The arrival of winter is strange where I live. It is a beautiful fall day and the following morning we awake to winter with several feet of snow. My first response was to get the truck to the bottom of my driveway before it got trapped in the garage for the remainder of winter, as has happened in the past. My next move was to remove the snow from the decks as I know the snow will turn to rain and the weight of the rain on that snow can be devastating. I removed the snow and sure enough here came the rain. My timing was perfect. Two days later another foot of snow arrived and the snowing kept up for several days. My job today is to again remove the snow from the decks before the rains come again…. and so it goes.
Taylor and I parked our trucks at the bottom of the driveway and we walk in and out as we will now for the rest of winter. Oddly, I don’t mind. I love the walk as it is beautiful, cool, and fresh. However, upon purchasing groceries the other day it took four trips to get the food into the house. I don’t think Teagan and Latah are exactly loving the walks carrying their heavy packs from school but they have not complained once, that I have heard anyway. They are tough girls.
The snow is beautiful and it isn’t all work. Everyday I go snowshoeing. Sometimes I check on Taylor’s tree house and see how it is holding up as he isn’t done with it yet. Sometimes I just head into the woods going where I please or go down to BZ to mail something. Latah is an outdoors girl. She sits in the snow building things, tries sledding backwards, just enjoys being outside. Teagan, not so much, especially this past week as she was very sick and I kept her home from school. When not sick, however, Teagan is playing basketball, forever at practice or playing games. For a freshman she is doing very well having made 8 baskets at their game against White Salmon the week before she got sick.
Taylor has been salvaging lumber from the river or where ever he can get it once the price of it went through the roof. He moved it all into the woods above the house and covered it with tarps for winter. The snow has knocked the tarps down but the wood is securely under them so all is well.
For indoor entertainment I have been re-watching some of my favorite movies about British colonial days in India. I am presently watching one of my all time favorite series, “The Jewel of the Crown.” For me the modern movies and TV shows just do not hold up to the older productions, so I watch some of my favorites about every ten years. I have recently watched the movies showing below. I have 3 more episodes of, “The Jewel of the Crown.”
Over the years my interests have come in waves and I read accordingly. There was a Lewis and Clark period, The Civil War, Russia at the time of the end of the Tzars, Colonial British at the end of their rule in India, China during the opium wars, and many books about explorers on various continents such as Richard Burton in Africa, Fawcett and Theodore Roosevelt in South America, Shackleton in Antartica, Vladimir Klavdievich Arseniev (1872-1930) in the Siberian Far East with his guide Dersu Uzala, to name a few. One of my favorites is Alexander von Humboldt a nature researcher, explorer, and universal genius. Many parks, institutions, streets, and schools are named after him on the west coast of the United States. I love tales of true adventures.
On a Different Note. Latah was invited as Nikki Gilchrist’s guest to attend a cookie decorating event in BZ so I walked her down to the event site and walked back for her two hours later, carrying her beautiful creations through the snow. Teagan was invited as well but she was starting to not feel well so opted not to go.
Not all is perfect in my winter wonderland however:
I have been living on garlic sourdough bread and cheese. I also made a half batch of caramel rolls, and with me the only one here, I am the one who ate them all. I also made turkey pot pies one day but at least Tay and the girls were here to help eat them. If I don’t change my diet the fire department may have to be called to roll me down the hill, too fat to walk. Not a pretty sight in my imagination.
