Change in the Weather

We had another beautiful day, but it appears from the forecast that we are heading into a major change.  The high today was forecast to be 60F degrees but I think it was higher than that....86F degrees in Denver.  Tomorrow's high is only expected to be 37F degrees and there is a 70% chance of snow.  I spent part of yesterday and part of today moving wood from that pile that I bought in February that had to be dumped in the deepest snow we'd received all winter to a stack I'm making against the privacy fence.  My neighbor lent me a wheelbarrow and it has gone much faster since.

This was where I left things yesterday afternoon.  I had to quit.  My back was really hurting...

And this is where I stopped today...

...so I'm making some progress.  I stopped today and took Dixie, who was waiting patiently...

...to Nederland.  We stopped by the post office and, I could hardly believe it, but I finally received the settlement check from Sears, dated February 21.  The stub on the check, dated February 20,  is addressed to my physical address where the claims adjuster knew I did not receive mail and it had a cover sheet, dated March 2,  indicating it should be shipped to a P.O. Box that bore no resemblance to my P.O. Box number at the Nederland Post Office.  What a botch-up from beginning to end.  And, of course, this is April 1, so this may not be the end...

Then I dropped off at the library's drop box that Elizabeth George novel Believing the Lie that I had finished by Saturday morning and we went to the spring for water.  When we got back, I had lunch and read for a bit out on the deck then had a long phone conversation with my brother in Tacoma during which we discussed the economy (Somewhere along the line in the last couple of weeks I read a neat little 147-page book by Robert Reich called Aftershock:  The Next Economy & America's Future that made the other Aftershock book make a lot more sense); the Teapot Dome Scandal (we neither one could remember exactly what that was about, but I found he was much closer than me once I did my on-line research.  I somehow had this mixed up with Tammany Hall...not); and the difference between what we enjoy reading and real literature (After a 40-year hiatus I'm tackling Lawrence Durrell's The Alexandria Quartet again. I think I'm also going to have to go on-line to get an answer to this last one as I think my immediate response..."If it's hard to read, it's literature"...probably isn't quite right on). 

I thought about transferring more wood, but after sitting out there in the heat for two hours, I couldn't keep my eyes open, so came inside and had a nap.  I think I'm still tired from Friday.

Did you have a productive yet restful Sunday?  Teddee

My Typical Mountain Day

Temperatures got up to a little more than 50F degrees today here in the mountains, but there has been a stiff breeze most of the day and it was only warm mid-day.  I finished that Walter Mosley book, She Only Shot Her Man, I started yesterday evening and had an e-mail alerting me that a book I had requested was in and being held, so decided I'd take Dixie on her daily ride and include a visit to the library. 

But first I drove to Rollinsville with the intent of taking a few items to The Wild West Mercantile Co. for resale.  There was a huge sign in one window announcing they were closed on Tuesdays, which I had not noticed when I was there on Friday, so I turned around and came back to Nederland, and went to the post office.  This time I did not anticipate a check from Sears.  I had e-mailed my contact at their claims company and had been told the check, which he had told me would be mailed March 21, had never been mailed, but would be now and I should receive it no later than April 3.  I'm not holding my breath. 

We then drove to the library and I returned the Mosley whodunnit, which I recommend, and picked up the latest Elizabeth George Inspector Thomas Lynley mystery, Believing the Lie.  It's a whopper, 608 pages, so should keep me occupied for a while.

On the way home I decided to veer off and drive up to the ski area. 

I couldn't see a thing in my viewfinder it was so bright out, but I managed to a get a few shots that weren't exactly what I thought I was aiming at but give some idea of what the area is like...

It apparently is spring break...I noticed there were no cars in the high school parking lot...but there were so few people on the slopes I thought at first they must have some of the runs closed. 

But eventually this one lone skier came into view.  The slopes did look very shiny, so perhaps were icy, but they had been grooming here...

It was such a gorgeous day, t-shirt weather...

it almost made me want to jump on the chairlift...

...to see if I could still ski.  Paradoxically, my skis, boots and poles are still in storage in the desert in Phoenix and they were not a priority when I was there winter before last sorting through things and trying to decide what to bring to Colorado with me, some indication of what an avid skier I am!

When we got back, Dixie did her thing and is still in the backseat of my car...

This is funny.  I went back out there to take her picture and she looks quite willful as if she thought I was going to make her get out and she was prepared to set her heels.

Apollo took advantage of her absence...

It would be ironic if he became my "office dog" after it took me a year to even get him to let me touch him.

Did you share your day with pleasant companions?  Teddee