Let it Snow, and Snow, and Snow

Bob here, with a few shots and thoughts from today. It's snowed almost continuously for two days, maybe ten new inches. Also in that time, there's been a group (herdette) of six whitetail deer around, including this cute little fella. A genuinely nice surprise today was Monique realizing one of them is Mutt, the uni-antlered young buck we saw so much of in autumn. Good to see he made it through hunting season, and good to see him hanging out with some cute females.

Christmas was relaxing, unstressful, peaceful, and fun. It was so quiet -- no logging trucks -- and so beautiful with snow and critters about. I didn't overdo on food, except maybe popcorn; the last three nights we've watched each part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (extend-o version).

Monique's building a jigsaw puzzle, one of her favorite things to do here at the "Cabin," and perfect for this time of year. Yesterday after chopping some wood, I took the kind of catnap where when you wake up, you're exhausted the rest of the day.

Today at lunch we drove up Bear Creek Road for a hike. We walked for over an hour, and combined to take a couple hundred photos. There were deer tracks, old cross-country ski tracks, and older ATV tracks, but no other footprints we saw. The smallest, thinnest tree branches had inches of snow perched on them. The slightest breeze, of which there very few, sent snow cascading down through the trees.

You always hear the hum of trucks in the valley from Bear Creek, but it was so lovely up there, snowing lightly, and as I said, we didn't see or really hear anyone else. A big doe sprang across the road, but I had no chance for a picture. If a couple more inches falls, it'll be time to break out the snowshoes!!

Making our way back to the truck, you can see Monique found a big ol' pothole in the road. But she didn't panic, and my old lifeguard skills (and a large pine branch) got her out safe and sound.

Kidding!

We got home, cranked up the wood stove, hung the wet bits to dry, and thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon: turkeys and deer stopped by for bird seed, snow fell, we both got good work done, and another grand day here slipped into evening. I don't want to take the Christmas lights down until there's no snow. It's soooo cool out there!