Tag Archives: snow

Visiting Texas – Day 4

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I finished the last post with it snowing on Thursday evening. This is a rare event in this part of Texas and the fact that the snow stuck around through the next day was even more rare. It made for an all new landscape to photograph.

2017-12-TX-23              The view from the back walkway.

2017-12-TX-29         There is the decorated tree just inside the gate on the right.

2017-12-TX-28      Everyone else was still in bed but I went for a walk up the road as the sun was coming over the hills.

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2017-12-TX-117                  I got back to the house and checked inside the truck. Dan had chosen to drive to Texas instead of flying. He says, now that he has retired, “everyday is Saturday” and he preferred to throw a road trip into the plans. He had left five days before I did and spent time hiking and camping along the way. He met me at the airport in Austin on Tuesday. Now that all the kids were at the house we had to spread out with sleeping arrangements and he decided to continue with the camping mode and sleep in the truck.

2017-12-TX-120                                               Eventually everyone else came out into the snow.

2017-12-TX-127                     Kirby started a snowman with the help of…

2017-12-TX-122                                                       …Uncle Matt…

2017-12-TX-131                      …and Aunt Meryl.

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2017-12-TX-151                  I love these kids.

 

And these kids too.

A White Christmas

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We spent a lovely Christmas Day with my son and other family members. We got there in the morning before everyone else so that we could spend some time in the forest that is their backyard. I am not a snow person, but I can brave it occasionally, especially when the sun is out, and I’ll admit that it was a nice touch to have a beautiful snowy view from inside Matt & Kaleena’s warm house with a fabulous woodstove to back up against. The morning began, however, with us  sliding backwards down Matt’s driveway in our Explorer. (I am planning to sell this before the next smog deadline, so no new tires for us.) That little glitch solved (by rocking the Explorer out of the snowbank and then parking at the bottom of the hill), we geared up with showshoes and foot warmers in our my boots and walked down to Jenkinson Lake. DSC_4315

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DSC_4301What time I have spent in the snow has been well after the storms have come through. There is something very different and beautiful about being there immediately after the snowfall…DSC_4310…while the branches are still heavy with snow.DSC_4264

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DSC_4283I loved seeing the snow clear to the tops of the trees. As the sun started warming the trees, snow cascaded from the highest branches.DSC_4295I spent the night at M & K’s (Dan came home for chores and dog duty) and the next day Dan came back and brought Chris and Meryl with him. Then we celebrated our private family Christmas.IMG_8003The younger generation helping the older one with digital issues.DSC_4321Chris plays a mini-flute sporting his new Storm Trooper oven mitt.IMG_8019Here are my sheep/barn related Christmas gifts. My wheelbarrows constantly need their tires pumped up so Dan got the fittings to go on an extra air compressor in the barn. There are tubes and tires for my handtruck. Dog treats from Hawaii. Sheep and dog magnets. All the attachments for my new GoPro (birthday present). Footrot Flats is a comic strip series that I think only a sheep farmer would enjoy. Hand and foot warmers packets that I’ll share with Farm Club in the barn. IMG_8013We took another hike that afternoon. This was a great two-day Christmas celebration with family. And it’s not quite over. The kids are taking us to see StarWars in a couple of days. The only thing missing was my granddaughter and her family but at least we spent a week with them not long ago.

 

Loon Lake

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It’s not easy to find a time when we can all get together for a whole day. We had planned on a snowshoeing trip and the prediction of a little cold weather wasn’t going to deter us. The problem was that even though we had significant precipitation in December with  Caliornia’s continuing drought the snow level was fairly high. To find enough snow for snowshoeing we drove to Loon Lake (6358′ elevation). There was enough snow here and it was sunny but the temperature was in the low 20’s and the wind was howling. (I know that plenty of people live in this kind of weather, but not me. I’ll go for 100 degree days anytime over bone-chilling cold.)

We decided to go for it with the snowshoes at least for a short time. Everyone out of the car…DSC_1089 …including Ginny, in the snow for the first time.DSC_1093 Matt, Kaleena, Chris, and Meryl started down to the lake with the big dogs. I was behind because I had to remember how to walk with snowshoes without getting my feet tangled up going down the steep slope from the road.DSC_1096 It didn’t take us long to figure out that with the strong wind it was just too cold for Ginny so Dan took her back to the car. DSC_1103 The rest of us continued down to the lake. Matt was having a hard time keeping track of which was his wife since both Kaleena and Meryl were wearing Kaleena’s snow gear.  Edge of Loon Lake There were white caps on the lake and lots of ice at the edge.Ice at Loon Lake

Loon Lake That’s me on the left, then Kaleena, Matt, Chris, and Meryl.

Chris & Meryl at Loon Lake   Meryl and Chris with Sam and Rusty.DSC_1154It’s the wind that is making Rusty’s ears stand up.

We didn’t spend too much time here. Instead we drove back down to Bassi Falls and went for a hike there–something that all of us could enjoy. Photos of that in the next blog post.