Welcome to my Winter Wonderland!

I must interrupt my vacation travelog for a winter weather alert.

That's right, winter!!

Awoke to 4 inches of snow this morning (yes, I actually measured)! .....and it's been snowing on and off all day.

I haven't even turned the heat on yet.... But I have shoveled my drive!

Flip flop

Flip flip of the weather that is.... to nearly flip flop weather. So you saw all that snow on Tuesday... well 3 days later ***poof***, aside from a few patches here and there, it's gone. The weather was in the 50's today, sunny and spring like. And look what I found in my front yard when I came home from work this afternoon! My first crocus!

Wishes...

Sarah came home from school yesterday... no small task, since she lives in the middle of nowhere in far northern California. Something about picturing my sweet daughter and "Donner Party" in the same thought made me think that flying was the safest bet to get her home. Unfortunately, I should have planned more than a month ahead for Thanksgiving travel, as her itinerary was terrible. A 7PM flight out of Arcata, only to spend the night in the Sacramento airport waiting for her 8AM flight to Salt Lake. All for the bargain price of $671. Her return flight is 12 hours as well. (It's a 15 hour drive) I guess she will learn to like the Sacramento airport.

The good thing is that she is here!! Apparently flying out of Arcata in sketchy at best. The rainy and foggy coastal weather causes many flight delays and cancellations. Her flight ended up being delayed a few hours, no big deal with a 9 hour layover. The flight was so bumpy she actually said prayers... and she is not religious. Unfortunately, some of her friends flights were canceled, with a 2 day wait until the next available flight. So as I said, I'm glad she arrived!

She must be lucky in more ways than one. Her one hope for Thanksgiving break was that it would snow when she was home. Judging from the foot of snow we received last night, I think she was granted her wish!!!
How do you like the gift the snowplow left for me? Positioned strategically right behind my car. I guess he didn't think shoveling the foot of snow would be workout enough for me. so I was tasked with glacier removal as well!

Talking about the weather...

The seasons sure can change fast. We went from a taste of winter on Monday to a full course meal last night. This is what I woke up to this morning. A perfect storm! Pretty snow, no need to shovel! Daisy has always loved the snow, but I think now that she's a 10 year old she actually notices that it's cold. Unless you are tossing a snowball of course!

The seasons change...

Is Daisy ready for the snow? I'm not so sure!

The seasons change and so do I.... yesterday was my big fall day, the day I needed to get over my pantsaphobia. Pantsaphobia you ask?? It's my phobia of wearing pants, an illness I get every year around May, when the weather warms up and I start wearing shorts. Once I make the transition to shorts, I can't bring myself to start wearing pants again until the weather cools off in the fall. I think it has literally been years, perhaps even a decade since I've worn pants in the summer. It's shorts and skirts and dresses for me, the only exception being occasionally pulling on a pair of sweatpants if I'm camping in the mountain and it gets cold at night. Eventually fall comes, the weather cools, and I have to break out the pants again. This weekend the the weather turned and yesterday I realized it was the day I had to buck up and get over my pantsaphobia and actually dress appropriately for the weather. And so I did... and, thankfully, the pants still fit.

My pantsaphobia day was not a day too soon, as despite that the leaves are just turning down here in the valley, this morning we woke to the first snow of the year. Just a little at my house, but it appeared the mountains got quite the dusting. To go along with my pantsaphobia, tonight I had to rummage through my closet to find my running tights and a long sleeve shirt to wear jogging, andI was still ended up being a little chilly. After my run, when I came home to a 54 degree home, I realized it was time to conquer the next fall milestone... closing my remaining open windows and pushing the 'on' button on the furnace thermostat.... I think winter is on it's way!

At the park this afternoon.


From the parking lot at work this morning.

Crossing Nevada...

Last night I chased a rainbow across the Nevada desert....
I'm sure most people would think I'm crazy for saying this, but I actually really like driving across Nevada. I find the desert beautiful, and I love the wide open skys and far off mountain vistas that are rarely marred with man made structures.

Driving east across Nevada last night we spied a rainbow, or should I say half a rainbow, the left half, colorful, broad and bright and stretching up to the sky. I would have loved to snap a picture but one thing about driving through Nevada is that that exits and highway pull offs are few and far between. As we drove east the rainbow faded and and brightened several times as we chased it across the state. It made for a most pleasurable drive. It was evening and as the sun began to set the low hanging clouds of the weather system that caused the rainbow also caused the the sun to refract and bask the the landscape in an almost eerie golden glow. With the rainbow still ahead of us I finally spied an exit... one of those random exits that appears to go no where, so we stopped for a photo op. From this vantage we could take in the full arc of the rainbow, now double, in the this crazy golden light. The pictures don't begin to capture the beauty...




But then the thunder clapped and raindrops started falling and we thought better of standing outside in the open, so we hopped back in the car and continued east. In not many miles there was another ranch exit and we braved the weather for a few moments to get a few more pictures of the spectacular sunset storm.


And no, we never did find that pot of gold... but our stop for the night was at Winnemucca, Nevada where we got a cheap room at a casino.... and 2 coupons for free drinks in the bar. That's as close to pot of gold we could get. Since as of Monday Matt is officially an adult we went to the lounge for gin and tonics and to listen to the band. As we sat a guy walked up to us... a guy I'm acquainted with from the singles group in Salt Lake City.... so what's the probability of running into someone you know when your hanging out in one of several town casinos in a town more than 5 hours from home? (You should always know your probabilities when playing at a casino) 100% I guess! Wanna bet?

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood....

I think the pictures say it all.....

And it continues...

.... Winter that is. Scenes from my morning, noon hour and evening.....

Spring Revert Again...

Spring reverts to winter once again....
Woke up to snow again this morning. Not really accumulating here in the valley, but it looks like the mountains are being treated to another good dose of fresh white frosting. I love the snow more than most people, but am slightly aggravated by it today because Matt is driving up from college today. The only thing I dislike about him going to school in Durango, CO is that when the weather is bad I worry about his 7-8 hour drive through desolate desert and over mountain passes. And of course the weather is frequently bad at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring Break so I often get a little worrying in. Heck, his first year of school classes were canceled the week after Christmas break because nobody could get to Durango... all the passes into town were closed. We've learned to watch the weather and pick travel days accordingly, although today he has no choice because he has his last final this morning and an appointment here in Salt Lake tonight. But who really expects to have to worry about him driving over Soldier Summit in a snowstorm the last week of April??

And again...

The view from my front porch today!

Today's another fine Utah spring day....complete with SNOW, yet again. We awoke to about 3 inches, of fresh wet snow, sure to melt by days end, but it made such a beautiful morning. Cool air and a beautiful sky! I think we've had more snow in April this year than we had in December. A good thing for us spring skiers for sure!!

More Utah Spring!

Six inches of snow on Tuesday, and I found my pond frozen on Wednesday.
They had so much snow at Snowbird they declared "interlodge", meaning the canyon was closed and no one was allowed to leave the buildings for 2 days. The marvelous thing is that I had planned to play hooky from work on Thursday to ski Snowbird with a friend... we could not have had a better spring ski day.... but the better part... my friend is a condo owner up there, so after sking we got to use the hot tub and go to the condos wine and cheese party. A real "resort" skiing day. What can I say, life is good and I am a lucky girl!!!!!

April Fools???

Yup it's Mother Nature playing tricks on us. We had frigid January like weather in December, February was almost spring-like, March could not make up her mind, warm one day, cool the next. And now for the 1st of April, we have, ta-da, the return of winter!! A good ten inches of snow at my house this morning, as measured by the snow on my upstairs deck. If I didn't enjoy the snow so much I'd think this was Mother Natures idea of an April Fools joke!

My New Man....

So last Sunday we finally had a nice snow storm. Not "The Greatest Snow on Earth" like the old license plates say, but heavy, wet show. Definitely not powder snow.
As I was shoveling the snow off of the driveway it occured to me that it was great snowman snow, something we rarely have, so why not roll great big snowballs to get some of the snow off of my driveway. So I did, and rolled the first big ball to the front yard spot where I wanted my snowman. Then I rolled the second ball over.

Of course the problem is that hefting the second ball up on top of the first ball is a two person job, and I'm a single gal, and my daughter was off visiting her borfriend. So what to do? A ramp,I thought, I needed a ramp. I tried a snowboard, but that didn't work, it was too slippery. Then I spied my rickety old stepladder in the garage. It was perfect, I was able to roll my ball right up to where I wanted it. So see, a single gal can manage just fine on her own with a little innovation!

On the trail...

Yesterday I decided that I should try to take Daisy on more hike up to Dog Lake before the the end of the season. The Big Water Trail is at the very end of of the Millcreek Canyon road, and the upper half of the canyon closes for winter at the end of the month. Sure enough winter has already started up there, with the exception of a couple of west facing dry spots, and some chocolate pudding like wet spots, most of the trail was snow packed from the parking lot up to the lake. It was a tiny bit slippery for me in my hiking boots, but heavenly for Daisy who just loves frolicking in the snow. She must be showing her age (she's 9), for the first time ever she didn't play in the water at lake. It was pretty cold, maybe she's a smart dog after all. We hiked the three miles up ad the three miles down, but it wasn't until I was about 30 feet from the parking lot that I slipped on the ice and landed on my rear...
I'm not sure but I think Daisy laughed at me....

The Utah Roller Coaster

From my deck...

Wednesday night, from Olympus hills

My backyard, Thursday morning

The other Utah Roller Coaster.... the weather. We get beautiful fall weather and beautiful sunsets. I wish I had brought my camera when I went out to the Park City farmers market (Park Silly) last weekend, the fall colors the blue skies, it was so beautiful. My friend, who drove that day, owns a convertible, and it was positively perfect top down weather. But being Utah things change quickly. Tuesday it was 80 degrees, Wednesday my daughter called me at work, all excited because it was snowing. Thursday we awoke to snow in the yard, and had to scrape the car windshields. The weather coaster is always interesting here.

Friday was my annual pants-a-phobia day.... after only wearing shorts and skirts all summer, the advent of the cold weather meant it was time to put on long pants - for the first time since May. After so long without wearing pants I'm almost phobic about puttingthem on again, thus the first time I wear then is my pants-a-phobia day... the day I have to get over my pants phobia.

Raindrops on roses...

...and primrose and lilies. I'm not sure we've ever had such a waterlogged June. I checked the NOAA weather site and found a page that said the month to date had 2.4 inches of rain while the average for the month of June is 0.6 inches. I bet those measurements were out at the airport, I'm sure up along the mountains where I live we've had much more. I'm sure I've dumped at least 4 inches of water out my wheelbarrow, which has been sitting in the yard awaiting my planting my deck planters. I've had a flat of plants waiting at least two weeks for a dry night to do do some planting.


Tonight was that night. The second day in a row without rain, I figured the soil in my pots was dry enough to work with, so tonight was planting night. Clearly I should have dumped the water out the wheelbarrow more frequently, because my back yard was teaming with mosquitoes. Or were they from my pond or my fire pit or somewhere else where water could pool? Regardless, I've never had so many squeeters in my yard - it actually made for an unpleasant planting night.

Rain, rain...

Go away. Come again some other day.....

I really don't mind rain, in fact, we really need it here, as Salt Lake only gets 16 inches a year. So in some ways a nice rainstorm is really a treat... but... NOT on the weekends. We have 5 out of 7 days to enjoy the rain, I'd much rather have it when I'm at work, not when I'd like to be working in my garden.

I ran to the store yesterday. When I went in, the sun had finally come out, when I came out, the sun was still out, but it was pouring rain again. I looked to the mountains for the rainbow and sure enough there was one. So rather than heading right home I thought I'd swing by Canyon Rim park in hopes of a photo op, and this is what I found. A rainbow always makes day.

The end of winter...

The Wasatch Mountains, downtown and the Salt Lake Valley

Winter is officially over I think. Brighton closed on Sunday, but I skipped the last day of skiing to spend over 8 hours digging the grass out of my flower beds, a job that's still not finished. I love to garden, but the spring time "dig all the grass out of flowerbeds" chore is a little overwhelming. Monday night I attended the start of the hiking season "social" hike with the local Meet Up hiking group. We took the short, steep trail up to the monument on Ensign Peak and viewed the city. Wednesday, in celebration of Earth Day I went to the free Michael Franti concert at the Gallivan center. It was a lovely warm night and his music was rockin'. I've never seen so many people dancing. That man knows how to work the crowd.

These things all sound like the end of winter don't they? Of course the biggest, best sign of the start of spring is the fact that I've polished my toenails and worn sandals to work for the last four days. Nothing says spring like the freeing of the feet!!!

I probably shouldn't get too excited though... I think they're calling for snow this weekend... down to 4500 feet... that would be my neighborhood! Guess we'll wait and see!
The Oquirrh Mountains and Great Salt Lake... and a sun doggie!

Spring again...

Yup, it's definitely spring in Utah. Did I tell you what I did on Monday? Sarah and I spent the afternoon up at the hot springs. I mostly soaked, she mostly sunbathed. Now today? Look at my poor daffofils. It snowed most of the day today, and more is expected tonight. I'm glad I like winter!

Happy Saturday!

No this isn't my coffee, it's the coffee, Jean, my 86 year old coffee shop friend (and roll model for how I want to do age 86!) ordered the other morning. The cute young barista did such a pretty design I had to ask to take a picture.
I've been a blog sloth this week. I've been fighting insomnia, which has made me tired and unmotivated, thus I haven't felt much like writing. Unfortunately, rather than getting to sleep in this morning I had to get up early. Sarah had to be at the high school at 8 am to take the ACT. I felt obligated to play "good mother" and make sure she had a nutritious breakfast... egg and cheese biscuit sandwich on my homemade buttermilk biscuits. A surprise for Sarah who, out of necessity, is quite self sufficient in the morning. As anyone who knows me knows, I'm not a morning person, so she was quite surprised that I got up to make her breakfast on a Saturday.

We hung out at home watching a movie last night so she could get a good night sleep, but she still wasn't too thrilled to have to get up early on a Saturday to take a test. She was even less thrilled when she read her admission ticket and discovered that she wasn't permitted to use a mechanical pencil. She has real aversion to wooden pencil, so it will be four hours of suffering for her LOL

To change the topic, it might be April, but it's snowing once again this morning. I think this is the fourth snowy morning this week... your average Utah trick spring.