Fresh Snow!

We're just on the outer edge of the band of snow, but it's been so long since we've had any fresh snow.

Don't you love it when the snow sticks to the window?

January was NaKniMitMo (National Knit Mittens Month).  I finished two more pair, for a total of three pair of mittens in January.

Mittens for My Mom

Picea

And I'm starting a February KnitAlong for an Advent Calendar of Mittens.  I've got my yarn ready!

More than he bargained for

More snow today.

I think this Baltimore Oriole may feel he came back a bit prematurely.

Making Lemonade from Lemons

We ended up with 8 inches this morning.

Just had to go for a quick ski before work.

With any luck, never again on May 2...

Ummm, yeah...

May 1st.

 I know.  Right?

It's still snowing

April 11.

Still coming down.

My brother says you can't fully appreciate winter til you've had the full six months.

Snowy Weekend

Friday night we had 11 inches of light powdery snow.  


 
Saturday dawned bright and sunny.  


It made a great day to go skiing at Welch Village!


(No pictures there, I'm afraid I didn't carry the camera.)













Sunday we lazed about the house.  


After a big brunch, we roused ourselves enough to go out for the first snowshoeing of the season.

The dogs went crazy in the deep snow.

Paul had his first chance to use the Dale of Norway mittens I knitted him at the end of last winter.

They're the perfect weight and breathability for snowshoeing.

Happy New Year 2010!

Did you do something memorable to bring in the New Year?

Did you do something pleasantly memorable to bring in the New Year?

I'd like to think my days of doing regrettably memorable things for the New Year are far in the past.  So far, so good, I must say.

 
In honor of the rare New Years Eve Blue Moon, we snowshoed out into the subzero temps to fully experience and celebrate the frosty glow.  Even the dogs frolicked in the cold snow.

It was difficult to get decent photos - my fingers darn near froze off.  Naked hands for photography did not work so very well.  I finally had to give it up and be satisfied with what I had.

Do you think, in 19 years when there is another New Years Eve full moon, Girl of the House will remember the bright, cold snowshoeing celebration she had when she was 14?  Will she tell the story?  Will it be pleasantly memorable?

17 inches of snowfall

The final word on the snowfall at Tofte was 17 inches.



It was an amazing change of scenery!










It drifted in around the truck. We had to excavate a bit to load it up and get home.







For the remainder of spring break, Girl of the House and I are working on her room.

Now that she's thirteen, she needs an updated room.

(What she really needed was a deep cleaning and de-cluttering, but we're calling it an 'updating'. It's all in the phrasing, isn't it?)

We carried everything out of the room, and we're placing the 'keepers' on this sheet in the family room.

I guess Paris must think he's a keeper.

51" and still snowing

Here at Grand Targhee, we've had 51 inches of snow since we arrived on Sunday.


Fresh snow every day!







Great powder for skiing.











Or losing young girls.












Ben is actually skiing in the photo, but the snow is so deep, it's hard to tell, isn't it?









Santa found us, even after we forgot to pack our stockings.








Now, will we be able to get out of here tomorrow morning?

It's snowing!

Last night on the news, the meteorologist said the snow in South Dakota was not coming this far east.












"If that was going to happen, I'd lead at the top of the news."




Well, oops to her.

No "Christmas at Luther" for us this year...

This afternoon, we were going to Luther College, in Iowa, for the Christmas at Luther concert. Ben is in Cathedral Choir at Luther, and they do a fabulous Christmas concert.

Due to the weather, we have elected not to go. We have 4-5 inches now, and its still coming down. Looking at the national weather service, and speaking to Ben, it's sleeting in Decorah.

The concert is at 7:30. It takes us more than 2 hours to get to Luther, and coming back in the dark and ice is not in the cards today.





I LOVE to see Ben perform. He LOVES to perform. (Well, I guess he's going to perform whether we are there or not, isn't he...) The concert has been sold out for some time - no chance of seeing it tomorrow, in better weather.

I'm bummed.

However, it is beautiful here.

Girl of the House went out and shoveled the sidewalk for us, unbidden. She played in the snow with her little dog.









This is the first accumulation of snow Chip has seen. He seems to love it, eh?









We're settling in.

Paul's making his most excellent chili.









We'll have a fire. We'll all snuggle in. I'll knit. Paul and Girl of the House will read. There will be good music. Good wine. Yummy chili for supper.

It will be good.

But I'll still miss Ben.

It snowed for several hours Saturday morning. Actually built up on the deck, but it melted on the grass. Deer hunters are out - we heard several shots close by. A doe came across the yard, limping. Her front leg had been shot, but she was still going strong. Maybe she'll heal, and be a mate for the big three legged buck that we see frequently...


We saw Shrek III on Friday night. I managed to spin up a bobbin of the Shanghai Nights fiber that's been in my stash for a few months. I have a pound of it - got 5 ounces on the bobbin so far. It's really fun. It has silk threads carded into it.






Last evening I finished a quick little chemo cap. A friend asked me to make up a few hats for one of her recently diagnosed friends. It's knitted from some stash yarn I received a few years ago - I have no clue of the content, but boy, it's soft!



Plan today is to continue to prepare the house for Thanksgiving dinner. You know, put junk away that's been sitting out for so long that you don't even see it anymore, REALLY dust, spot clean the carpet (darn puppy!), clean the nose prints off the sliding glass door (darn puppy!), etc... We're having between 16-18 people to dinner.

We're also going to do a little geocaching. Hey, we hid our first geocache yesterday! It's published, and I'll bet someone finds it today. Now beside finding others, we have our own to maintain. (Well, we got kinda excited about it!!!)

Finished my clogs!

Lots of snow in MN today. Very out of the norm, yet not impossible, for April.

Nice to stay in and wear my new clogs! Here are Paul's and my clogs. He's been wearing his for a few weeks, so they show the
effects of two cats and one big dog in the house. (lots of hair!)

Finished and felted my clogs last evening. They are made of leftovers from the kids slippers, and some from a felted bag. I tried to make them evenly matched, but apparently I'm not that good at measuring out equal amounts of yarn. I'm still very pleased with them!

They're bright and toasty warm.