The new…

First day home from the feed store

day 6

The old ~ and the new snow

Bathing in the wash/creek that runs through my property

This is my sad sad barn after the storm a few weeks ago..

inside

west side snow level

standing on that snow to take this roof shot

east side snow level

and standing on that snow to get the worst of the roof

but on the bright side…. this is my bedroom view and it really is pretty when the barn is out of view LOL!

Yesterday I had to go to the Grand Canyon for a school basketball game for Leavi. On the way out to the freeway I passed our school here in Parks. The forest service was doing a “Prescribed Burn” of about 30 piles of scrap from when they thinned the trees last summer.

And lots of SMOKE for miles!

After the game we started for the canyon which is less than a mile from the school where the game was….

We spotted these in someone’s yard. The more cars there were the closer they came to the street. The deer at the canyon are very tame and used to people. There is a whole community with housing, schools, medical and some shopping who live at the canyon year-round.

I have lived here almost 9 years and have been to the canyon many times for soccer and basketball games. (Our school plays with Seligman, Ash Fork, Williams and the Grand Canyon schools – not with Flagstaff schools – we are all outlaying small school districts) Also, I have been to the canyon with family on many occasions. But I have never seen the canyon with snow… it was so breathtaking! I took so many pics and have settled on these to share – there were just soooo many great views!

My first look….

So yesterday, for me was Fire and Ice.

Next week is SNOW week, again. Husband will be in Las Vegas at THE shot show and I will be here manning the fort! Shoveling snow, taking care of his mom and I may have the boys home most of the week, too!

Leavi and I went into to the theater at 3:30 to see Fast and Furious and came out to the same high wind and SNOW! I guess that Vin Diesel was worth it, though!

Hey Mistress N….. I thought it was springtime!…. And you missed this glorious high wind and snow just for Disneyland!! But, I really do hope that the sunny weather returns in time for your trip home.

Interstate 40

Spring Valley Road

(notice the ice on the windshield)

My road

The horses were, like, WTF!!!

I hope that this is what you are seeing…..

Last Tuesday I woke up at 5:30am and was so sick that I could not hold anything down. So after a long nap I went outside to sit in the 60 degree weather to watch all of my animals playing in the sun with each other. The horse pasture had dried out enough so that the horses could walk all over and head box with each other. The ducks were enjoying a warm weather swim while Belle annoyed them and chased the cats. She was having a great time!

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The ducks ignored her as much as they could…….

 while Brandy rolled in the sun.

Then today the snow started again! And it was almost all melted.

And tonight we have this! Thankfully, it has been a light snow and most of it is not sticking.

Sorry for the “wardrobe malfunction” of the blog this week…. was time to renew my domain name. I guess I did not get notification of the year anniversary because I changed my email addy but failed to notify the domain registry site.

Next week is Spring Break here in Northern AZ. My oldest daughter will be here from Santa Cruz, CA for the whole week and my younger daughter will be here for the weekend, too So, I will have all of my kids here at the same time!! I will miss my GH, as he is still on the road. His birthday is Monday and we will make a call to sing him Happy Birthday! 

Well, for my New Year’s gift, I got my weight down to 149!! My goal was 150.  Also, I got into a size jr8 without forcing the zipper! After my long awaited shower – (sidenote – we are snowed in out here in the “Lost Land” and do not have water most of the time, so showers are few and too far between, laundry is backing up, toilets are flushed less often and the garbage truck and propane truck can’t get here, either) – my husband (who is rarely home from the road on New Year’s Eve) and my friend, N, went out for dinner, dancing and a few drinks. The restrurant we picked, Black Barts Steakhouse and Saloon, has a dinner show… comprised of NAU acting students.  The night’s show was songs from many diff composers. Most of the singers were not bad, the meal was OK and then we left there to go find some fun! (You guessed that I was not impressed with show tunes? right!) We went to The Museum Club in Flagstaff  aka “The Zoo”- established 1931 – I have lived here for 8 yrs and have managed to avoid the place. It was cool inside with many antique items but it is an established country western place. I may make many enemies by stating this – but I am just so not into country music! If it’s not rock and roll of any era, it is just not fun music to me.  The band “Redneck” (N, try not to drool on your keyboard?LOL!) was on that night.  Not a bad band… they even played 2 real rock and roll songs! The part of the night that intrigued me the most, though, was all of the single people looking for single people.  And the guys! Tight pants and cowboy hats! everywhere! I found this hilarious because if they were REAL cowboys, they could NEVER even get on a horse in those pants – you could count the change in their pockets! Here we all are at Black Bart’s- sorry that the flash did not go off….

And to make the year so VERY exciting for me…. my kitty has been missing for 2 weeks. I thought she became some creature’s late night snack. She showed up last night skinny but in good shape. I think she must have gotten caught inside some hideout of hers when we got those 2 bad snow storms and that the snow melted enough yesterday for her to get out. I have really missed her company.

I think she missed me too!

So, Happy New Year to all!

No, that is not Santa early at our house – even though the boys call him that and living with him (most of the time) is like living with Santa.  But it does look like Santa in his work clothes, does’t it?  Last Monday GH got on the roof and put heat tape on the internet dish and the satellite tv dish!  I have waited for this for a long time.  He is usually out on the road and when it snows, we loose internet and tv until either 1-I climb up high enough on a ladder to knock the snow off with a long pole or 2. the snow melts.  We were hit by a snow storm Tues and we still have both signals working!

We have another storm hitting tonight with forecasts of up to 2o inches at our altitude of 7500 feet. 

This was going to be about St. Patrick’s Day.  Yesterday there was an 80-100 car pile up on the freeway a few miles before the exit to my house.  Some of my friends were involved.  Thankfully, there are only 2 reported fatalities.  During a complete whiteout, a semi jacknifed and then there was a domino effect.  Click this to read the Daily Sun’s account of the accident.  Miracles do happen and Life IS Good!

I hope that everyone heals fast and can get on with life.  And that we all learn a lesson from this tragedy.