At least it's beautiful. This was taken in between blizzards. There are 2' tall bushes next to that little fence.

The last blizzard was dry and fluffy powder but this one is made up of big, wet flakes. This one, I'm resigned to. Before it started, I made sure to give the dogs a nice long walk this morning and covered up some grassy areas.

I'm annoyed with the city for not even making one snowplow run through our neighborhood. The problem area is the hill that slopes down to the north and doesn't get the solar melt-off like the other streets. We've been driving in snow ruts for the last several days and this will just make it worse. Still, I would rather this mess than a whole winter of dry and brown. One drought is enough for me.

We started our day by going to Eldora so Honey and Sweetie could snowboard. Nice day up there, sunny and beautiful after last week's blizzard, but Windy! Windy enough to close the lifts by lunchtime. We headed back down and put the turkey in the oven. For some reason, it wouldn't finish cooking so we ended up at the table with some raspberry wine and some Fat Tire that Elvar left behind. What a sweet way to pass some time with real conversation, not just talk that happens on the fly. We ended the evening watching "Pride and Prejudice" on our brand new super-duper 32" flat screened LCD TV.

The blizzard itself was one thing. The meltdown is quite another. The general rule here is that the city doesn't plow the side streets, leaving the job to the sun. Usually that works when we've had just a few inches - but it will take several days for our street to clear off this time. The yard is going to be muddy long after the last snow has melted. My poor dogs got their first real walk this morning after being cooped up the house/porch/backyard run area.

I wonder. If I lived near a beach, would I be dreaming about being near the mountains as much as I dream about being near an ocean? I don't even need an ocean - a gulf would do.

More fun:

This is what I'm talkin' about (my sidewalk):

Man o Man, it's really coming down. They've been talking about this storm for a few days and it finally arrived. When I got up, there was just a dusting, just enough that I could sweep off the walk ways but now it's dumping! Our white Christmas is secured, at least with snow on the ground.

Sweetie and I went to see the Ars Nova Singers last weekend. I was suffering from a bout of ennui so much that when they broke into song, tears welled up in my eyes. I checked around for any sadness or reminders of past then realized they were tears of relief. I forget to keep aesthetics in my life sometimes.

I thought I would write more, but the dogs need walking so I'm outta here.

I took the dogs all the way up to the lake this afternoon after missing the morning walk. Each time I go there I'm surprised at how beautiful it is. The dogs like it, too.

A thin sheet of ice had obviously been melting during this last warm week but it was thick enough to hold the weight of a lone goose that was walking from one side to the other. It was a funny sight - a goose walking on water. I waited to see if he considered himself to be stuck but that didn't seem to be the case. He just took his time moving toward his friends. I left before he got there.

I found this Scottie at The Pet Set . Pretty darn cute. More Scotties in the new Bark magazine on the Amanda Jones ad.

Most of the snow has melted in town but it's still on the ground at home. This is the last year I'm going to struggle with the back walkway - it's going to be paved somehow by next winter, either with flagstone or concrete or something.

Plans for the rest of the year include 1) finishing the end of the year promo for the biz 2) getting all tax stuff in order 3) using up my Rec Center pass 4) reading "State of Fear" by M Crichton 5) reading 2 books about edible gardening 6) working on the house-painting project if the air warms up 7)continuing to dekludge.

Holiday plans include: The Boulder Piano Quartet at the Library; Ars Nova, also at the Library (ok, it's free); finding a Wii for Sweetie; getting Honey's Ipod; party at the Mission; and our annual Christmas Eve Chinese Feast and Christmas Day at Eldora.

The lights and tree are up since I followed my neighbor's lead and started the day after Thanksgiving. It sure is a lot easier when not much is done.

2 more weeks to go till the Earth starts tilting back to normal.