My own long winter

This is what I woke up to this morning. I sighed and accepted more snow. Spring is really tough for me here in Colorado. Just when I'm yearning for warm weather and picnics and being outdoors, that's when the snow comes. Usually, January and February are just cold, but there's not a lot of snow. It's the Spring that brings all this snow.

Luke and I just finished listening to The Long Winter yesterday. I was anxious to finish this book because I felt like just listening to it was making me colder and prolonging my own long winter. I hadn't re-visited The Long Winter since I was a girl. It just wasn't one of the Little House books that I read over and over. It's an excellent book about perseverance and being grateful for the little things. I still kind of wonder what it was like for Pa to sit down to those delicious hot pancakes at Almanzo and Royal's house after eating nothing but potatoes and coarse brown bread for weeks. It must have been like Heaven to eat warm pancakes soaked with maple syrup. I do wonder if he told Ma about his feast...maybe not for a long while. I wondered what it would be like to see the food supply diminishing knowing that there wouldn't be more until the train got through. I've just never experienced hunger like that. The thing is God provided. He took care of them and there was just enough until the train finally came in with their Christmas turkey.

Anyway, It's a little after noon and the snow is slowing down here and the sun peeks out every now and then, but I know there's more snow coming. I decided to celebrate having more than just potatoes in the house and I made a vanilla cream pie. I scraped the last of my vanilla bean seeds to make the filling and now my pie is chilling nicely in the fridge. It'll be a nice treat in our cozy house tonight.

Snow Day Plus One

Okay, so it's snow day plus one around here. We easily have over two feet of snow and it's still coming down. Paul went to work at his usual time yesterday, but I told him to pack it in and come home early. Since we live at an elevation of 8600 feet, I was anxious for him to get home. His normal commute time is around 45 minutes and I knew it would be ugly driving conditions.
So, he didn't even try digging out to go in today. It looks like February around here and I'm sighing in disappointment over my lost Autumn. Oh well. Here it comes. I intended to post a picture yesterday of the view outside our windows, but I have to charge my camera and I decided that I hadn't updated my blog in a while and that I should update without the photo. I think you can imagine the massive snowpile outside. I'll charge the camera and upload some photos later.

Since we're having snow days around here, schoolwork has been light. Right now, the boys are eating their lunches while watching He's Your Dog Charlie Brown. I don't normally turn the TV on during the day, but it seems appropriate today. They will probably watch, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown next.

So, what have we been doing? Well, there was some baking yesterday. I made banana bread which I have to admit is not one of my favorite things, but I just can' t let the overripe bananas go and the boys love it. Luke helped bake brownies too. I bought a Ghiradelli Chocolate baking bar for the brownies, but I didn't realize that I had bought a semi-sweet bar until the brownies were in the oven. So, the brownies were a little sweet for our tastes. Oh, well. It's not like the brownies won't go uneaten, but next time I'll pay closer attention.

I've stayed up late both last night and the night before knitting. It's both a quiet and enjoyable time for me. I was determined to finish a scarf for my sister and now, I'm working on a blanket that's so repetitive and a little bit boring to knit, but it's something I can do without having to consult the pattern every row. Today, I ordered some yarn to knit a cabled scarf for Paul. I ordered Spud and Chloe yarn in Rootbeer. Doesn't that sound like a fun color?? Sometimes, I'm motivated to finish a knitting project just so I can buy yarn for my next project sooner!!

Tessie will be 11 months on Tuesday. I can't believe it. This might be the fastest year ever. I've already envisioned her first birthday cake. I'll say this: It involves some of Cecily Mary Barker's flower fairies. I'm hoping it will be as cute in real life as it is in my imagination.

I just looked up and noticed that the snow has picked up just in the time I've been typing. My brother-in-law (who lives across the street) is trying to get his snowblower up and running so that we don't have to completely dig out from under all this snow.

Oh, I meant to post this last week, but somehow I just never found the time to write about it. Guess what we spotted in our backyard about a week ago? A Mountain Lion! I had only ever seen them at the Denver Zoo, but I was a little freaked out by the sighting. Only a few weeks before that, Luke was outside when he spotted a bear in our backyard. We need more bear bells!

Well, I suppose that's enough random thoughts for one day. I'll post snow pictures soon. I hope this clears before Saturday. Tomorrow, we'll carve pumpkins and hopefully have clear skies.