Day 2 & 3

Here's a couple of the sledding pics to share. These top two are from the big group on Saturday. Our neighbor plows this back road and drives this big tube up with everyone hanging on, and then they all sled down the hill. We have so much snow right now, that it was just perfect.

The bottom two are from here behind the house. Amy decided this morning she wanted to sled down this hill. She wanted ME to go down to the bottom and take photos as they sled down. (yeah, right)
She doesn't realize how steep this hill is and how much snow there really is on the ground. I told her to first walk down the hill and back up to see how hard it is. Not an easy task. The snow was up to her chest in some places.
She managed to create a sledding path that was a lot like a luge, and they would sled down. Only problem is, you have to walk back up. There were many times where she thought she was dying.
I just watched her from the deck. I laughed most of the time :)

Tubing by Dark

Here's a couple of the boys on a tube last night. If I had made it just a few seconds earlier, you would have seen they were covered with snow. The hat on the right is not white :)

They pull the tubes behind the 4wheelers so they get quite the ride. This is our driveway they're sitting in.

Day 1

Well, let me first start off with this statement: I have never seen this much snow here. It's just crazy. There is over a foot of snow just on the railing around my house. It's pretty wild. I should be able to get some great shots today.

So anyway, the drive. It was pretty bad, but not too stressful. I have a great car, so I wasn't freaked or anything. But.. the snow was crazy, the roads were a mess in certain places especially most of Idaho. Montana was/is covered in snow, which is much easier to drive in. Idaho was ice and slush, which is NOT fun, but the car did great.














What normally would take me about 2.5 ours, took me 3.5 hours. Spokane roads and highways were fine. I picked up sis and nephew and headed back. We hit some major snow on the way back, but again, the drive wasn't too awful. I left the house at 8:30am and got home about 5pm. I was really tired of being in the car. As soon as we got home, they hit the 4wheeler and played in the snow, of course.















The neighbors did come by and pick up Cody for awhile, sledding and tubing in the snow in the dark. I do think that's the most fun :)
Everyone's getting together around noon today for tubing/sledding/bonfire/cookout. Should be a fun day and great photos.














I took these last two shots last night, just trying to show the depth of the snow. This morning, my car is already covered again and it's still snowing.














Amy has lots of shoveling to do :)

Be Careful What You Wish For....

...and I get to drive to Spokane tomorrow :)















.SNOW ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 5 AM FRIDAY TO 5 AM MST
SATURDAY...
...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH
SUNDAY AFTERNOON ABOVE 3000 FEET...

FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT...SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 4 TO 8 INCHES
EXPECTED...HIGHER TERRAIN AREAS MAY SEE AMOUNTS UP TO 12 INCHES.

A STRONGER PACIFIC STORM MAY PRODUCE AN ADDITIONAL 8 TO 15 INCHES
OF SNOW AND SOME AREAS OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW SATURDAY AND
SUNDAY.

A SNOW ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE PRIMARILY
TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND
LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.

Merry Christmas :)

Rocky

I have my own little flying squirrel that comes nightly to munch on bird seed or peanuts. This is the closest I've ever gotten, and unfortunately couldn't get him gliding. They're way to fast. But, he didn't seem to mind me watching him eat :)

Christmas Eve Morn

Christmas Town

Scavenger Hunt : Light

Heckuvarush

Yep, that's what I'm in, heckuvarush. I'm just now getting things delivered and wrapped and out to mail tomorrow. My friends/family will be getting "after-Christmas" gifts.
I'm not sure why I got behind, but I did. At least I got my cards out on time.

I had another mini-disaster with the water pump this morning. It now won't stop running. Not a full water-flow or anything, but a constant stream. It's running in the barn and creating quite a mess. I spent most of the morning dealing with that and calling the waterguy..AGAIN. Dealing with water in 18 degree temps..AGAIN.
Sigh...
I did think to empty the water tank and move it under it. So at least it runs in there and I just keep the tank half full. The ground is too hard for any digging, and the expense would be insane, so that's how it will be for now. Maybe.

We had blue skies today, first in awhile. It was really beautiful and I did get out and take a few photos, as you can see below. We have clear skies tonight and almost a full moon.. it's already 16 degrees, so I imagine I'll have a very cool morning.
I also get to head into Sandpoint tomorrow for shopping (EEKS), but I want to get everything done tomorrow so I don't have to go to the city again until Amy gets here.
All of you keep me in your thoughts as I brave the big city and Walmart tomorrow.

Oh and I'm not too excited to see what the roads will be like tomorrow morning, so hopefully the little car will do well.

And.... that's all I got :)

Clark Fork River

Pawsicicles

Mmmmmmmmmm

I Have Nothing Else To Do

Stolen from Stacie.

What kind of soap is in your bathtub? Some kind of exfoliating soap, not sure what kind. I think it's from LUSH.

Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator? No.. and I'd like to know why Stacie doesn't believe in Watermelons.

What would you change about your living room? I wouldn't have a glass front door.

Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty? Don't have a dishwasher.

What is in your refrigerator? Umm.. diet coke, yogurt, a few different kinds of cheeses, chocolate milk, leftovers. And lots of condiments. The beer's on the porch.

White or wheat bread? White or Sourdough.

What is on top of your refrigerator? A cat.

What color or design is on your shower curtain? Cloth plaid.

How many plants are in your home? None.. I have evil plant-eating-cats.

Is your bed made right now? No

Comet or Soft Scrub? Neither.

Is your closet organized? Wow....NO. It never is.

Do you drink out of glass or plastic most of the time at home? Cans or bottles, I rarely use glasses for anything.

Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now? No..only in the summer.

Curtains or blinds? Blinds in the bedroom, nothing in the rest of the house.

How many pillows do you sleep with? Two

Do you sleep with any lights on at night? The light of the TV usually.

How often do you vacuum? No carpet here. I do have a rug, so maybe once a week if that.

Standard toothbrush or electric? Electric Sonicare.

What color is your toothbrush? White.

Do you have a welcome mat on your front porch? Yes.

What is in your oven right now? Cookie sheets.

Is there anything under your bed? Cats

Chore you hate doing the most? Cleaning the bathtub.

What retro items are in your home? What is retro?

Do you have a separate room that you use as an office? Yes we have an office, but I carry my laptop everywhere.

How many mirrors are in your home? Just in the two bathrooms.

What color are your walls? They're all different. The living room has wood walls. My bedroom is a khaki. One bedroom is green. One is yellow and one is white. Oh and the den downstairs is khaki.

Do you keep any kind of protection weapons in your home? Yes.

What does your home smell like right now? Christmas Tree.

Favorite candle scent? Any food, baking type smell.

What kind of pickles (if any) are in your refrigerator right now? Zesty spicy.

What color is your favorite Bible? It's brown leather I think.

Ever been on your roof? Nope. I've been close to grab Trout off of it, but I stayed on the ladder.

Do you have a stereo? Yes

How many TVs do you have? 3

How many house phones? 3

Do you have a housekeeper? Yeah right.

What style do you decorate in? Log cabin-y I guess.

Do you like solid colors in furniture or prints? Usually solid, but my couch happens to be a print. Goes with the theme I guess.

Is there a smoke detector in your house? Yes, many. I live in the National Forest.

In case of fire, what are the items in your house which you'd grab if you could make only one trip? Well, animals first, but then my cameras and laptop. Musical instruments and then shoes of course.

Snow Therapy

I wish the photo did this justice. I'm not sure I can even describe it correctly accept to say what I always say.. It almost seems like you're in a snowglobe. There's complete silence, the snow seems to fall from nowhere since you can't really see sky, and the silence is amazing. It's pretty neat to just stand out in it and not move, almost therapeutic. It's my snow therapy :)

*definitely Click it-to Big it*

Dominance

Pajama Tag

Just for Stacie.. she tagged me with the Pajama Tag. Basically you show the world your jammies. Here are mine...(well these are the flannels, and ones I'm willing to share :P)













Yeah,I have alot. You would too if you lived somewhere that has winter 6 months of the year.

Avalanche

It snowed a few more inches last night. With the weight and the sun out this morning, the snow flew off the roof this morning. Scares the crap outta the cats :) I'm glad it hit this morning because it really sucks when it happens around 4 am and it feels like an earthquake.

Hi

Helpers

I've Been Schmap'd

One of my photo's from Cougar Mountain Zoological Park was chosen to be in a Seattle Travel Guide called Schmap Seattle. :)

He is SO Getting Coal

It's Friday....

Smart Car

I left the house today. Sometimes I have to do that so the animals can eat.
Our roads are pretty snow covered, and add on that it was snowing and we had a little moisture yesterday, the roads are a little messy.
Not really a big deal, the little car did great. But...

As I was skidding on a road, nothing bad but a skid no less, the car informed me that I was skidding.

And as I was turning the wheel to kind of go with the flow, I actually thanked the car for letting me know...that.I.was.skidding.

They're getting too smart.

Trouble Looming

Sharing Space

I love this shot. The angle, the perspective, and the two animals lined up almost to look the same size. Doesn't it figure, one of my fave shots and I wasn't even looking through the viewfinder or focusing on anything inparticular?

Se7en

Yep, that's what 7 degrees looks like. Purty, eh?

So I fell to sleep for a few hours this afternoon, which is SO not like me. Now here I sit at 2:30am, not a bit tired. This is usually about when I'd be getting sleepy. Nope.
I'm almost done with my Christmas cards. I even actually got a few presents bought online. I think I need to make some kind of Christmasy chocolatey some kind of dessert. Of course that means driving to the city.. hmmmm. The 7 degrees makes you not want to really go anywhere, but I think it will get to at least 20 during the day.

Anyone want to send me a few groceries? I'll email you my list.

More Ham

iLike

So awhile back I bought this iHome stereo set up for the Seattle home. Figured it was easier to just tote my ipod back and forth and listen to music that way.
Well with the circumstances as they were, I never did get it set up. So, I had the hubs bring it back here for me.
Today I decided it was Christmas music kind of day and set it up. Wow.

LOVE it. Great sound and I just transferred all my Christmas music on it and hit play :)

My Christmas music tastes vary.. I can go from Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song" to RUN DMC's "Christmas in Hollis". I especially love the Very Special Christmas series.

It did start snowing, still under 10 degrees..fire going and doing Christmas cards.

Yeah, good day :)

Bad Kitty

Stuff To Do

Six degrees this morning. Doesn't feel much different than seven. It's really not so bad as long as there's no wind. Gloves are definitely a necessity.
The snow has gotten really really hard from the cold temps, so it's not much fun. Turning dark and grey now though, I wonder if more snow is coming?

Besides decorating the house, I really am not even close to being ready for Christmas. Not that I have to do much on this end, since no one's visiting until after Christmas, but I do have cards to do and gifts to order/buy. Thank goodness for online shopping.
I've had my cards here for two days and haven't touched them. So if you get a card from me, and it's late, just remember these treacherous temperatures I had to deal with. :)

Cold

It's SEVEN degrees outside.

SEVEN. And it's not even midnight yet.













Morning feedings should be real fun.

Close to Music

It's Friday...

Tree--Unfocused

..or Bokeh, as they say.

After

So..
it's a little shorter.
a little sparse
a little...red?? Not sure why.

I went a little crazy with the lights today.
Jones was a HUGE help.

I like it :)

Before

Yeah it's blurry.. it's evening and I didn't feel like adding the flash. But this is not the point.

Look how BIG it was!

The Tree Story

Ohhh, you knew there'd be a story right?

So as you read in the previous post that we went to get a tree. We headed out into the woods to cut one down. We had to cross a creek to get there and walk in pretty deep snow.
I found that it's pretty deceiving on the size of these trees when you're walking through a forest of them. We knew by the size that we would be cutting one in half unless we wanted one the size of rockerfeller center... ok, maybe not that big.

So.. after awhile we pick one. We cut it down. Well, he cut it down, I took photos :). We then cut the bottom off and proceeded to drag it home. We even got it across the log over the creek. I left my camera on one side just in case I went in. Thankfully, I did not.
But, we then had to go up a pretty big hill. There was just no way. I couldn't do it. This story's getting too long isn't it?
Anyway.. neighbor helps and we get the tree back to the house. WELL...

It was HUGE. We got it in the house, but it took up part of my living room and was hitting the ceiling beams, and we have vaulted ceilings. It was wild. We didn't want to drag it back outside, so we just moved all the furniture over, tipped the tree and sawed it in half again. But, my fault, I picked shorter than I wanted. So.. wound up having a smaller tree than originally planned, but.. oh well. I also found it was thinner up at the top then I thought. But it's not like you can just use the bottom.

So anyway, the bottom half of the tree is sitting on my porch. I haven't decided what to do with it. I might break it up and use it in the fireplace. I love the smell and the crackles it gives off.

I left the tree pretty much untouched over night so the goofballs can investigate and get into it.
They didn't.
I put lights on it.. now, they're interested.

Today I put more lights and bulbs... and It's growing on me. It's leaning a little and it's a little sparse..but I like it :)

I also was very brave and hung bulbs on the bottom. Asking for trouble I know, but I'm a rebel. (right)

Trout has already messed with the bulbs but didn't get any off the tree. He's now outside :)

The Tree Hunt

Went to cut down our tree today. Unfortunately it's so big I wasn't able to help carry it up a certain hill. So, it's sits there until hubs can get a neighbors help.

Decorated tree to come soon :)