it was lunchtime, but not for the pheasant they just banged in the field next to our hous e! Henry came in and we ate chili and I thought I'd put this up before I went back to work.

December 1st - My brother, Dan's, birthday and tomorrow, Dec 2, my sis, Sally's. Happy Birthday