BEAUTIFUL COLD

Well, it was more than 12 inches; more like 18-24. The storm has now passed, evident by the cloudless blue skies. But as it is typical for this time of the year, bitter cold follows the passing storm. We began at -7 degrees this morning and inched our way to 7 above. Our southern exposure gives us an edge over the city of Helena, which barely made it to 0. Even when it's this cold you've got to enjoy the outdoors, and Jake reminded us of it today.

The Dancing Moose Lodge, as majestic as ever

Regal posture-notice his frozen breath

Jake's "zoomies", a little more challenging in deep snow. Delicate balance and hind legs flexed, ready to fire up the next stride. Reminds me of the action pictures of cheetahs in National Geo

Priceless!

12 INCHES OR MORE...

...of snow is what dumped from the skies of Montana over the last 24 hours. Snow on the ground means having to shovel it or plow it out of the way, but it also means enjoying it while it lasts. Sledding down our driveway has become a favorite activity. JIR

Cool Jake-first time wearing Oakleys; it took me a few tries before he agreed to leave them on for the shot

Self-portrait-notice our supercool and very fast sled behind us

Our weather station is witness to the outside chill this morning...which is about 15 degrees warmer than what is predicted for tonight!

                                 Our snow gauge (deck rail) is only good for the first 6 inches or so

PRACTICING

Not the best picture to practice with, but what the heck, it'll do for now. Here is Crow Peak (9,414 ft elevation) at 70mm (upper) and 300mm (lower) zoom, using my new Nikon AF-S VR Zoom 70-300mm f 4.5-5.6G lens. A fantastic Christmas present from Mama Santa. JIR

THERE IS ALWAYS A STORY...

Mount Edith (left at 9504 ft) in the Big Belts, always a wonderful sight to see this girl. She signals we are about 45 minutes from our home in MT

You would think that in the almost 6 years we have been traveling the route between Wyoming, and most recently South Dakota, and Montana, we would have no new stories to tell or pictures to share. Nothing is further from the truth. We started our latest road trip from Piedmont, SD to Sheridan, WY after DOT agreed to open I-90. A stretch of I-90 east and west of the WY-SD state line had been closed since the previous night due to freezing rain and sleet. Despite great work by DOT, it was still white knuckle driving for at least the initial half of the 4 hour drive. I must say, it was very much worth having made the trip, as we got to spend a wonderful 3 nights at the Lipetzky Inn. The second leg of the trip between Sheridan and Helena was more inspiring than frightful. We enjoyed the sights of the snowy peaks, and awed at the sight of a pair of bald eagles riding the thermals right above the highway. Well, there was actually one scary moment as we drove through Livingston. Chinook winds were blowing through Montana that day, which would usually be a welcomed occurrence in winter, as temperatures warm up to unseasonal forties and fifties. However, the natural funnel created by the Absaroka Mountains propels these winds coming from the southwest to hurricane speeds in the vicinity of Livingston. Vehicles traveling on this east-west stretch of I-90 are caught by the crosswinds, making it difficult for drivers to stay in one lane. JIR   

CHRISTMAS 2010

We have been blessed with a wonderful progeny, and with their equally terrific spouses. Of course, we have always worked hard to assure those blessings are fulfilled  and nurtured. I don't believe blessings are realized without arduous work, or without constant attention to those principles so well taught and practiced by Jesus Christ. If humanity had only stayed true to His teachings, and not tried to organize them into what has sometimes resulted in shallow and meaningless religions.
We celebrate the birth of Christ because of what he taught us, and because by following those Christian principles, we know we can live more loving, complete and fulfilling lives. Let's keep working hard every day to live like He taught us.
Not included in this picture are Danny and Lindsay, the Oregon part of our tribe, who we missed during our Christmas celebration in Wyoming. JIR   

CHRISTMAS TREE AND THE FULL MOON

Our Christmas tree this year is an exterior one just east of our house in South Dakota. The first night of the full moon (remember the one that went through the eclipse), I managed to get some flashless shots. On the automatic setting, the camera still slowed down the shutter speed so, without a tripod, I held my breath for the most still shot (the last one below) and moved the camera on purpose for the other ones.  

THE BREAD WAS GREAT BUT...

I accidentally dropped a measuring cup into the bowl while the mixer was kneading bread dough, causing the dough hook to be forcefully stopped by the foreign object. Subsequently, an unusual worrisome noise developed when I tried to turn the mixer on again. Ha, I must have stripped one of the gears, I said to myself. Our "old faithful" Kitchen Aid is at least18 years old and going strong, so I could not see trashing it before at least troubleshooting the problem and trying to fix it. It was smooth sailing pulling the mixer apart until I got stuck at one point. "I'll google this and look for a video" said Linda as she came to my rescue. 

Sure enough, she found a video that explained how to pull this machine apart. Close inspection revealed the stripped "worm gear", which I will order tomorrow. JIR 

SUNRISE

One of the benefits of being on the road early, especially this time of the year, is being able to witness and enjoy some of the most beautiful displays of nature's art.This one speaks for itself. JIR

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..

"Weebles wobble but they don't fall down!" http://www.hasbro.com/playskool/en_US/weebles/?cid=ppc10-001427  is back on television advertisements, so it must be the time of year for all good parents to start spending all their saved money.  Do not confuse weebles with Wibaux (pronounced: wee-bow) the eastern most town in Montana. http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=27853 but weebles will wobble even in Wibaux!

Well, I better get sewing.  I mostly just wanted to share this sunrise I saw this morning.

What a difference a day makes!

The next day we had to drive to Great Falls to meet our good friend and pick up a 1/4 side of beef, but the weather had become a little less pleasant.  Inspite of the bad weather, we still always enjoy the scenery between Helena and Great Falls.  We had to fit all that beef in the freezer in our house since our 'extra' freezer stays in our home in Piedmont, and boy was it packed.  But after some fun shoveling and and more great sledding, we had a super steak dinner, which Jorge was nice enough to grill outside, because I would have taken the wimps way out and cooked inside on the cooktop! 

Carroll College Play off game 38 -2

It was perfect weather for football, in the 30's with the sun shining.  Jorge and I had great seats, center section 8 rows up and got to watch Carroll beat Marion IL, sending CC to the semi finals next week.  Due to Carrolls zero loss record, they are again playing at home.
The hill I focused on is 'the sledding' hill at Carroll, where sledding is popular for all the community. And as you can tell, the view of Mt. Helena is always a wonderful backdrop.

SNOWDRIFTS AND THANKSGIVING FUN

For those of you from southern climates, snowdrifts form on the leeward side of objects when snow fall is accompanied by high winds. Snowdrifts can be humongous, reaching several feet in height. The recent snow fall in Montana came with high winds and these are some of the patterns we found when we arrived here.

Even though the snow on the ground is not even because of the drifts, there is enough snow that sledding was a must, and it was fun!

Self portrait of Jake and I

Linda gets our sleds ready

I feel the need for speed

Here comes Mama

Oops, getting ready to do a 180 coming down at full speed

Wipe out!

Full 180 coming down fast

Trying to stop...

Wiped out!