Can you dig it?

Well when it was all said and done we had several feet of snow.

To make it all more fun Abby got sick in the night and threw up several times. I spent several hours digging and ramming my truck into snow to get to the main road so I could get to the store.

Things are pretty bad on the roads but at least I can come and go.

From 2006.12.20 Bl...

December Blizzard

Today we are enjoying one of the more intense blizzards I can remember here in Fort Collins.

Emma's school was dismissed early and a lot of businesses were closing early as well.

We're warm inside the house and we have the truck if we need to go anywhere.

Notice the depth of snow along the tires of the vehicles - I think we're near 1 foot.

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This is the cul-de-sac - overhead you can see the large snow-shelf piling off the roof.

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More cul-de-sac.

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Another shot of the snow-shelf-overhang thing.

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This blizzard is supposed to continue all night and into the morning. Who knows how much snow we'll be left with.

I remember a blizzard probably 10 years ago - before marriage and kids. I took my smaller 4-wheel drive out into the snow after work and pulled as many people out of ditches as I could find - there were a lot. I'd love to do that tonight but things are just different when you have a family to be home with. We'll probably make a fire in the fireplace tonight and ride out the storm safely at home.

UPDATE
We cleaned the house instead of having a fire and family time around the hearth. The snow continues to fly and get deeper. I can only open the front screen door a few inches due to the heavy snow piled against it.

Here is a photo I took out the front door into the night

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Same shot, no flash

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Our Cul-de-sac

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Click

I'm thinking about trying to get into Studio Photography.

I already take photos for some clients, I love photography and I think I am steadily improving.

We had some photos taken of our family at a retail store photo studio. The young lady seemed a little new and not entirely sure what she was doing. The photos ended up looking fine except in a few the crop was too tight and heads got cut off.

I'm pretty sure I could do a better job, and I've had some folks ask me about taking their photo. I've also sold a few photos to people who have contacted me after taking a look at the photos I post to Flickr.

I talked with an old friend yesterday who is a photographer and even though I have a lot to learn I think I may start taking this on.

Holidays, Hunting, headaches

Well Thanksgiving went off without much of a hitch.

Nancy cooked a perfect Turkey and we had a nice batch of family come over for dinner. Everyone brought something and it was great. We used the china that we received for our wedding and had never unwrapped until then. We used gold ware that once belonged to 2 elderly women who were Nancy's childhood neighbors - again we had never used it until then.

Friday morning I went to Nebraska and bow hunted again. I took a little white tail deer the first night and spent the next 3 days catching trophy-sized fish and taking photos (seen above is one of the sunsets - another is on Flickr if you click the image). I went with Randy and his son Jake. I really enjoy being around them, and this is the second year they have invited me up to hunt. Randy introduced me to bow hunting and taught me how to shoot a bow accurately and consistently. This trip is probably the best time of my year.

The following week, Nancy and Abby went to Wisconsin to visit Nancy's sister and brother-in-law. She saw some good friends while she was there and had a great time. While she was there, my brother David flew out from Atlanta to help my parents around the house (my dad was in the hospital for a week right before Thanksgiving). David stayed here and even though he was over at the parents house we got to visit a fair amount.

Andrew and Miriam came over a few times while David was here, Emma and Corben had a great time playing with David and Andrew.

My sister called this evening just after Andrew took David to the airport. I hung up on her twice to avoid yelling at her. There is no one in the entire world more perfectly able to antagonize and disrupt than her. This seems to happen around the holidays - she calls, everything seems fine and cordial at first, then Dr. Jekyll turns to Mr. Hyde and the fangs you hoped were retired re-emerge and do their best to inflict wounds and cause as much agony as possible I get attacked for something. She is the person who brings out the absolute worst in me. I struggle to maintain my composure when this happens.

I have a lot of work to do and now I have a headache. Mission accomplished Merry Christmas sis.