Rows in the Snow

I missed the weekly Thursdays Things in a Row this week.

I even had photos to share from last Mondays brief snow storm.

I will share them now, my rows in the snow.

Paw prints in a row in the snow.

Firewood covered in snow in a row.

Outdoor solar lights hidden under the snow in a row.

The shop roof covered with snow in a row.

The storms that we were supposed to get never really materialized this past week.

We had more strong winds on Wednesday and Thursday and the storms stayed to the north of us.

It was cloudy most of yesterday and finally, late in the afternoon, it began to rain.

It rained most of the night.

It has rained briefly today and we even had about fifteen minutes of blowing snow.

Nothing major yet!

We need so much more than what we are getting at the moment!

Just a Titch

We woke up yesterday morning to a "titch" of snow on the ground.

Less than an inch!

This is the first snow of 2012.

Rather pathetic, but rather pretty to see!

We have not had any moisture in our area since the end of November!

Sunday brought high winds and blowing dust/sand to the area.

The winds ushered in a change in the pressure system and now the forecast is calling for additional storms to hit our area this week.

Only time will tell what they will actually bring in the way of much needed moisture!

Maybe just another titch...but a tad more would be helpful!

Since yesterday was MLK Day, I was off work.

So I didn't have to drive on icy roads!

I got to stay home and enjoy the warmth of a nice, cozy fire! 

Deep Drifts

Yes, it snowed...all day yesterday!

The wind blew strong and gusty all day as well!

Staying home and not making the drive to town for work was smart on my part.

There are three and four foot drifts in places!

This is off our back porch!

 The snow drifted in swirls all around the house.

You can see the little Volcano in the background...the same one from yesterday's photo.

 My feet disappearing into the snow!

 The chickens coming out of their houses as I walked toward the coop.

You can see the large drift that piled up in the coop.

I couldn't open the gate!

Countrychick had to shovel the drift out and make a path for the chickens.

I know this might not seem like a lot of snow to those in the mid-western or eastern part of the country, but this is the most we have had all winter!

It is my understanding that our county road has some seriously deep drifts on it!

Still Under

A Winter Storm Watch and now a blanket of snow!

The photo below is of our little Volcano fire pit that sits just off our patio!

It is slowly disappearing under the blowing, horizontal snow!

When I got up this morning, I knew it had been snowing even before I looked out the window. It was quiet! The kind of quiet that only a snowfall can bring.

I started to get ready for work, but I really wasn't sure what I should do....drive in or stay home? My drive one way is around 30 miles...mostly gravel road out of our valley and then on a two-lane hwy into town.

We had discussed the storm at work yesterday and my boss told me to use my best judgement if the storm looked bad. So I planned ahead and brought home work to do just in case.

I called into the office to find out what the weather was doing in town. I was told it was snowing hard, the roads were very slick and the wind was picking up.

I received an update on the hwy and it was snow packed and slick.

I chose to stay home and not make the drive in.

I'm glad I did! It has continued to snow all morning, the wind picked up which is causing the snow to blow horizontally and drift!

It is supposed to continue to get worse as the afternoon progresses with winds expected to hit 45 mph with gusts up to 60 mph!

Big Fluffy

Snow flakes fell both Saturday and Sunday.

We got about three inches of snow out of the storms that have rolled through our valley.

This is the first significant snow we have had since early December!

It was nice to see the big fluffy flakes falling outside our window!

We spent the days indoors playing the Wii that Countrychick got for her birthday...what a blast!

I did a little baking too!

Wintery Wednesday

~Pine tree outside my office building ~

It was raining last night on the way home from work. The rain turned to snow sometime during the night. We woke up to snow and ice this morning. The doors on my car were frozen shut, the car was frozen to the ground and the roads were a solid sheet of ice!

Snap Shot

As I was heading to work one morning I noticed up ahead of me this swirling, misty fog. It was actually at the top of the hill that leads out of our valley. The sunlight was bouncing off the clouds and hitting the fog giving it a very mysterious look. I stopped and snapped this photo with my camera phone. Happy Sunday!

Rain, Snow and an Award

We woke up to snow this morning after having two days of rain. I won't complain about the weather as we really need the moisture. The snow this morning was a wet, heavy snow. There were only a couple of inches in the valley and most of it is melting off now. The mountains around us are once again covered in white. The temperature has dropped down into the low 30's again. I guess that is better then temps that register below zero. If it starts raining again, it will surely turn to snow over night.




Last weekend, Jeannelle over at midlife by farmlight presented me with an award. Thank you so much Jeannelle. I'm so happy I have gotten to know you over these past many months. The directions for this award are very simple and they are posted below the photo of the award. When I started blogging back in August, it was for my own enjoyment and pleasure. I had no idea that I would meet many wonderful people on this blogging journey or make new friends. I thank all of your for stopping in to read and check up and for allowing me to share my world with you. Thank you to each and everyone of you for following along with me. It is so very hard to pick people to pass awards on too, but I had to choose eight, so with no further ado...these are my eight.

WOW

Adventure Girl

Oregontribal1

Gail from at the farm

Scrappy

Lisa at Laughing Orca Ranch

Colleen

Lisa from is that a garage door on my ceiling

Just follow the directions below for passing on the award. Just want you to know I love you all.

"The Friends Award isn't about being the most popular blogger or having the most read blog. It is just because you are a friend."Here's the cleverly written text of the award: "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

The award below was given to me a few weeks back by Gail from at the farm. I know it is a bit late, but Thank You Gail. The day you gave this award to me, I really needed it. So I'm now passing this award on to Jeannelle. She is a sweet, wonderful bloggy friend and I'm so happy I know her. I encourage everyone to drop by the blogs I have listed here today. They are all wonderful, amazing, inspiring people. You will enjoy your visit to each of their worlds.

Wishing everyone a Happy Sunday Evening........

Simply A Quiet Sunday....

"Little acts of kindness can add up to a lifetime of happiness." I took this photo in January of 2005. This tree was in the backyard of the third house we lived in here in our little valley. It had snowed heavily, then the fog settled in the valley for several days. When it lifted, this is the sight we were greeted with. It took my breath away!

What Goes Up, Must Come Down

Yesterday, we were invited to go inner-tubing with Mr. B, his family and another large group of friends. We dressed warmly in layers, packed up goodies and extra clothes and headed out. We had to travel a good 30 miles to the spot where all of the action was to take place.

As we neared the spot, I snapped this photo....the inner-tubing was to take place near the base of this mountain.

We followed another truck in and as we got closer, we could see everyone was already gathered and the fun was underway.

A large fire was built for us to stand around and keep ourselves warm. This really came in handy after many trips down the hill on the tubes and getting covered in snow. There was plenty of warm food and drink to go around. One of the gals made a batch of Hot Buttered Rum for us to try....now that was good stuff!

We arrived around noon, so a lunch break was under way. Everyone filled up on beans, hot dogs, salads and other goodies. Then it was time to load up the truck with people and kids for the journey back up the hill. The truck and driver would take us all to the top, pulling the tubes behind. Here Countrychick is helping Mr. and Mrs. B's little ones into the truck. Mrs. B. is headed up the hill as well. I stayed behind this trip to take photos......

Off they go, up the hill........

All you could see from the bottom of the hill were the tops of heads bobbing around while they readied the tubes for the ride down.

Countrychick and little B. were the second to come down. I had no clue how fast they were going at this point...but they were moving right along. There were screams and laughter as they sailed down the hill.

The ride down is fast! I bet they were hitting speeds of 35 mph or better.

Once they hit the bottom, the would have to get off quickly, grab their tube and get out of the way as they next group was headed down.

The next group would usually be all adults on the big tube. They would grab onto the side and hang on for dear life......This was a riot to watch! Let's just say there were a few wipe-outs before they reached the bottom!


Yours truly had a blast....I went up and down several times on the tubes with the kids. Countrychick and I shared a tube with one of the little B.'s.....it was a blast. The kids loved hearing me scream....I had no clue how fast everyone was really going until I went on my first trip down....the world was whizzing by and I was screaming my full head off!!! We did have a small wipe-out once, nothing to serious......but there are a few sore bodies in our house today!

Countrychick had a minor mishap with her pants and someone had to loan her a pair of wool coveralls to wear. She decided that the wool pants were the way to go as she wasn't cold or wet after putting them on.

In the early afternoon, the snow got to soft for tubing, so out came the snowmobiles. Countrychick and Little B. had a blast riding on the thing. Countrychick had never rode on one alone before, but it didn't take her long to get the hang of it. I have a video of them, but I just have to figure out how to get it uploaded. We finally headed for home as it was getting dark. There were chores to do and dinner to prepare. Hayman fixed dinner when we got home, so that was nice. Everyone was so tired that we were all in bed very, very early! An afternoon of fun was had by all!

Evening Journey Home.....

I had to work yesterday, which meant I had to drive in to work and home again on snowy, icy roads. Hayman led the way early yesterday morning in his truck and I followed him out of the valley. When heading home from work, I was on my own, but by then the county road grader had made it to our road and graded the road all the way into the valley, which made driving a bit easier. As I turned off the highway yesterday evening onto our gravel road, these large gentleman were in my way. Several of these large bulls were crossing my path, so I stopped to let them make their way across the road. (my camera was very cold from being in the car all day.....so it really gave me fits when I started taking photos.) They were so commanding, standing there in the cold and snow!

On the other side of the hill, I encountered these lovely young ladies. They were making their way to the rest of the herd which was up the road further ahead of them.......these gals were in a hurry and would not stop long enough to pose for a photo.......

The sunset was beautiful!

I was about to put my camera away when I rounded the next little bend in the road and noticed these lovely creatures in our hay field. I slowed way down and tried my best to sneak up on them...they spotted me and started to flee. I turned off the engine and sat for a bit waiting for them to settle down again. Then I climbed out of the car and stood on the running-board to snap a few photos. (when the camera hit the cold air, it started acting up again, so the photos are not very clear, but I wanted to share them anyway.)

The herd of deer was pretty good size...lots of does and yearlings and two bucks that I could count. I tried to get a photo of the buck, but between the camera giving me fits and him not standing still long enough to shoot a photo, I became frustrated and gave up.

I sat and watched the herd until I saw headlights in my rear view mirror, then I decided it was time to head on home. Good thing too as Hayman was starting to wonder where I was. Sometimes I get caught up in the beauty around me and simply forgot about the time.


As I started the car and pulled away, the deer started running off.....I snapped one last shot, then headed on to my nice warm home and family.

Christmas Snow!

It started snowing very early on Christmas Eve day and it didn't stop until sometime around mid morning today. We woke up to this! The power went out shortly after we got up this morning. Usually the power will give a good "bump" and then it will come back on. That is not what it did this morning. So, we opened a few gifts...after we removed the cat from the top of them.

Hayman brought in the camp stove so I could cook breakfast. We were informed that the power would not be back on for hours. I was supposed to cook dinner at our house today....my parents and Cowboy M. were to join us.........plans changed and we had to go to plan B.

Chores were done in the blowing wind and snow....I must say, the chickens are less then impressed with the foot of snow we have on the ground.

We gathered up the presents for my folks and Cowboy M....loaded them in the care and braved the road leading out of our valley.

Everything was covered in a beautiful blanket of white!

This is the view from my parents front yard......snow, lots of very deep snow!

This is the drift that built up in the field in front of the their house.....the goats are baffled by all of the snow. They came out to see what we were doing, then retreated back into their little goat house.
We opened gifts with my parents and Cowboy M. (I will post those photos later as I'm sticking with the snow theme for now.) Like I said earlier, I was supposed to cook our Christmas meal out at our place...but that is hard to do with no power. So we opted for dinner out.....a first for all of us. It was a very nice meal and we were able to visit, laugh and enjoy each other to the fullest. My mom and I agreed that it was a very good idea as there was nothing for us to clean up after the meal. We headed on home after our meal.....before the roads got any worse then they already were. It was a beautiful drive home..........

The photo below was taken just outside of town...I made Hayman pull over so I could take it.


Without these capable hands at the wheel today.......we would not have made the trip to town. The road leading out of our valley was covered in snow...between 10 inches and over a foot in places. The wind had caused drifts that piled up and made driving not so fun! These hands are loving, kind, dependable and strong......and I love them!

As we topped the rise and dropped down into our valley on the way home, this is the sight that awaited us. Usually you would see sand dunes and sagebrush.......today, all you could see was snow.

We continued our journey home....there were chores to do and a house to check on. The power was back on when we got home. Hayman made a nice fire for us and we watched a movie and relaxed. This was a Christmas to remember....one that didn't go as planned, but turned out far better then expected.
Good Night to all.....tomorrow morning will come far to early.

Wonderful Wednesday.....

Well I didn't get my Toast to Tuesday posted, so I'm switching it to a Toast to a Wonderful Wednesday.....Toast to Tuesday's is hosted by Heidi over at Adventure Girl Wanna Be......All of the goodies are baked, packaged and mailed.....Hooray!! What was leftover....we are eating! I made four kinds of fudge, chocolate, chocolate pecan toffee, peanut butter and butterscotch. The cookies were chocolate crinkles and peppermint meltaways. I have one more batch of cookies to make and those are the gingersnaps......hopefully I will get those done this evening.

The plate that I won a few weeks back from Adventure Girl's contest is filled with peanut butter fudge. The plate is so cute and it will be filled with goodies for days to come. There is story about the peanut butter fudge and I will share it.....The year I was born, my mom had to have surgery when I was 6 months old, which fell around Christmas time. Mom was not able to do any baking, etc..that year, so my dad found this peanut butter fudge recipe in the newspaper and he made it. And it turned out really well......and someone has been making it every year since than. I have been making this fudge for many years now and mailing it to my siblings and family members. My Dad didn't know it then.......but he started a tradition 39 years ago that carries on today.

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve day.....we are expecting a storm later today. So maybe, just maybe we will have a white Christmas.