On a lighter note

Just our house in the snow and sunshine.

Our house in the snow

I was going to lead with a picture of our house in the snow, but it isn't nearly so sexy as I thought it would be. So instead, I give you a picture of the view from our house at night.



See? Not so sexy. All grey and blah. This photo was taken at about 1:30 in the afternoon. Yes, skies like that are normal in the winter here. This is the only reason I can figure that the cost of real estate is so reasonable here. If you can live through sunless winters, it's a great place to be.

The massive mountain and the pitiful little minivan

My 2000 Plymouth Voyager has been a reliable mode of transport for years. It has allowed my wife and I to get stuck in snow in the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming, it has navigated 4WD high-clearance roads in Utah, and more. But, on Saturday afternoon, it was unable to conquer my driveway.

The library closed early due to excessive snow, and I got home at about 1:20. By that time, there was about a foot of snow on the ground. I tried to pull my minivan in the shared driveway, without any luck. After a couple tries, I thought I'd go around the block and get a bit of a running start, hoping the momentum would help. It didn't. I parked off the street and went in the house to grab my camera and later, my shovel. During that time, the plow showed up!

I'm not sure who this plow guy is. Perhaps the neighbor with whom we share a driveway is contracting him. Perhaps the previous owner had contracted with him. He's definitely a smaller outfit, maybe even someone in the neighborhood - just a guy in a soft-top Jeep with a plow on the front. Anyway, after the driveway was plowed, I was able to get the minivan back in the driveway. Yay.