The weekend forecast was for a wintry mix of snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain. Friday afternoon, it warmed and went through that cycle, but Saturday…
Oh, boy, Saturday was beautiful.
It was 40F by noon and a black dog with his full winter coat, chose shade while waiting for me.
Even the house seemed happy with the perfect amount of snow, sunshine and blue, blue sky.
And the lake…late afternoon at Wayfarer’s Park…a beautiful day.
At my house…and along the road home, just a smidge over 2 inches of new snow with this last storm. It was windy and very cold compared to last week. It was 12F when I ventured out with Karl yesterday afternoon about 4:30 p.m. to see what the valley looked like. The last of the storm still hung over the mountains south of the road home as it started its march East.
My road home, unplowed. The highway looked like it had been plowed but the wind had blown snow over it and although beautiful, a trip on it was unnecessary.
I turned around, put on snowshoes and Karl and I traipsed around the state land for our afternoon walk.
A beautiful afternoon as the sun headed to bed after the storm.
***2/1/2011 Edit…Sorry, comments were off by accident – back on now :)!
Although the NOAA website for Kalispell kept saying “Ice Fog”, it was sunny at my house. I wanted to return the Costco computer so decided on a lunch hour run to town for that errand and a walk.
NOAA was correct.
But the fog was lifting in a most beautiful way leaving a bit of itself behind on everything.
We walked in sunshine…
and the remnants of ice fog in the valley.
This morning, just before the sun cleared the mountains from Bigfork, MT.
Friday, late afternoon, I could type 2-4 characters….in any program… and then “not responding” appeared in the window header. I finally shut things down and went to bed. I woke Saturday and laid in bed wondering if I should try to turn the computer on or not. Based on Friday’s behavior and the prognosis from the laptop doctor, the hard drive was on its way out. IF, the computer would still boot and the hard drive was readable, although crippled, there was a good chance of getting a clone…thereby insuring that all could be moved to a new drive. I have my data. The issue is all of the software and in particular my working environment. Re-installing all is a 1 – 2 day event of mostly waiting for things to happen, doing a bit, waiting….
So, back to laying in bed and thinking. Should I turn the thing on or leave it off and hope there was enough life left for a clone. And if so, that meant an entire weekend without computer or internet. Somewhat inconceivable to me! My recipes, news, what if I needed to google something????
The plan: A trip to Costco to see if there was a computer that was reasonable…that could do in a pinch for working and/or for my computer withdrawal symptoms…
I went. And a bonus was that it was sunny! (those are the ski runs of Big Mountain, Whitefish)
And I found a computer. It is still in the box. I have 90 days to return it or take it out of the box. We wait.
But…I DID turn my computer on. And it is working, mostly ok. However, it has its moments, so we will be keeping its doctor appointment Monday morning.
Meanwhile, today, Sunday, it has been sunny off and on, but late this morning, on a run to Somers for a walk and a quick grocery run…
…light on the water…
…sun rays through a break in the clouds.
Time to relax…because sometimes….when preparation is made for the worst, it doesn’t happen – some corallary of Murphy’s Law.
The forecast from Friday has been accurate. It changed from messy and slushy to cold and now very cold – it is 1F as I write this Monday morning.
But, yesterday, although in the mid-teens with a brisk north wind, it felt good to be out. I drove to Lakeside, on the west side of Flathead Lake stopping at “The Docks” to look across the lake, toward home.
I walked with Karl at our usual spot in Somers, past the Ice House, past where the foxes live, around the rocky cliffs and back. A cold walk seemed less cold as Karl and I made re-acquaintance with a Somers’ resident who we both knew from years ago when we lived in different places…funny, small world :)!
And then, the road home, with the sun still shining and the mountains in the clear.