Welcome, Snow!

Sorry for the long hiatus. We went on vacation, and preparations sort of took over my life for the week before the trip, then we were gone for about a week, and now I'm starting to catch up. Just in time for the first major snowstorm of the year! While I was at work today, the vehicles out in the parking lot got dumped on. In fact, it was snowing more than 2 inches an hour at some points during the day.

This all means one thing: SLEDDING! We will be sure to have a sledding adventure soon. I think I might be almost as excited as the kids.

This was the view on my commute home. The snowplows never even reached the state highways near us, not even by 1 pm. I guess the mountain passes on the US highway must have been really bad. Fortunately the snow was light and fluffy, so I was able to plow the van through it. We postponed the Christmas Bird Count till tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be able to see a lot more birds then!

The Great Christmas Tree Hunt

 We've had a very dry November, which means that we can still drive high into the mountains. With that thought in mind, we decided to get a white fir Christmas tree this year. They grow at higher elevations than the pinyon trees we usually get, but with the snow level above 9,000 feet, it wouldn't be  hard to reach them.

It was a really windy day, but we didn't have the rain (or snow) that California and western Nevada were getting. So we kept going up, up, up in the mountains till we saw lots and lots of white firs (Abies concolor). White firs often crowd out aspen trees, so cutting them down can help the health of aspen stands. Probably our one tree didn't do that much good, but it's nice to know that we're potentially providing a little ecosystem service. 

 We conveniently found our white fir along the side of the road. No--Henry isn't peeing on it, he's peeing on the next little white fir!

 Desert Boy agreed to pose next to it before he and his Dad cut it down.

 Meanwhile I walked up the road and saw a few ominous clouds. We would really like some moisture-- it's kind of dry around here, even for a desert!

 Desert Girl was not enjoying all the wind.

 But a few words and she was smiling.

 Timber!!!

 My husband was very happy that we found an easy tree to get. I told him I was okay with going up the road and checking out every single tree, but he said he was fine with this one.

The Christmas tree I remember most as a kid was when we went out to the tree farm close to Christmas. All the normal trees had been cut, so we wandered around until we found one of the strangest, most unloved trees. We declared it ours, and took our Charlie Brown Christmas tree home. It looked weird, but we all liked it.

 Desert Girl helped me tag it. We paid $4 for the Christmas tree tag.

 Ready to take it home!

 Fortunately we have a truck now, so we don't have to cram it into the van like last year. I'm still finding needles from last year's tree!

Then it was time to decorate, which the kids loved. One of the benefits of a white fir is that it is not as pokey as pinyon pines, so it's a lot kinder to the hands for decorating. The ornaments are spaced in clumps right now, but we all think it's the perfect tree!

A Big Leaf Pile

Most of the leaves fell off the trees in some wind storms, so we never got around to raking. Instead, most of the leaves were blown around, with quite a few stopping at the fence. So the other day, when it was relatively warm and calm, we started raking them into a big pile so the kids would have a chance to run and jump into the pile. I remember jumping into leaf piles as one of my favorite things to do as a kid. Desert Boy remembered it from last year and was very excited. He claimed the first jump into the pile.

All smiles!

Then it was Desert Girl's turn. She decided for a long run to build up speed.

Then it was time for the jump.

The kids got some really good exercise. I was content to sit and take photos.

Maybe we'll get another good day to do more jumping into big leaf piles. Then we need to haul the leaves out to the meadow for the cows to eat.

Christmas Wreaths

 Now that Thanksgiving is over (and it was awesome!), we've been decorating a little bit each day to get ready for Christmas. I am ready to see some festive colors, yet I feel like if I decorate all at once, I won't appreciate the decorations. So we started with a wreath. I bought this beauty at the local craft fair. It makes me smile every time I see it.

But that's not our only wreath. Here's the one we put up this afternoon:

 Henry's wreath on his new doghouse! I had the red wreath background, and we went out to one of our bushes that needed trimming and trimmed it, using the cuttings for the wreath. Desert Boy was delighted to staple them on. A nail pounded into the front of the doghouse, and voila, instant brightening.

 Who said a doghouse was only for dogs? Actually, Desert Boy and Desert Girl were busy decorating more of the interior for Henry.

 I convinced Henry to go into the doghouse so I could get a photo of him, but I don't think he liked sharing with two little kids.

Time will tell who will use the doghouse more...the kids or Henry?

The New Doghouse Project

 We decided that Henry needed a bigger doghouse, so a couple weekends ago we headed down to the equipment yard to gather our materials.

 It was a cold morning, so we put the kids in their snowsuits. They thought it was great fun to go on a treasure hunt to find wood. Especially since there were fun tools, like a crowbar. Doesn't Desert Girl handle it well?

 Henry is four years old and usually sleeps outside. During warm weather he likes the padded lawn chair. During bad weather he's in his little doghouse. We figured he deserved a larger doghouse that included some nice padding.

 A pallet was the base, and Desert Boy eagerly hammered boards on top of it.

 If Desert Boy did it, Desert Girl had to also.

 Hard at work.

 We didn't quite have all the tools we needed so had to do a little improvising. Desert Boy was eager to help.

 Soon the doghouse was taking shape. Desert Boy decided that he should paint Henry some scenes inside the doghouse to make it more like home. We agreed, as it kept him quite happy.

 He did some cute paintings, but I didn't manage to take a photo of them before the insulation went on.

 This weekend it was time to finish the roof and paint the doghouse. The kids loved painting with real paint.

We are almost done, just another layer of paint, a little more work on the roof, and some decorations. Check back soon to see the final product.

And, by the way, Henry is using it. I think all the padding made it especially appealing. I understand where he's coming from, I like a comfy bed, too!