Quiet Christmas Eve

The weather is quiet - no new snow, blue sky, sunshine. My temperament is more receptive to a Christmas with gray skies, swirling snowflakes, and cold temperatures. Therefore, we will spend part of Christmas skiing into and staying at a backcountry yurt, where there will likely be swirling snowflakes and cold temperatures, though possibly no gray skies.
The image above is one of a yurt that we stayed a couple of winters ago with several friends. The weather evident in that photo is what I relish!

Flicker at the birdfeeder

Last weekend a pair of flickers appeared in the backyard - one female and one male. They even attempted to perch on the finch feeder perches, and looked pretty funny while doing so.
Most of the yard is still snow-covered but with temperatures some days in the mid-30s, it won't be for long.
Nights have been in single digits, both above and below 0.
Snow up in the mountains is piling up quickly; we've had a few days of high-quality skiing and snowshoeing already so early in the season.

SNOW & COLD

Yep, it's that time of year! A supposed blizzard (really! Even the National Weather Service is calling it that) is hitting the San Juan Mountains west of us, and the San Luis Valley is supposed to get about 3-4" of snow by end of tomorrow or so. Wolf Creek is due to get about 50" of snow out of this storm! Hooray for skiing!
All of my water barrels are now empty for the season, bird feeders are full for now, and the birdies have water kept thawed by the new water heater.
We went jogging at the Rio Grande State Wildlife Area yesterday, and saw a lone great blue heron. I bet we'll keep seeing it throughout the winter, which I marvel at. What does it find to eat? All the sandhill cranes appear to be absent now; the very cold temperatures we had this past week (low was -10F) probably drove them away to the Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico.
I've already received two 2010 garden supply/seed catalogs! Even I think that's a bit early.....

Frozen water barrels and everything else

I've been absent for a while for work, and have returned to water barrels that have thick layer of ice on top. It probably would be a good idea to empty them or I'm going to suffer cracked barrels. Nighttime temperatures for the past week+ have been in the low to mid single-digits, and highs in the 40s. There is still snow left in all shaded areas from the snowfall we had over a week ago. I'm sure the soil is drying out already, and the forecast through Thanksgiving is more continued dry conditions.
The sparrows and a couple chickadees are attacking the suet outside.
A great blue heron has been hanging out over at the Empire Canal, and deer are making a strong showing at the Home Lake Veteran's Center next door. Our front yard has small piles of deer scat; that's their calling card from eating the fallen crab apples from this fall. T'was a great crop of apples.
We alpine skiied at Wolf Creek last Sunday, and conditions were excellent--they couldn't have been any better, remarkable for November 15. Though there were a few covered stumps and rocks, their presence paled next to the amount & quality of the fresh snow, and few people.

Late March snowstorm

About 4" of snow fell last Thursday, and it's still melting. The storm was very windy, and drifts piled up in lots of places. My leafed-out Golden Currant shrub (Ribes aureum), fortunately very hardy and apparently unbothered by snow, is sitting in a pile of it (left). So many leafed-out plants have been hit with frost, but so far everything looks OK.
The nice thing about spring snows is that they're usually full of water, so they're a good slow-release water supply for nearby plants. I usually shovel as much as I can on the ground around my perennials & shrubs.
Skiing at Wolf Creek yesterday was great - much new snow that was still fairly light early in the day, but became heavier to ski through as the day passed and temperatures warmed. Crowds of skiiers were non-existent. Maybe the last ski of the season?

Cat on a Tall, Wooden, Post

Last weekend we were driving to a local x-c ski area for some skiing, and Bruce noticed a cat perched on top of a power line pole. Yes, that little blob on top looking at me is a cat. We stopped and I got out of the car to see if anyone was home at the house, because Iwas concerned that the cat was unable to come back down. It began meowing almost as soon as I got out of the car. Since no one was home, we decided to proceed with our ski trip and then drive by on the way home to check on the little critter.
Luckily on our return trip there was no sign of the cat. Whew.