I Came, I Thaw, I Conquered

Now Playing -    
Ease Back
by Amos Lee

Life -  

 A combination of snow, sleet, more and more snow, warm and cold weather.. That's been the last few months. Which has resulted in an accumulation of very firmly packed snow topping out at over two feet in a lot of places in our yard. Our driveway, which gets plowed and scraped and sprayed with sand has suffered too. In some places, the ice on the drive was over 6 inches thick. It was not uncommon this winter for Lindsay's car to only make it halfway up the driveway before giving up.My Element handled it pretty handily for the most part, but it's been intense. We've been using what we've called "the goat path" to get down to the drive. I'm pretty sure there's steps somewhere under there, but you'd never know.

But for the last month, we've started getting some warm days. Warm enough that the driveway loses a bit off the top, refreezing at night into a glassy finish. And the other day when I went to leave for work, my car had slid over six feet down the drive as the ice below it melted.

So spring is on it's way, and I cannot wait. I love winter, delight in the snow falling down, in the cold prickles of air up my nose, but enough is enough. I want to walk the dogs, clean out the house, go to the car wash. I even want to pick up four months of dog poop!

For the last three days, it's been raining during the day. I can even see dirt in a few places and the three foot tall pole in the back yard corner has broken through for the first time since December.

Keep it up, Mother Nature!

The ROUS FAMILY -     

Snowier Day!

Now Playing -  
Lorena by Bob Schneider

Sassafras has a slight Sasquatch infestation.

Life -  

 Man, just when I thought we'd gotten a lot of snow, we got a lot more snow. This morning, we got over a foot on top of the crusty, ice covered foot that we already had. I spent a good chunk of today fighting my way through it trying to free up my vehicles but eventually gave up, much to my wife's dismay. (I'd planned to take her to the new pizza place in Brunswick for lunch...) But the snow is gorgeous and falling gently, without the 30mph winds we would have been getting with it back in Idaho.

To emphasize the amount of snow we have in the backyard, here's Ludo irrevocably losing a tennis ball.

Luckily, our landlords, who are incredibly nice and awesome showed up and plowed our giant sloped driveway with their truck. Hooray! But I still didn't want to leave the house, so we made some grilled chicken and mac & cheese and I worked on Lindsay's book cover. Which turned out pretty awesome. I also worked with my new gadget, a die-cutter that should allow me to make detailed and exacting cuts on my stickers, ramping up the variety and production quality. 

Sasquatch Convention!

We also spent some time relaxing and reading, though Ludo kept bogarting the nook in an attempt to finish The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

Work again tomorrow, unfortunately. Sigh.

Writing - 

Yeah... nuttin' there this week.

Weighty Matters -   
My Current Weight - 295   

The ROUS FAMILY -     

Shrunken Heads and Book Covers!

 Reluctantly In Love gets a cover!

Coming soon - Stephen King's Genius

Giant Crocs, Bookbinding and Clowns!

April 02, 2009

Boy, this blog is turning more into Book Review Corner than a blog about our attempts to buy and run a Motel... Part of that is that we've both been sick for the last week, and are desperately trying to get better. Also, it's snowing outside. Still. So some of my plans to work in the garden, improve the house, take some new photos, go camping, etc, have been scuttled for the time being. It snowing also means that my poorly insulated Garage/Studio is freezing cold, so no art has been done.

On the plus side, Lindsay has been getting some pages written on her book, and I've written up a pretty good outline on my zombie book, and started in on my mystery novel. (Which I'm currently writing without being entirely sure whodunnit, or where it's headed. I figure I'll let the characters tell the story until I need to guide it along...)

I've also held off on the next post of the Quest, because the next post concerns a property that may end up being significant in the near future, so we're waiting to hear back some news before I continue.

In the meantime, you'll probably get a couple of more book reviews, maybe some posts with photos of the dogs playing in the snow, if I ever get my memory card cleared off and Pooka stops eating Poopsicles long enough for a photo op.

Of course, on Tuesday, we leave to spend a week on the coast for a brief Quest-Free vacation from the madness, and I'm planning to update with some photos and stories from that along the way!

Waiting for the other shoe...

Supposedly, for the last 3 days, Pocatello was to be in the grip of a winter storm so frightening in it's magnitude that the city could grind to a halt, civilization would begin to degrade, and only those with snowshoes and sled dogs would prevail.

Thus far, all we've received is lots of wind. Which, as all Pocatellans and Chubbuckians learn in grade school, is because Idaho Falls sucks, and Utah blows. In fact, walking to my car, Strontium after work tonight, the winter air seemed downright balmy!

That said, it wouldn't faze me one bit to wake up and see 2 feet of new snow and 20 foot drifts in the morning. In fact, being off work for the next two days, I'd welcome the chance to curl up with a blanket and some coffee and try to finish slogging through the Clive Cussler book I picked up at the thrift store last week...

Winter In Idaho

I really love snow. I know some people don't, but for some reason, whenever we get a storm, especially one like today, where it was primarily just nice drifting flakes, I love it.
Even when it involves shoveling a foot of snow off of the walks....


It's just so pretty. That said, it would be a lot easier if I didn't have to drive in it, and could just spend the whole day curled up with a blanket, a good book, some hot cocoa and the new Ray Lamontagne CD....