Holy Wormcicles, Batman!

Welcome to Texas, where it is usually tolerable during the winter.   Our metropolitan area is hosting the Super Bowl this year so what does Ms. Fickle M. Nature do to celebrate the occasion?  That's right.  She hooked up with Mr. Freeze (yes, in the biblical way) and hosed down most of Texas.  Ok, she sprayed most of the USA, THAT MENOPAUSAL WITCH!

The show must go on, though.   Yesterday, the talking heads showed us coverage of the police escorting the Packers' buses on the icy roads.  They were headed to the stadium for Media Day.   Evil Twin was hoping to see the cop cars spin-out and crash into the guardrails like everyone else yesterday morning.

Nothing happened.  Zzzzzz.

We have a big bay window in our kitchen area and I've enjoyed watching the birds peck for worms in the snow.  Hubby coined their potential food as wormcicles.  Hee Hee.  We even have one little guy camp out by the back door, enjoying the warm air oozing through to the outside.

No, this isn't me and this isn't the back-door-begging bird 

but the bird was similar in size and shape to this one. 

I think this guy just wanted a hand-out (pun intended).

Today, with a low temperature of about 10, the sounds of silence stirred us out of our warm cozy bed.  The power was out.  No whirs or roars from the heaters.  No comforting buzz from the fridge.   

SIGH.  

I was looking forward to my hot tea.  Fortunately, we were only out for about 30 minutes or so and when we turned on the TV, we heard all about the "rolling black-outs" mandated by a state governing organization.  

Yippee.

I have not left the house since Monday.  The gym where I teach has been closed and I didn't have to buy food like it was the last time I'd ever have a chance to do so.  Local schools have also been closed. 

Monday was a nice day, though, as it was my 24th wedding anniversary.  Hubby and I celebrated by exchanging cards, kisses and chocolate.  I also got a really big book with gorgeous photos! We plan on a dinner out sometime this weekend.

This photo is part of the card I got for Hubby.  I love the "Soul Mateys" boat name.

Stay warm!

Bird in hand photo from Abrilon on flickr.com.

Reset, Start Again, Here's 2010

Welcome to the other side! That's right. I woke up this morning and 2010 had arrived. The evil villain from Star Trek had not inserted the red matter into the core of our planet vaporizing it and replacing it with a black hole. Yes, I've seen Star Trek a few times now and it always ends the same. Huh. Fancy that.

I love that movie.

I wonder if James T. Kirk is free tonight.

Back to last night. I "celebrated" the end of 2009 and the impending arrival of 2010. We watched movies, ate Mexican food, and drank a little beer. I looked at a friend's photos from their ski trip on Facebook. Then I started daydreaming about being on the ski slopes. I pictured myself making perfect 'S' turns down a challenging run. It looks so simple on TV and all the ski brochures show graceful skiers dancing thru powder like it's air. Um, no. THEY LIE! Also, my over-40 knees feel every bit of the terrain on bump slopes. OK. They feel it on every slope. Sheesh!

I immediately shifted gears. My daydream put me in a nice warm massaging spa. Ahhhh.

I'm not so sure about Cat this morning. He's still asleep upstairs somewhere. This is after curling up against me all evening while Hubby and I watched movies. Do cats do anything else besides sleep, eat, fart, and poop? Oh yeah. They whine. They know one word and the evil beasts can pronounce it in the most pathetic and/or annoying way to get your attention.

When I came downstairs this morning, my "holiday" amaryllis had opened up:



Ahhhhhh. Welcome to 2010. Blessings to you and your family.


Photos: ReformingGeek

Purple Mountains

Update: Waterfall hike pictures, Pagosa Springs, CO

Greetings from Colorado! Hubby and I have spent the last couple of days in Pagosa Springs on our way to Estes Park for the yoga and beer party (uh...I mean serious yogi conference). We stopped in Santa Fe before we came here.

We lost all of our marbles in Santa Fe. We decided that a 7-mile trek to the top of a mountain was a good idea. It was beautiful but it just kept going up and then up again and again until finally, we were at the top. We were were passed by a girl in flip-flops but we noticed she didn't try the wicked switchbacks that made up the last 2 miles! Topping off that hike by guzzling a margarita at our favorite Mexican food place made it very clear that we really weren't playing with a full deck. High altitude, dehydration and alcohol.......duh.

Thanks to Wit's Bitch's LOL cat, we recovered, found our marbles, and enjoyed a nice drive to Pagosa Springs. We are still in search of a great Mexican food place here but the hike we did today has made up for it. It was only a 6-miler (felt longer) with great views and an unusual waterfall at the end. Hubby has the pictures and one of these days you might see them.....all 1000. You will soon receive an invite to the slide show. Just kidding, just a few pictures will be posted. I promise.

Back to the waterfall. It starts as a thin stream but about 1/2 way down, the wind blows the water away from the rock. Then it finds the rock again and spreads out like a windshield before it hits the stream. Simple things can be so special.

The weather has been great and we hope it continues. We don't ask for much. We just like to stay dry on long hikes. Wet boots and wet undies are not fun. If that happens, we'll just have to have more alcohol to drown our sorrows.

And yes, the mountains really are purple.