Winter Fun!

Oh, the drama of winter. It's the time of heavy snowfall, power outages, sledding, and... Christmas!

To start off my break from school, I traveled with a neighbor down to Boise, near my mother's home. I was definitely looking forward to snow because up north at school, we hardly got any of the nice white stuff at all. Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of snow left from Thanksgiving, but it sure as hell was cold! Not that I'm surprised. It's very common for my home town to start hitting the negative temperatures in late November, and every year, I'm always prepared! My bedroom doesn't have insulation as the house was built in 1867, but thankfully, I have double-paned windows that are almost new. I also have a space heater, and I sleep with a heating pad, flannel sheets, a thick quilt, a fleece blanket, fleece socks, and flannel jammies ;) So, I can say that I at least know how to keep warm in a colder climate.

To start off the Christmas celebrations, my mom's best friend, Terri held a party at her place. Everyone had to bring their own ornaments, as she had divorced just three months before my mother did, which was in December of 2008. I can't even count how many people turned up, but everyone was stuffed and happy, and Terri's tree looked like it had exploded with ornaments! She was so delighted to have new decorations.





Since so much more went on during the winter break, here's some pictures to just sum it all up :)

Sledding at Steamboat.

My brother and Matschi.

The tree snapped during a four day snow storm (we've had week long or two week long snow storms before), and the power was out for two days (also, we've had two week long power outages)! We didn't think our ASH tree would snap, as they are very sturdy trees!

My backyard.

The snow became a giant barricade for our dog at the back door!

My mom and her granddaughter.

My mom and her grandson playing with his new light sabers.

A house in the valley, decorated with nice Christmas lights :)

Home.

Major Catching Up

Since I last posted, many things have gone on, including "tame" deer, ice luge tracks, invasive mites, weddings, and screaming babies. To save you from a gigantic blog post from me, I think I'll just give each topic a post of their own.

Back in October, I ended up going my friend's cabin up at Coeur d'Alene Lake. While there, I hadn't expected to see calm, and "tame" deer roaming around the cabins! I put it in quotations because... well, everyone should know that deer and other wildlife are never tame, so you should never approach them. Thankfully, I have a nice zoom option on my camera, but my friends were adamant on getting as close to the deer as possible.



Now, I've been this close to deer before, back when I was eleven years old. I used to enjoy playing the Prince of Egypt outside, all dressed in a long shirt from my dad, and a pair of ratty, white sandals. Of course, I don't think the deer had felt threatened then because I was so small. Since I'm older, I'm sure they wouldn't have a problem with kicking me in the face now. So... I'll just view them from a distance from now on, such as on the first morning that I was at the lake.



After being woken up at 5:30 in the morning by an obnoxious chipmunk in the cabin (who was eating through all of the chip bags!), I laid in bed for a while, until about 6:30 when I just couldn't sleep anymore. Instead, I got up and made a nice cup of hot chocolate before settling out on the deck... after bundling myself up, because it was rather cold outside! I think was about 24 Fahrenheit when I checked, but the hot chocolate was nice and warm, and it kept me from shivering.

While out on the deck, sitting there in peace, just watching the sun rise while fog rolled across the lake... two deer happened to come by. At first, they grazed in front of the deck, but I guess they hadn't seen me yet. It was time for a photo opp! Forget the hot chocolate, forget the sunrise; it was a perfect opportunity to capture those deer. I think once they heard the shutter on my camera clicking though, they became very curious with me.



Not much else really went on at the cabin; it was mostly just viewing nature... and writing on my laptop. I feel bad that I stayed inside more than I went outside. I'm due for another visit this weekend, but I don't think I'll be bringing my laptop or my phone. While there, I was able to receive text messages, even with a bar of service. I don't want to be distracted this time, and it's always nice to take a break from technology!