29 below, 55 above

As usual the temperature swings somehow still amaze me. I should know better and expect such radical changes but wow... the plows still haven't hit the side roads in town so it's a real disaster for most people. Instead of snow its now slush and ice and if you slide into a snowbank it's like hitting a brick wall. I'm glad we spent so much time shoveling and plowing.

I'm almost rehab'd from messing my knee up, finally able to run over a mile without too much discomfort. Getting hard to recover from not acting my age.

Spending a lot of time in the mountains lately, things are in turmoil at work so I'm keeping my head down. Sometimes that's the best way to avoid being the center of attention. If I'm not in town then I can't just come in after hours or on my days off. Winter has made everyone cranky on top of whatever crankiness and issues are currently present on a normal day. Even I've been a little more smart-ass and cranky but mainly because I can't work out as hard as usual.

Our woodshed cats are still around but we lost one of the three. Either it moved out or was a snack, perhaps this spring we will be able to figure it out if we find a body. We have been leaving water and some food out but Rock doesn't appreciate it so we are going to have to find a new location. I enjoy watching them do cat things as it reminds me of growing up. This picture shows Typhoid and Rabies sharing food (rabies is the mother cat you can barely see). They get along for the most part and I'm glad they made it through the coldest part of the winter.

With the heavy snowfall in most of the state, the mountains look amazing right now. Most of the the snow in town has melted away, our yard is 1/2 as deep as last week. With temps into the 60's we expect 90% of everything to vanish by Monday. Here is the view on the way to the cabin, about 9000 feet in elevation along a long stretch of high altitude ranch property.

I believe in trying to make your dreams happen, not just dreaming about them. This is one of the reasons we have the cabin, we want to live the dream. While we love scuba diving and traveling, we don't see ourselves living on a beach or in a foreign country. We picture a quiet life in the mountains, in a cabin. We aren't sure if this is retirement cabin because we aren't sure if retirement is possible anymore and in 20 years who can say if we will still enjoy the snow.

Our new vehicle arrived finally. It was a great move financially and more practical than having a car and small SUV. I like the new red Rover but feel a little cramped in it so I'll be driving the silver one most of the time. It's mainly a vehicle to transport Rock around in (for me) because I have a company car that I can't put animals in. They probably wouldn't notice if I did, they never seem to clean it as required but I have car wash coupons for the outside.

We are planning our year out for travel. Heading to Dallas next weekend, Vegas the end of March, Cozumel in April and Oklahoma is June. Possibly another dive trip back to Cozumel in October but that's a ways off. Besides the travel we are gathering supplies for some cabin and city home projects that needs get done. It should be a busy year for our days off.