If its not one thing......

You know the rest....its another. And at least lately, it seems to involve our bathroom.

We have had snow...lots of it. Then the weather got warm....warmer than my bathroom used to be. The heat in there works now...found out the wires were crossed with the bedroom. This meant that if the bedroom was set at 80 degrees, the bathroom got warm. So the mastermind who had installed the wiring ( wrongly labeled by the plumber...dont ask me as I am still confused ) uncrossed the mixed up lines and the bathroom is now warm and so is the bedroom...Yay!!

But I digress. The weather got warm and the tons, literally, of snow pack and ice starts sliding off the roof. I call them roof-quakes because the whole house shudders and shakes when the slides start. I walk into the bathroom to the steady drip,drip,drip of a leak. Which, oh joy, is coming down in front of the toilet. From around the light fixture in the ceiling. Cough. Meaning, at least in my small mind, that going to the bathroom could turn into an electrifying experience. Not a good thing really....exciting maybe, but not very good, health wise. Turns out the last roof-quake bent the same vent pipe that got bent last year and around which we had the builder put snow blockers meant to prevent this very thing from happening. Sigh.

Someone did show up and sprayed foamy stuff out of a can that will (hopefully) stop the leaking until spring when it can be ( again ) fixed. I had no idea moving to the mountains would be such an educational experience.

Another exciting discovery has been finding all the little doggie gifts, previously covered by snow. Somehow I thought they would compost themselves and disappear. Um...no. And when they melt....well, lets just say they are just as disgusting to step in as when they were first deposited. Lovely. So the driveway, now a slushy muddy mess, is also rather fragrant from what is not mud. I kind of hope it snows again.

What a difference a day ( or three ) makes

A few days ago we were shivering beneath the blast of an arctic chill...yanno...more of that global warming stuff and today its almost shirt sleeve weather. Or if you are from the north east, its bathing suit time. It is in the 50's and balmy...relatively speaking. And the world, once white and pristine, has turned to mucky mushy slop. I used to wonder why all the cars and trucks here were so nasty: now I know. Mine is no exception.

I did take the Escape ( sooo appropriately named ) to the car wash not long ago, then crawled up the mountain, trying to miss the muck. When what to my wondering eyes should appear ( yes, I know, its plagerism at its finest ) but a car screaming up behind me, going at least 35 mph. Don't laugh...on this road thats high speed!! And this guy had the temerity to HONK. Are you kidding me???? Its not like this is the city and if people want to speed like that, all you can do is pull over and hope they dont splash your almost, nearly still clean car. Which of course I did.

The clean lasted until the day before John got home, when I had to venture into the village again. Now it looks like its never been washed. Sigh. Not like I am big on immaculate vehicles. No, personally I know they drive pretty much the same, dirty or clean but this is one of those "losing battles" and while I will make the attempt from time to time, I think for the most part, the Escape is going to be a salty, muddy mess. At least until late spring...at which time it will be covered in dust. Me? I will take the dust.

And I thought it was cold before....wrong!!!

I do remember previous posts, where I spoke about the cold. Ha.

First, let me say that John got home safely before snowzilla hit. Thank you God. I can not imagine him driving through what we got hit with ( actually, I can imagine it and I am so very grateful and it is such a blessing that he did not have to do that!!)

I thought it "only" got to -26 however have found out since then that with the wind chill it was at least -40. As my son in law Thomas says...holy cannoli.

We got between 14 and 16 inches of the white stuff and although it was wonderous and beautiful its too cold for humans. Or dogs....they realllllly didnt like it. Piddle and LET ME BACK IN THE HOUSE PLEASE. The only good thing about it was that they could no longer rush up the driveway to bark at cars. They were stuck...being way too short to get through that much snow.
Lady, craziest of the woofs, still went out and tunneled her way through it for a short distance but the rest of them were done after 60 seconds.

I have heard since then that 30% of the homes in Angel Fire had pipes burst and we were blessed that neither the house nor the condo had that issue. Truly, truly a blessing. Maybe its the extra added heat John brings....both to my heart and to the house that made the difference.

And I wish I could say I have been a wonderful, loving wife since he got here but the truth is that once I have been on my own for a few weeks, I get rather " independant" aka " dont tell me what to do". Asking is fine but when I get "told" what to do, there are..... um .... issues. I pray about it...I truly do. And I will ask Him to give me patience and the gift of silence ( huge sigh here ) but I am not really the suffer-in-silence type. No....I am a yammer, yeller, holler, gripe, grumble HORRIBLE type. I am the worst wife possible when it comes to silent submission. Period, end of story. And though I do pray, when I am TOLD something instead of asked, I explode.

Please pray for me so that he still wants to come home, although I do understand if he doesnt want to. I dont think I would want to come home to me .....even if i cook good.

Just pray, please.

The trees in winter

Today when "we" got up....that is the dogs and myself....it was -9 degrees below absolute zero....wayyyyyy different than below 32 which is freezing for us fahranheit folks....it was COLD.

And still...here are the birds, who live in feathers, not insulated homes *coughsnortcough* which are warm. Ok ...for the most part ( especially the upper part ) the house is mostlykindasorta warm. Mostly.

But here are these birds..and they are just some among many, that live here year round in a nest. Are you kidding me?

How could you NOT believe in Him when he has creatures so delicate and of such fragile beauty who live through weather like this for weeks at a time...or is it months..... cold that I have problems dealing with for a few minutes at a time. (Breathe....owwww....breathe.....owwwwwwwww ) Amazing, what He can do, isnt it?

Love it love it love it!!!

We are getting the tail end of the massive storm that is hitting the US....you know...global warming?

The photo of the back stairs doesnt do this storm justice but its an idea of what came flying down from heaven since yesterday evening. And I do love it...

There is a silence and purity that settles in...a pristine reminder of the greatness of God. How different, from day to day is the wonder of our world and what a gift.

I am so grateful for the warmth of the house ( it was -12 with the windchill today ) for the company of dogs who love the snow, for food stored against just such a time, for family that is safe and not traveling, for a husband who is coming home.....yayyyyyyyyyy!

I am blessed indeed to be here but can not wait to be with the love of my life. Counting the minutes.

Seriously.....

For the majority of my blogs ( what a weird word...) I do try to keep it light. I do not always succeed. And sometimes, like now, they are intentionally straight.

I have been watching what is going on in Egypt...land of pharohs and sphinx, pyramids and knowledge. And they are fighting for what we fought for in this land over 200 years ago.

I am not stupid...I know the fear is that the Muslim Brotherhood, whose spawn is Al Queda and Hamas....those who see America as the " great satan "...will take over and push the country into what Iran has become...a more dictatorial state than it already is.

That now there will be the power to push Israel "into the sea". That the tepid and tenuous peace that has prevailed in that region for the last three decades will come to a fiery end. That the dictator we know is better than the one we dont.

And yet.....

And yet....arent the people there fighting for what we fought for so long ago? For the right of assembly, the right of free speech, the right to worship ( yes, even this ) as we please....the right of the press...arent they fighting for FREEDOM ????

Arent they fighting for the same thing we fought for ...and are still fighting for??
How can we not support them...and God help this government if they dont.

Signs along the way

When I woke up yesterday morning I had had a dream...the kind that is so real you can smell and taste it. I had been dreaming about Kentucky-fingerlickin'-grease-drippin' Fried Chicken. So real my mouth was watering ( ok...maybe drooling, a petty difference really). I also had an unfinished task....organizing the rest of my closet and drawers...and knew I needed sock boxes. Angel Fire has neither KFC nor sock boxes so a trip to Taos was in the picture and I could have waited another day for the sock boxes but the chicken was an immediate necessity.

On the drive through Taos Canyon there are three signs that I have seen before and that make me chuckle every time I see them and they point to the disparity of a rich county (Taos) and the poorer one where I live ( Colfax ). We dont have signs like this in Colfax county.

The first is a yellow hazard sign with a picture of an elk and the words " Elk Crossing Ahead". I wonder every time I see this sign if the elk know this is where they are supposed to cross. Has someone told them...."ok guys, you cross right here" and if indeed there are so many of them crossing that they warrant their own sign. Never, in all the times over the last 20 years that we have driven this road has there been the slightest sign of an elk but apparently some brain child in Taos decided to spend the money to put a large sign, letting both elk and humans know this is where they should cross. Ok....

The next sign is also a large yellow hazard sign, this time with no words but the picture of a cow. Really? Not a cow to be seen anywhere and no words on the sign, leaving one to wonder if they were just bored in Taos and had extra money and decided "hey a cow sign would be cool" ...out in the middle of nowhere. Ok.....

The one that truly boggles my mind is the third sign. This cautions "Bicycle riders stay right and ride single file". Seriously??? First and foremost we are talking about a road that is a narrow two lane affair...there is no shoulder to pull off on and no place to stop and in many places it is a sheer drop. We drive on the right side of the road in this country. Did the sign makers in Taos have the idea that bicyclists, on this tiny road, would ride on the left, into oncoming traffic?? Or that they would choose the center of the road, which seems to include elk, cows and most frightening of all, Texans?? In reality, if you are riding a bike on this road at all you should probably have a mental health evaluation. You see about as many bicyclists as you do elk and cows.

Someone in Taos has way too much time and money on their hands. At times I do wish we had a McDonalds or KFC here in Angel Fire and the drive is a bit of a drag but at least (do I thank the Taos bureaucrats here??) its entertaining.