Neither Snow nor Rain

This morning, on my way to work, I drove through snow, fog, and sleet. I felt like the mailman, lol. I knew the winter storm was still moving in so I left work early, around 1:30PM, when the snowflakes were big and the streets were slushy. I stopped by WalMart to get some last minute shopping and I think everyone else had the same idea. After over a half hour wait to check out, I loaded my packages and realized I had forgotten to buy one of the priorities on my shopping list. I stopped at Walgreens to get that and then back on the road, this time to rain. I have a 45 minute commute on a good day now since the company moved their office earlier this month, so I got comfortable, turned up the defrost, set the windshield wipers to intermittant, and prepared for the journey home. Most of the way home is freeway but, because of the snow, I got off the interstate and took Historic Highway Route 66, the frontage road, for the last ten miles to home. I could see that the light, mid-day interstate traffic was still moving well, despite the now heavy snowfall, but Route 66 highway was practically deserted, a winter wonderland, although treacherous, with the foggy snow, slushy roads, and freezing temperatures. Still, I wanted to see how my new Canon Point and Shoot camera worked for point and shoot photos. So, here goes:

This might be my favorite photo. I like the snowy trees and the lone mailbox.

The brown stripe you see in the next photo is the side of the freeway which runs parallel with Route 66. Sometimes, after a heavy rainstorm, there are temporary waterfalls running down from the upper levels. Not today. ;) 

You can see the roads are getting worse (next photo) as I gain in altitude and approach my home. I live at 7,000 feet above sea level, 1,500 feet higher than in the city. It's awful when you have a cold and your ears plug up and then pop, which reminds me of a story. Two different times, I have purchased neon tetras for my fish tank, only to arrive at home from the city, with dead, little, red and blue fish. It seems that the altitude change doesn't agree with them. Their eyes actually pop out of their heads! Crazy, I know, but absolutely true!

When I got home, my son's friend's car was stuck in my long driveway. Uh oh! I have to go past without hitting him or getting stuck myself. I couldn't even stop because I knew I would get stuck then too. Everybody watched and worried as I carefully drove past and parked in the driveway. When I tried to back up and straighten out, I couldn't. I was stuck. Oh well, I was home, safe and parked. Yay, for my Subaru!! Whew! I do slip and slide a little but I haven't got stuck yet. Then, I snapped this photo, looking back down my driveway towards the neighbor's driveway, just after they got the car going again. Last Saturday night, another of my son's friends got stuck at the end of the driveway nearer the neighbor's wall. The driveway may look easy, but it curves in an "s" with a slight drop on both sides and there is a culvert at the end, near the road. When driving in snow you can't heavy gas it, slow down too much, or stop, and you've got to stay on the gravel. The biggest problem I seem to have driving in snow is the low clearance of my Subaru Impreza. But, my daughter says, "it's all about the driver". Lol, thanks for the compliment. After all, I didn't hit the friend's car OR get myself stuck. Tee Hee.

I wasn't very pleased that my son and his friends were going out in this blizzard but they were performing at a show tonight with their band, Second Thought. He did call me when they got to town so that I knew they were safe. The weather wasn't so bad in the city and he's going to stay at his friend's apartment tonight after the show. Have fun at your show, guys.

I let Sandy and Skyy out for a pee and a romp. They had a blast running through the deep snow.

Skyy was so fast for this photo, I only caught her tail.

By this time, Sandy was far, far away. This photo was taken using my 14X zoom, four times more than my last camera.

Inside, it looks like the snow monsters are outside.

I think I will be working from home tomorrow, in order to stay safe. I really can't risk anything happening to my one driving car, since the Hyundai got totalled.

Neither Snow Nor Rain - song: O Superman artist: David Bowie and Laurie Anderson

Powder and Paint

I have been living in the shell of a house for over a month now.

We moved all the furniture to the garage and a rented storage unit.

We took up all the carpet and baseboards.

We painted (most of) the ceilings and walls in all the rooms that will be getting the new flooring. (over 1500 sq ft.). Still need to do touch up work and door frames, etc.

Patched the walls (from taking off the baseboards) and the concrete floors. The dark spots along the walls show wet concrete drying after patching the holes made from pulling up the carpet nail strips.

Boxes of Pergo laminate flooring are now sitting in the middle of each room: living room, dining room den, hallways, and the four bedrooms.

Waiting...

waiting...

Got a call from the installers and they won't be starting until December 27th. She stressed that we must put boxes of flooring in EACH room of the house and keep the temperature at 70 degrees at least 48 hours before they begin. WTF?? I have no flooring, no insulation! My internal house temperature drops down into the 50s overnight. We're lucky if  ever gets to 68 during the day! My electric bill is 30% higher than normal (higher than it's ever been before in the 17 years I've lived here). I have very little wood left for the woodstove and I just bought $700 worth of propane which took the tank to only 60%. Oh my! I considered converting my wood stove to pellet but then I'd need to buy pellets all the time AND run a fan. I guess I better buy a cord of wood quick and get it delivered. With my pickup truck not running, I haven't been able to go get any wood myself this year except for the little bit my daughter and I picked up one afternoon and half of that was rocks, lol.

Did she say DECEMBER 27TH?!?!!

That's two more weeks! Oh my, no Christmas for us this year.

I see a very bleak two weeks ahead. Cold, cold, cold and nothing in the rooms except a few mattresses, my big 54 inch tv and my laptop (of course). Oh my!! Sure not looking forward to it.

Just a few years ago, I had a roof leak and had the entire roof repaired. It took a couple of weeks because of the snows we had during that time. That was in January- and it was COLD!!!! Remind me to do my next major house improvement in the summer, PLEASE!

Now I have nothing to do but wait...


Powder and Paint  song: Maid of Bond Street, artist: David Bowie, album: Deram songs

Show you his Teeth

The other night my son and I were playing with Skyy and we noticed that her teeth were loose. So, I held her while my son pulled at her tooth.

He couldn't get a good enough hold on it so we switched places and I pulled.

I got it!

Skyy moved and then we found a second tooth. I guess my son did pull the first tooth out after all.

Amazingly, her teeth have already grown in, just days later. The vet told us last weekend that she was almost five months now because she had already lost a canine tooth, and now, two more. My baby is growing up!

Show you his Teeth - song: Amsterdam,  artist: David Bowie performing Jacques Brel

Friday Foto

I spotted this tree reflection in the window as I was driving down the road. Cool, huh?

Skyy...and more

Meet the new camera! I ordered a red one but I think it's more pink. Oh well, I still like it.

The Canon is much lighter than my last camera and it powers up fast. I can drive down the highway and click! Here are the Sandia Mountains from the northern end of town. Not very good, but not too bad either, considering I was driving over 70 mph (legal for that stretch of road) and the sky was hazy, with early morning light. Notice the blur in the foreground as I whiz past the sagebrush.

One of the features I've fallen in love with is the "kids and pets" mode. It locks on to the subject and cuts the blur out of most animal photos. I'm really looking forward to having a photo shoot with my horses on the run. It's been great for Skyy who is constantly in motion until she falls into her deep puppy sleeps. Notice all the different toys in the photos. She plays with a new toy every ten minutes.

Ouch, those nails really need to get cut again!

 It's not all about the camera, although it does help me get better photos. Hopefully, I can do it justice now with some good camera shots. Just bear with me as I learn with my new toy, okay?



my backyard

It's a foggy, rainy, snowy day and Sandy is deciding if it's worth going for an adventure...

 Just look at the Winter Wonderland I have in my backyard.

Sunday Stills (12/11/11 Pets - Ed's 3rd Anniversary)

I haven't been posting to the Sunday Stills photo challenges for several weeks but I couldn't miss this one. Here's Skyy, five months now with the world in her mouth.

 She loves to play with her best friend, Sandy the Stray. Sandy adores my daughter whom she adopted last year (yes, Sandy chose my daughter). 

I've included the alpacas as my pets because they are becoming just that. I go out and hang around with them whenever I have time.

Little Sophie Rose is certainly going to be a pet. She is curious about everything and loves to pronk around the barn aisles investigting.

Yalla!is about the most friendly and curious horse I have ever known. She will come running down the arena to the far end to visit with me while the others stay at the barn.

 

Terra loves me. Here she is cozying up to my homemade alpaca felt hat.

For more Sunday Stills, please visit Ed's website.

Note- first two photos are from new camera. All others are from archives.



An early Xmas present, from me to myself (and you)

That's right, a present to you, my readers. I really like to add photos to my posts and without a camera, I haven't been posting much in the last month, or so. Of course, I have been extraordinarily tied-up recently too, with my work, health, and remodeling home project all considerable factors.
 

I have been wanting a camera for several months now, ever since my old Kodak went on the blink. I researched and settled on a 35X zoom Canon SX40, but it was out of stock. This is the improved, newer version of the Canon SX30. I actually thought I bought it once only to find out the order didn't complete. Then, I considered a Panasonic Lumix FZ40/FZ45 (24X zoom) because the reviews were so good.  I debated and debated because the price tag is so high for these cameras that I wanted just for myself, especially at this time of year. Then my son asked me why I didn't just go with a smaller point and shoot since I ALWAYS take photos while I'm driving. I thought about this and decided that was true, so I settled on the Canon SX230, a small, but powerful, point and shoot with a 14X zoom and a great low light shooting function. I ordered it and waited.

Last night it arrived and, after playing with it for 60 pictures or so, the verdict is in.

I LOVE it!

Okay, these first two photos are not great but they were the first two taken from the camera.

For fun, I took pictures of the chip bag I was eating from. Aren't the colors just fabulous?

This morning, I brought the camera along with me to the barn.

Sophie Rose is five weeks old now and just getting cuter and fuzzier all the time. You would not believe how soft her fleece is!

Notice her long lashes in the shadow? She has the most beautiful lashes and eyebrows that curl. I'll hae to get a close up of her brows.

I also took a photo of the Colorado Blue Spruce in my backyard to show how vivid the outdoor color photos come from my new camera. Isn't it pretty? I really should decorate it since I don't even have any decorations up inside the house.

Yep, we still have snow on the ground from the storm that came in a week ago. It snowed Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. We got almost two feet, in all. I even worked from home on Monday and Tuesday because the roads were so awful. We have had extremely cold temperatures for the last week, so all the outdoor hoofstock are on emergency water rations. My son and I have been toting hot water to the barn several times a day for over a week now. Winter is here, full blast!