Jan 3, 2014 New Year's Musings

Valley fog to the south of us today. . .

. . . and to the west.

Monday 12/30.  JB and I obviously got our wires crossed as to what we were going to do today.  While I brought in the wood, I thought he was going to open the shop and start cleaning up.  Instead he uncovered MAX.  JB thought it was more important to finish up on MAX, so that's what we did.  The job went surprisingly smoothly, especially compared to last week.  So now we think we have correctly finished fixing MAX, but there is no snow on which to drive him, so we really can't be certain!

We are still getting the occasional sleepy wasp flying around the house, but nothing like the hoards of the previous years.

Reading the book about Highclere Castle (Downton Abbey) has reminded me of my Grandmother and how not a day passed that she didn't write at least one letter.  A much more gracious way of communicating than today's email and texting, although not nearly as quickly received.  But then those were much more gracious, slower-paced, and classy times.

Elsie called to invite us down for dinner and games on New Year's Eve, and we are really looking forward to it.

Tuesday 12/31.  26 and mostly clear this morning.  Our high for the day was 33, although just down the canyon at Larry and Elsie's it was 41.  Even so, they still have more snow than we do in their yard as they don't get much sun in the winter.

We enjoyed a lazy morning, then I took down the Christmas decorations while JB worked at cleaning up the shop.  Also read the new issues of Capper's and Backwoods Home.  Very interesting articles, as always.

And speaking of interesting, the January issue of the Smithsonian magazine is really fascinating.  From fossils to an article on the real "Monuments Men" who George Clooney's new movie is about.

After our walk and feeding the dogs, we left for Larry and Elsie's about 4:30 pm and had such an enjoyable evening!

Wednesday 1/1.  It is 25 and clear with valley fog this morning.  Our high was 28, so nothing melted today.

Just a relaxing day, doing our own things.  I worked on more cards, now that I finally have my craft corner cleaned up.  Also started a detailed accounting of our 2014 budget that I have been working on for a few weeks.  Everything looks great on paper. . .

One of the movies that our son had given us for Christmas was World War Z, which we finally watched this evening.  Very good movie!  Hard not to be, with both Brad Pitt and zombies.

Thursday 1/2.  Mostly cloudy and 25 with a breeze and valley fog this morning.  It stayed breezy all day and our high was 36.  Right now Rose Camp is mostly mud and melting ice, with freezing rain in the forecast for tonight.

Our afternoon walk is at the right time (3:30 pm) to observe the return of the light.  By the time of the winter solstice, the sun had just dropped below the tree line when we reached the south ridge.  Now it is sitting just on top of the trees.  Such a welcome sight!  However, I am still being tempted into hibernation, sleeping ten and eleven hours each night.

But while I am awake, I really want to be more organized.  I have succeeded in organizing my craft corner, so now I need to work on papers.  I tend to cut interesting articles out of newspapers and magazines, and also ads for products that look useful.  But then they just sit in a pile or a box, and it's too time consuming to find anything specific.  I really need to set up a file for all of them.

While sitting in the loft at the computer and then making cards today, I could see the valley fog creeping up into the canyons near and far.  As the temperature rose, so did the fog.  Almost all the way up to us.  Then as darkness moved in and the temperature started falling, so did the fog.

I always get that inner urge to clean and get rid of things around New Year's.  I guess to make room for new blessings and projects, both physical and mental.  And I have been thinking about how much our lives have changed since we moved Up Here.  When I was growing up, I was a shy little mouse.  But like everyone else I wanted nothing more than to be accepted and belong.  I overcame most of my shyness while in college, but more often than not I tried too hard, and failed to fit in.  I'm not sure just where I wanted to fit in.  I was never really a party person, and didn't have the same objectives as most of those people in the main-stream.  I tended to voice my opinion in places where I was in the minority, having to defend my views.  I also tended to rush to first impressions that, most of the time, were wrong.  

At some point, I stopped trying so hard to be like everyone else, and just accepted that I would never be part of a large group.  I would just be me.  Doing my own thing.  So now I am living up on a mountain, away from the masses, and am not only in the best place for me, but am at my personal best physically (well, for my age), mentally and spiritually.  I finally fit it where I am, and I love it!  As for JB, he seems to feel the same way.

Friday 1/3.  Yesterday's breeze grew into a gusty wind about 6:00 pm yesterday and blew all night.  I thought for sure that our annual Chinook had arrived but this morning it is only 23 outside, which is rather cold for a Chinook.  I was sure all the ice and patches of snow would be gone, but they aren't.  We could go ice skating in our front yard!

Thought for the day: Conscience keeps more people awake than coffee.