'TWAS THE WEEKEND BEFORE CHRISTMAS . . .

I probably should have said that Mike and I were going to the farm for the weekend. Ordinarily a trip to the farm doesn't interupt my internet time, but one of us didn't think to have it connected until it was too late (they don't work Friday) and the other of us forgot that we'd had it disconnected in the first place.

We had no trouble getting into the house. The lane was just a little slippery at the top. As we went about our individual chores, Mike spotted the herd of mule deer walking the crest of the hill to the south. You can see a large buck in the center of the picture.

Saturday night there was a skiff of snow dressing the pines in feathery white.

Here's Nellie -- and you can see that the snow doesn't quite cover the ground.

A testament to bad housekeeping, the spider webs on the front porch are nevertheless lovely when covered with frost.

We awoke at 7:00 this morning (Monday) to six inches of new snow. In fact, we could see the county grader just turning around at the lane. Mike wished that he would come on up the lane, but in these days of government cutbacks, there are no favors.

Meanwhile, I scurried out in my robe and slippers to take a picture of the backyard.

Here's a "snow" picture of the house taken this morning. If you look closely at the second story windows, you might be able to make out the bottle brush  wreaths. They aren't as effective as I had imagined they would be. They're pretty inside, though.

Mike wanted to play in the snow, so we took our little plastic sled and went out to coast on "June's place." I made one run, and that was enough.

After several runs, Mike went in for a motorcycle helmet to keep the snow spray out of his face. Here's a picture of him -- ready for the next run. After each run, I'd drive the 4-wheeler down the hill to pick him up and pull the sled back to the top. To someone who grew up walking back up the hill, it seems like cheating. Once we'd had our hour of fun, we loaded up and headed back to town. Gilbert Grade was snow-covered and slick. Orofino streets were also slick and treacherous.

Driving Hwy 12 along the Clearwater River, Mike and I discussed that it's been years since we've seen that road in such snowy condition. Generally the highways are clear even when it snows. And here's a photo of the town house covered in about four inches of snow. Temperature has dropped from 32 to 30 at this writing, making wet, snowy streets slick.

So -- there you have it -- a real time catch-up. KW