I Promised! (posted by Lani)

So, I promised Ann that I'd post, because while she's been off kiting around the world seeing palaces and temples and cows getting into the trash, I've been doing really not much of anything except enjoying the Colorado winter, loving having my Onyx back with me, snowshoeing with Margie, and trying to keep the snow from entirely covering the house. Lest you think I'm kidding about the snow, this picture is from our most recent snowstorm. That's Jim with the snowblower in the background, and yes the snow from that one little March storm is just about hip-deep on our 6'6" Jimmer.

I got an unpleasantly forcible reminder recently that when the snow starts to melt, you get a lot of ice. Not just on lakes, where it looks lovely, doesn't it? But also in more inconvenient places, like, say, on your driveway. In thin, glassy layers that are next best to impossible to see even in daylight, and totally impossible to see at night. That type of ice results in 3-Stooges type pratfalls, some of which are funny and some of which are not, and the not-funny type can result in many foul words being said and also in spectacular bruises, particularly on pasty-white winter skin. Sorry, but I promised Ann I'd post pictures of my bruises so she could point and laugh. Yes, those are really the colors my thumb, wrist and knee are currently sporting, and also my shoulder but it's harder than you might think to twist yourself around and get a picture of your bruised shoulder. What makes this even better is that this is my LEFT wrist, as opposed to the RIGHT wrist which is still recovering from a hairline fracture and torn ligaments. The only thing that makes me feel a little better, misery loving company and all that, is that neighbor Pam fell (also on ice) and did an even better job of breaking her arm a couple of weeks ago than I did, so at least I'm not the only klutz around. Jim says I need to stop dancing jigs on ice. What I say in response to that isn't printable.

In wildlife news, our pretty little fox Baby has been coming to visit quite frequently and is looking happy and healthy (and quite possibly preggers, she's decidedly tubular) this spring. She likes to relax on our back porch, which gives her a great view, and I love seeing her out there. We don't have any hummingbirds yet but within the next couple of weeks the hummer scouts should start to arrive, with the main influx starting in early May. Also no bears yet, but they tend to wake up around the time the hummingbirds arrive so I'm sure we'll be seeing them soon, and the chipmunks should start appearing around then too. There's been an enormous herd of elk hanging around down the mountain in recent weeks, at least 40-50 of them, and we've seen moose again in the valleys on the other side (heading west). Good to know the moose are still around, and it's really great to see that big healthy herd of elk. We see deer all the time, but the elk and the moose aren't as commonplace. I heard of a bighorn sheep sighting not far from here too, but so far the only ones we've seen were up in Rocky Mountain National Park. THAT would be a cool visitor to have, though!

And finally, with spring almost upon us we decided it was time to have our chimney cleaned, and Steve took a picture of our chimneysweep, Will. That chimney is 40+ feet up, and Will was up there just as casually as though he were walking around the living room. And it started snowing when he was up there, to boot. This guy has nerves of steel, I swear to you.

Steve is (as always) traveling - in San Antonio this week, off to Washington next week. Jim and I will be heading to Florida at the end of the month for Laura's college graduation, hooray! And that's just about all the news that's fit to print ... so back to you, Annie!