WE MADE IT THROUGH ANOTHER SHORT LIVED WINTER STORM AND A LOOK BACK TO LONE PINE CALIFORNIA

 IT SURE WAS A SNOWY FRONT YARD WE WOKE UP TO THIS MORNING

The storm's big winds came before the snow did so there were no power outages that I know of.  The snowfall during the night left us with about six to ten inches and had the temperatures remained below freezing, that snow would have been light and fluffy this morning and easy to deal with.  However, our temps went up to above freezing and that left this morning's snow with a high water content making each shovel full very heavy.  Great for making a snowman or building a snow fort.  Not being into that as much as I once was I had to deal with the snow using a shovel.  Not nearly as much fun as building snow forts.  

 THIS GIVES YOU AN IDEA OF HOW MUCH SNOW CAME DOWN AND THAT LITTLE JUNCO IS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET TO THE BIRDSEED UNDER ALL THAT SNOW 

I HOPE A MONTH FROM NOW THERE WILL NOT BE ONE SPECK OF SNOW LEFT IN OUR YARD

 OUR SNOW STREET

With the Jeep in four-wheel drive Pheebs and I laid down fresh tracks around Bayfield's cemetery roads.  After driving over and widening the tracks a couple times it was out of the Jeep we hopped and took ourselves for a nice walk.

 A QUIET MORNING IN THE BAYFIELD CEMETERY

 I WALKED IN THE TIRE TRACKS.....PHEEBS NOT SO MUCH

 SNOW PLOWS WERE BUSY

 A LOT OF FOLKS WERE BRUSHING SNOW OFF THEIR CARS

 ALL KINDS OF MACHINES OUT PLOWING

 HEADING HOME IT WAS VERY HEARTENING TO SEE THE SKIES CLEARING

 AND THE BAYFIELD RIVER IS ALMOST FREE OF ICE AGAIN

By the time we got home a short time later, the Sun had popped out and was already at work with its warming rays, digging into the new-fallen overnight snow.  Didn't take me long to get outside with my shovel and lend a hand.

 THAT PILLAR OF SNOW ON THE LEFT IS ONE VERTICAL SHOVEL LOAD OF SNOW TIPPED ON END

I finished my book The Last Englishman by Keith 'Fozzie' Foskett.  This was a great read from start to finish.  It is amazing the endurance, stamina, and determination some people have when they set their sights on accomplishing something.  And that unwavering determination is quite evident in this book as the author totally focused on finishing his hike along the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada.  Despite the rattlesnakes, bears, below-freezing temperatures, cold rain, and snow up to his waste, Fozzie and his everchanging trail mates powered through seemingly impossible odds.  Hiking through the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in California he mentioned another small town that he sidetracked into to re-supply.  That town is called Lone Pine and Kelly and I spent a week there twelve years ago in mid-March.  I will leave you with the links highlighting our days in Lone Pine including the day we arrived and the day we left.  What a great memorable week we had.  Remember to click on the smaller photos to enlarge them.........

Our Last Day In Joshua Tree National Park before heading to Lone Pine California

Boondocked In The Evening Shadow Of Mount Whitney

Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers...Today We Did The Cowboy Museum

Manzanar...The Way It Was  (Japanese Internment Camp during the Second World War)

In Search Of Randolph Scott's Campfire...54 Years Later

Jeeping Around In The Alabama Hills

It's Time To Get The Big Wheels Rolling Again

Today We Descended Into The Valley Of Death after leaving Lone Pine California.

A few words about Al's Music Box.  I have been listening to music for as long as I can remember and since acquiring our first computer back in about 1998 I have gathered together my own music collection going as far back as the 1940s.  All the songs you hear in my 'music box' are personal favorites of mine with each one of them bringing back memories of places, happenings, eras, periods of time, and many of the people I have met over the past 78 years.  I'm sure when my mother brought me home from the hospital all those decades ago there would have been a radio playing somewhere in the house or a 78 rpm record on an old phonograph that my little days-old ears would have heard.  Or maybe it was my mother playing 'Greensleeves' on the piano.  Whatever it was, music has been my steady companion ever since:))

Al's Music Box:)) Scarborough Fair by Simon and GarfunkelGROANER'S CORNER:((  During a terrible storm, all the highway signs were covered with snow. The following spring, the state decided to raise all the signs twelve inches at a cost of six million dollars. “That’s an outrageous price!” said a local farmer, “but I guess we’re lucky the state handled it instead of the federal government.” “Why’s that?”  “Because knowing the federal government, they’d decide to lower the highways.”

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If someone has a mid-life crisis while playing hide & seek, does he automatically lose because he can't find himself?

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THE STORM IS UPON US

I only took four photos today and I didn't like any of them.  I had one photo from Thursday that never made it into the blog yesterday so that is the only one I have for today.  With a winter storm on our doorstep and being low on birdseed, Pheebs and I after our Jeep ride cemetery walk slipped over to the Porters Hill Wild Bird Seed Company and picked up a couple of 20-pound bags of birdseed.  I can't take a chance of running out of birdseed because if I did I would have a full-scale front yard riot on my hands!!  The birds and squirrels can become quite aggressive when I don't have the seeds and nuts in the feeders for them!! 

I'm publishing this early again because of the storm that is upon us now.  Our weather channel said it could be the worst of the winter.  I don't think so but we'll see..................

Al's Music Box:)) Elusive Butterfly by Bob Lind.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( You might be a redneck if::

On your first date, you had to ask your Dad to borrow the keys to the tractor.

Your parakeet knows the phrase "Open up, Police!"

You saved lots of money on your honeymoon by going deer hunting.

In tough situations, you ask yourself, "What would Curly do?"

Taking your wife on a cruise means circling the Dairy Queen.

You think the last words to the Star Spangled Banner are "Play Ball..."

You have a color-coordinating rope that ties down your car hood.

You bring your dog to work with you.

Your grandmother can correctly execute the sleeper hold.

You've ever held somebody up with a caulk gun.

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OLD MAN WINTER IS SLOWLY LOSING HIS GRIP

 A PAIR OF COMMON GOLDENEYE DUCKS ON THE BAYFIELD RIVER THIS MORNING

With snow on the ground, fog is always a sure sign of rising temperatures.  And so it was this morning when Pheebs and I slipped out of the Park and headed ourselves into Bayfield.  A quick swing down around the harbor and it was off to the cemetery for a walk.  Using the Jeep, I widened the already existing snowy tire tracks and that made for easier walking on the cemetery roads.  Pheebs was running around like a little racehorse.  

 A NICE WINDLESS WALK IN THE BAYFIELD CEMETERY

 PHEEBS STRUTTIN RIGHT ALONG

 RUNNIN LIKE THE WIND

 WE DROVE AROUND FIRST TO WIDEN THE TIRE TRACKS

 THIN ICE FLOES ON THE BAYFIELD RIVER

Home again, and finally fully recovered from my poor Tuesday night's sleep, I was soon outside looking for any little reason to help along the coming of Spring.  It's more of a psychological thing for me and with sunshine flooding into our yard it was mentally for sure an early Spring boost.  However, and there always seems to be a however we are already under a weather advisory for late Friday.  Apparently, a 'Texas Low' is heading our way packing another snow whallup for the weekend!!

 'HEY HAS ANYONE SEEN ANY SIGNS OF SPRING YET'

  OUR ARIZONA ROCK COLLECTION IS ONCE AGAIN REAPPEARING FROM UNDER THE SNOW

I THINK THIS MIGHT BE A FOSSILIZED ARIZONA CROCODILE HEAD 

No matter how bad our winter weather gets now it doesn't matter much anymore because we have crossed over winter's peak and are fast tumbling down the other side of the mountain into Spring's waiting arms.  Old Man Winter can do what he will now but it's a losing battle for him with each passing day.  With sunshine in our front yard this afternoon, I slipped outside and took a few encouraging pictures of what will soon be on our doorstep.   

 THIS IS MELTING SNOW FROM OUR ROOF COMING DOWN THE DRAIN PIPE AND POOLING ON THE GROUND

Al's Music Box:)) Year Of The Cat by Al Stewart.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( An archaeologist was digging in the Negev Desert in Israel and came upon a casket containing a mummy, a rather rare occurrence in Israel, to say the least. After examining it, he called Abe, the curator of the Israel museum in Jerusalem.  "I've just discovered a 3,000-year-old mummy of a man who died of heart failure!" the excited scientist exclaimed. Abe replied, "Bring him in. We'll check it out."  A week later, the amazed Abe called the archaeologist. "You were right about both the mummy's age and cause of death. How in the world did you know?"  "Easy. There was a piece of paper in his hand that said, '10,000 Shekels on Goliath'."

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