Happy New Year!

We'll be ringing in the New Year with a bit of fine white sparkles this year. A couple of days ago, the moisture in the air met the cold front from Alaska and the two fell in love. We did a little bit of skiing and snowmobiling and Vil got to play with his new toy (see picture below). After a couple of days of precip, the snow stopped and this gorgeous glowing orb in the sky showed up to make for spectacular (but cold) pictures. Last night the summit at the top of Snoqualmie was 5 degrees. We were sitting at a balmy 20 degrees, so we felt pretty lucky. Monday warmer temps come back and we get back into the rainy cold, pattern...until the next storm romance. To keep myself warm, I've been burying my nose deep into writing about the warm, summer days on the Wonderland Trail. When I take breaks, I look out my office window and see those big, green, boughs filled white and thank my lucky stars for winter. It truly is a vision.

We hope everyone has a safe, warm and happy New Years Eve!

V w/ his new toy.

This is our tree named Pearl. It's her first season with snow!

V rigged up a new bird feeder system designed to prevent bear feasting. The feeder is about 10 feet high and has a cable pull system for filling. Sping and Summer will put it to the test as the bears use our backyard trail a ton in those seasons. Vil's not too happy with the pole and he's already trying to figure out a stronger post because it's leaning a little. But regardless, my chickadees are super happy.

Our front yard!

Who knew chickadees were so territorial? It's rare to see two on the feeder together- they get in little arguments- like this one.

No picnics on the deck any time soon.

This morning I was up with the moon and couldn't resist heading outside in the snow in my PJ's for this shot.

As the sun came up we were treated to this vision!

As of today, Christmas of 2010 has been put away. Before dragging umteen boxes back into storage, I grabbed one final shot.

Here's a short little video with some movie clips of our storm.

Dashing through the snow....

Since we got our new snowmobiles (sleds...to the layman) I've been wanting something to make them more girly. I'm not normally a huge girly girl, but riding around in the backcountry filled with guys it's nice to be identified as female- especially when I get my sled stuck in the snow and need help digging out. As I see it, instead of the dudes thinking "how in the heck did that guy get his sled so stuck?"...now they'll have sympathy and say "OH...it's a girl". Pretty good theory, right?

Besides, the only thing I had that felt even the slightest bit girly was my pink helmet. Everything, including my riding outfit and my sled was black. UNTIL....Santa brought me this amazing graphics kit, which took 6 hours of labor for V to install. I love the new look and can't wait to take her out dashing through the snow, laughing all the way. Now that my sled is a girl...she needs a name and I'm taking suggestions...how about Lucy?

Christmas Eve...

On Christmas Eve, Vil surprised me with an Avalanche Pack. The pack is designed with a giant floatation which you deployed if you start sliding with a hill. The idea is that the giant airbag will help you stay above the snow and not get buried underneath the 'snowy concrete'. They are very effective and 98% of people caught in avalanches don't get buried. With our backcountry snow sports, we had been talking about owning them- and now we do!

For your entertainment...here is the first demo of the pack. Sure hope to never have to use this!

Summit's Job

Since German Shepherds are of the working breed of dog, we had heard they like to have a job. We started giving Summit the weekly task of carrying the garbage can lid up to the house from the end of the road after garbage day. Recently, we got a new trash can which has an attached lid. We had to make sure to keep the old lid from the last can and bring it down with us each week- so he can still carry it up. He trots so proudly with the lid and he knows that's his special job.

A few friends and a messy kitchen...

I hadn't planned to do the cookie baking party this year. The snowy roads have traditionally thrown challenges our way for the event and after a big November snow storm, I didn't want to risk canceling it. But...at the last minute, I changed my mind and it was perfect. It was a small group of girls, 5 of us to be exact (Tiff...not pictured was kind enough to snap this)- and the perfect combo of hilarious to make the holidays great. These girls light up my kitchen and my face...

I'm speechless....

Today, this arrived from my secret santa at work. It watched me all day at work, then I brought it home. At one point I dropped it getting out of the car, and I could have sworn it closed it's eyes upon impact. Are you seeing this, thing? I can't decide if it's cool or creepy or both. It's called a "drollerie".

Look into it's eyes... watching you! Creepy, right?

Are you getting this? LOOK!

Even it's hands have veins. So help me if this thing moves....

Swans, Geese and Swan Geese

I took a walk down by the lake to see how winter was treating the birds and the trees. It reminded me how much I love that place in this season- it's so quiet and peaceful this time of year. There are no dogs barking, few people around and just tranquility with lots of interesting bird watching.

A comorant was sitting on a stump drying his wings and looking for fish. I spied up two bald eagles in a tree across the water, then I found these odd looking geese. I took plenty of pictures to try to identify them as I'd never seen anything like them at the lake before. Turns out they are called Chinese Swan Geese- pets actually. They are not native to the US and many people keep them as "watch geese". I felt sad that they may have been left down there to fend for themselves, but then I was comforted by a different thought...maybe they escaped to enjoy the lake and to be free and wild! Whatever the case, they had a couple of ducks to keep them company and all four seemed quite happy. By the time I left, it was nap time and I thought it was darling how they curled their heads inside their feathers to settle in for a "long winters nap". It was a great day for a snooze.

Gloomiest Weekend in Seattle History

http://www.komonews.com/weather/blog/111769214.html

The winter blues have hit and Seattle is putting on a show. This weekend was the wettest, nastiest one I can remember in a long time. Next, the weather man says all of this turns cold..to snow or frost. In the meantime...I'm dreaming of this...

The Complete Guide to Exploring Mount Rainier's Wonderland Trail

It's finally public knowledge! I'm going to be an author. I've been contracted with the Mountaineers Publishing to write a guide book for Mount Rainier's Wonderland Trail. It's something I've been working on quietly for some time now, and this fall was invited to submit my proposal to the publisher. From there it bounced to their Board, and then back to me with interest, positive feedback and a contract. The book is slated to be about 225 pages and will contain about 100 of my photographs and my personal stories.

So...I'm writing my heart out now and hope to have the manuscript completed by May 2011- zoiks...that's not long! The actual publication date won't be until spring or fall of 2012. I'll be happy to sign copies for all of you when it actually hits shelves.

I love the following quote, as I had some self-doubts and hurdles going in to this process. I kept telling myself that no roadblock was too big and now, here I am with a contract. There will no doubt be many more hurdles in the road, but for now...

"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."

Ayn Rand

Hawaii!

We are slowly getting back into the swing of things after what was a wonderful and busy November! We are getting used to the fact that it's winter (technically Dec. 20th, but who's counting?) and that skiing/snowboarding and snow removal has now replaced house projects and backpacking. The seasons changed so quickly from a few beautiful fall trees to a foot of snow. It's all part of mountain living and as much as I gripe about scary roads, I couldn't be happier being shoulder to shoulder with nature and having it display such beauty.

As you know, V and I hit the Big Island of Hawaii for the second year in a row to do more diving and get some sunshine. We are still learning that island and chose to stay up north in an area called Kohala as it's closer to the beaches. We loved diving up there! The area we did most of our dives was called Puako (Pooh-uh-ko), and found diving up there to be just as we'd remembered Hawaii from last year- great visibility with tons of fish and marine life. The videos of our trip are long, but as I always say- they are sort of replacements of scrapbooks for us...so grab a cup of coffee and sit back if you have time. If you are short on time- watch the scuba video and move it to about 10:40 minutes- we had a really neat treat on one of our dives. The videos are posted to the links at the bottom of this entry. Everything from the stingrays, to the turtles did not disappoint and there was much to see. On land, we even got to tour a wild lava cave, which was out of this world cool.

Maya came to stay with us for the month of November, and again made fasts friends with Summit. They hung out and enjoyed the Northwest while we were away. It's always so reassuring knowing the house and Pup is in good hands. The day after she left, Summit took me downstairs and "knocked" with his nose at the guest room. He wanted me to show him that she was gone. We all miss her!

Thanksgiving was nice, but postponed until Sunday due to weather. So, while we waited for the white stuff to melt on the roads...all the Whos down in Whoville decked our house's halls and built a snowman. It felt a little more like Thanksmas, when Sunday finally arrived, but we were happy Mom could make it and we enjoyed her visit.

With the holidays in full swing, it's nice to reflect on the year and all the blessings in our lives. As usual we are so thankful for our friends and family. Love this shot of V and his Mom!

http://www.vimeo.com/17440143

http://www.vimeo.com/17480387

This was Mother Nature's "Welcome Home" gift as we landed from our Hawaii trip. The next day I grabbed a few pictures as flurries continued. We ended up with about one foot. Isn't it beautiful?

Bandera

So much has happened in one month! For starters, I'm posting pictures from my beautiful sunny day hike up Bandera Mountain at the beginning of November (never got around to posting these). It was oddly warm- upward of 70's in the mountains! That's completely unheard of- except for in 1944, where the weather did that exact thing followed by gobs of snow and record breaking temps. Guess what? We currently are sitting in gobs of snow and record breaking temps- history is repeating.

So I'm drifting back to my early November hike reminiscing in the warmth before all of this was covered by over 2 feet of snow (yes, these pics were only 3 weeks ago- now it's impassible).

Lastly, we just got back from warm sand beaches and the 80 degree water and air temp of the gorgeous island of Hawaii. This shutterbug has a zillion picture from there too- so I will post when time allow. The highlight of our trip was doing 13 scuba dives and enjoying the heck out of the reef life down there. We were treated to some amazing creatures. It's hard to come home (literally, it was hard to come home as we nearly didn't MAKE it home with the deep snow and ice on the hills)- but also...it was a fantastic vacation and really tough coming home to winter after living in 2 weeks of the best summer imaginable. Until the next post...Happy Turkey Day!