Christmas Eve Sunset

It was very quiet when I walked out today at sunset. Traffic was sparse, not a lot of noise or people about, quite peaceful, even. Perhaps everyone is already settled in for the evening.

Ice on the water

It's a drop dead gorgeous day today with blue sky and white snow, about 25 degrees. It's been cold long enough that most of the stream (the ditch) is frozen with ice and crystals. Now and then the water breaks through and has formed columns like reverse mushrooms growing down below the ice surface. Winter isn't so bad on days like this.

More Snow and other angst

Well, we've had about 4 more snowfalls this week and it's snowing again now. Someone smashed in our front fender while we were parked and away from the car, so today it's at the auto body repair place, getting the fender replaced and the bumper fixed ( which they broke) . And "they" did not leave their names or any "info" so we have to pay the deductible ourselves. .... well the car is back now and looks great!

First big snowfall

Around eight inches of snow fell on Friday night during the city's annual Christmas parade and fireworks, and last night another storm came up and hit us from New Mexico. This second storm has undone all the shoveling of the sidewalk and driveway. It's also gotten quite cold which is hard to take after last week's sixty degree weather. It's beginning to look a lot like last winter, when we had record snowfalls. It's also looking very Christmas-y.

Oatmeal lover

The yellow bird has decided it wants to eat what we're having and so she landed on the bowl of oatmeal and began to start eating off the spoon. Actually we're kind of wondering if she's pregnant. There's been a lot of romantic bird activity going on.

Seen on the Trip

We ran into a bobcat while hiking around. It's not a great picture but we're lucky we got a picture at all. He (or she) was pretty wary. Also here are a couple other animals we saw while hiking around.

More from the Road

These pictures are from top to bottom: Sleeping Elephant Mountain in the distance at sunset; Arizona peaks in snow; an old building in a back-road New Mexican village; pink maple leaves in Arizona near Portal; farm buildings in New Mexico; view near Portal, AZ; sunset in New Mexico; New Mexican ghost town; rock cliffs near Portal, AZ.