Avalanches and seven-foot snowdrifts -- AWESOME

Yes, I know, Happy New Year and all that, whatever whatever. Sorry, but this is going to be another riveting Weather Post. The only thing that's been going on for me lately is the freaky weather here in Colorado. So, yeah. Last Friday? Another. Snow. Day. Which may sound like a lot of fun to my Texas friends, and 6 months ago I would've agreed with you, but Damn.

Oh, great. Just saw on the news that Pres. Bush is declaring a state of disaster for parts of CO in order to clear out the mountains of snow. Mountains of snow. Get it? Haha. So besides the piles of gloopy snow everywhere and the persistent ice that won't melt because it won't get above freezing for the love of God and All That is Holy, tonight we have Wind Advisories! Because there are Category 2 hurricane-force winds blowing outside, stranding people on highways as 7-foot-piles of snow cover their cars in one 90 mph gust. Good times, people. Good times.

But! I still love it! So, ha!

And now is where I give credit where credit is due. I present to you a stock photo image of my (previously) shiny new vehicle. A stock photo b/c the actual vehicle that I have is covered in snow mud. So, here tis:


See, mountains and everything! And that's the color of mine too, so there. I don't know how anyone survives up here without AWD, and I have been so very grateful for it in the past few weeks.

Mazda and I are renewing our formerly lusty love affair, and it's going well so far. I'll keep you posted...

Thundersnow

I can't believe it. It's happening again. They're estimating this storm to be even worse than last week b/c then the snow was fluffy and light, and now it's wet, heavy snow. Awesome. Roads are closing, the airport is shutting down, shelters are popping up everywhere, blahblahblah.

So my office closed down again today and will remain closed tomorrow, which normally would make me giggle and click my heels, but I have! cabin fever!!!

Yes, I stocked up on food and my car is in the covered garage, but I CANNOT LEAVE.

The cool thing is the news just said the front range is getting "thundersnow", which they described as just like a thunderstorm except instead of rain, it's snow. How cool would that be??? I hope I get me some of that. It would be weirdly unsettling, to hear big claps of thunder and then the silence of snow falling.

I'll keep you posted. There probably won't be any more snow pics, though, because you know - you've seen one blizzard, you've seen em all.

sigh.

Love! Winter! Still!
Not drunk!

Snug

Today I am recovering from the holidays and preparing to go back to work tomorrow - a week after the blizzard. I finally uploaded some pictures to share. Behold. Jess embraces the lovesac:


Evidence that Jess went out on the balcony to check out the white stuff, then performed a quick about-face and came back inside:


View from my living room:


And finally, One Happy Cat by the Fire:


More good stuff to come...

Cabin fever

So I'm not *quite* ready to gnaw off my own arm to escape, but I'm getting close. My office was closed again today and will be closed tomorrow, as well -- the streets probably won't be clear until after the weekend. So this working from home thing... while nice sometimes, I've decided I would go batshit crazee if I never had the office interaction. I was actually DISAPPOINTED to find out that work was cancelled again tomorrow. Not that I'm not working; and therein lies the other problem. I can't turn it off when I'm working at home all day. It is almost 1am and I am still checking my work email -- and still getting messages. It seems I'm not the only crazy person on a weird schedule due to days of weirdness.

I'm not having nearly as much fun in the snow as my sis down in S. Denver -- they spent the day shoveling tunnels through the cul-de-sac so they could walk around and the kids could build huge snow structures with the piled snow. Um, apartments suck in situations like this -- we're all just bundled into our little pods, alone and b-o-r-e-d. sigh.

Jess is slowly turning from grey to black from sleeping in front of the fire going on 36 hours now. Piper has made a dent in the laundry pile on my bed and is somewhere in there. I am camped on the couch, close to the tv, the kitchen, and the laptop.

So nothing exciting going on, just more being trapped in the house. I might see if I can get out a little tomorrow, if the apt. complex has plowed the roads a bit. I have my new AWD vehicle and while not magic, it will be great driving in this type of weather. But let me emphasize again, not magic. Six-feet-tall snow drifts? Um, no. I'll wait it out, thank you very much.

Blizzard.

As I feel a veritable blizzard of emotions... HA! You thought I was going to be all serious again! But, no.

One word, people: Blizzard. As in, SNOW. As in, almost 24 hours now and still going strong. At least two feet. Everything closed down, including the highways and the airport; the mall, across the street from where I live? Being used as a shelter for stranded motorists. Abandoned cars all up and down the roads. The governor has declared a state of emergency. Yee-hawww, it's ChristmasTime!!!

I am thoroughly enjoying the storm. I am snug in my apartment with a fireplace and two cuddly cats. I have spent the day in my nest working on my laptop and staring out the windows. I am fine on food, so the only thing bugging me at this point is -- damn, I'm bored. But in a good way... Looks like tomorrow is going to be like today, maybe worse since it's not going to get above freezing or stop snowing for another day or so.

My spirit will not be broken -- I still love Colorado. And damn, nothing like a metaphorical slate being wiped metaphorically clean by a 48-hour BLIZZARD..........

Weird things happen when it’s cold.

What kinds of weird things? Well, things like:

• Massive amounts of static electricity, whenever/whatever I touch, including the cats. I pet Piper when I got up during the night the other night and it looked like fireflies were scurrying around under her fur, with all the sparks that were flying. Question: Can a kitty catch fire from the sparks caused by static electricity? I need to find out. Could be bad. Also, the cats can do it themselves; I’ve seen them bump wet noses only to hear a “pop” before they both lurch backwards. Poor babies.

• Previously creamy and dewy skin turning into scales.

• Three-year-old, previously reliable cars refusing to start. And requiring two new batteries in the past two months.

• Former shop-a-holics wanting to rush straight home after work (it gets dark at 4:30 here), not even wanting to run a single errand -- just anxious to get home and into fleece.

So, yeah. But! Despite all, I am loving the weather. You know you’re in the right place when hearing the words, “BIG warm-up later this week – highs in the 50s!” on the morning news makes you unspeakably giddy. Also, when it’s 30 degrees outside and you don’t wear a coat – not because you’re impaired, but because it simply doesn’t feel THAT cold to you – in fact, it feels comfortable. And now that you think about it, you realize that the heat blowing inside your office is making you sweat and you kind of hate it.

Stress in its purest form: 700 words and thick ice.

The pace of today has been on par with the slippery-ness of the ice packed down on the sidewalks and less-traveled roads (e.g. my route to work). It snowed yesterday, and while the news reported my area got 4 1/2 inches, I beg to differ; I set my coke can down on someone’s snowy hood, to see how deep it was, and it sank well below the snow level until I had to dig it out again. So, deep. I love it, except for the ice part; this is the first time this season that it’s snowed and then stayed below freezing for more than a day. Yesterday the high was something like 15. No worries, I worked from home in front of the fire, but today was almost worse, though the main roads have been cleared. At least my car thought so; it is dead again. The brand new battery I bought about six weeks ago is completely out of juice, for whatever reason. I’ve about had it. I might get the dealer to replace it and then go trade the whole car in for something new and shiny. Something with AWD, that won’t slip around as much on ice-packed snow. Something that smells pretty and makes my heart beat faster every morning when I slide inside and buckle up. Oh, the thrill of my 7-minute commute, in a new car. It is going to ROCK.

Anyway… I didn’t have time to deal with the dead car today as AAA was backed up, and I’m off tomorrow anyway, so I bummed a ride to work, as I will home, and will deal with it tomorrow. In the meantime, between now (4:00pm) and the morning, I have a 4-page brochure to write. Yes. Thus my comment about the pace. The prospect is making my stomach hurt, but I tend to work well under extreme pressure, so Pulitzer baby, HERE I COME!!! Haha! Ha. ha…

Jess has spent an unhealthy amount of time stretched out two inches from the fire, all four feet touching the hot metal grate, tail lazily flicking as his insides slowly bake to a crisp. Crispy kitty.

that is all.

Seasonal update

I know, I know, it probably seems like months since I updated. But I've been very busy, people; I mean, what with THE SNOW and all!!! :) :) :)

Yes, now that I'm in Colorado I'm one of those annoying Texans who flips out in giddy, childlike excitement at the first flutter of snow, who embraces the bone-chilling cold and in fact stubornly refuses to don a coat -- because I enjoy the cold over the heat of Texas JUST THAT MUCH.

It actually started snowing while I was at work Tuesday, very slowly in the morning, then picking up speed as the day progressed until it culminated in a snowy storm that gave us 4-5 inches. Yay! Anyway, you can clearly tell who has lived in CO their whole lives and who the TX transplants are. Us Texas exes were pressed up against the glass all day, staring out in rapt fascinationg at the pretty flakes! Look at them! See how they fall! From the sky! and the CO-natives were all hunched at their desks, grumbling about ice and traffic and plants and stupid things like that. And to that I say, embrace the magic, people! Snow ROCKS!!!

I have more pics on my other camera, which I will post in a timely manner (I promise), but for now I present to you my car about halfway through the storm. (Actually, it's a photo of my car after I'd driven home and parked in my apt parking garage. So that's why it's not COMPLETELY covered...):


I'm serious, y'all. If I could marry a snowman I totally would.