Last week we received Coffee Crisp bars (two hall0ween-sized that I shared with my Montreal neighbor) from the Canadian bobsled team, they won gold and silver. They left this morning and the Russian luge team has moved in, they look very young and hopefully have a chaperone and drivers for the athletes and all their gear.
With one day of “serious” snow we only got a few inches but there are already 8′ mounds from the snow removal equipment. They can only use human shovelers and extreme salt dispersal for so long before bringing in the big guns. I know because I grew up in a place that wasn’t as beautiful as the mountains, but had tons of snow and ice and before I got ready for school every morning shoveled the driveway.
I swore to my husband that I would never shovel snow again. So I still haven’t worked a snow blower or pickup with a plow on the front. He probably wouldn’t let me do either as he’d rather have eggs over medium and his regular breakfast waiting. Waiting while he got dressed for work and someone else plowed the driveway.
We live in a gorgeous setting in the mountains, and know another ski season is coming on. Unfortunately the two snows we’ve had, one dry, wet on top, has led to ten avalanches today and one death of a pro skier. Everyone wants to get up onto these mountains but there’s no base and the guns aren’t in place. I know that in a few weeks when ski season begins if there’s been a major snowfall overnight at 5 or so in the morning the cannons go off, preventing avalanches. It’s something one gets used to hearing every morning.
Watching the SnoCats at night is a hobby of mine. They groom the ski trails and you can see their lights for miles. For $500 you can go up with them for a shift. We see them, if it’s not too cold to leave the shades up, over three resorts.
It is a gift to be able to live here with clean air and water, nice folks too. I’ve done some volunteer work here with shelter animals and am looking into more opportunities.
When it comes right down to it, living with my dear husband and demanding dog, is nice. The herder tries to tell me what to do and I say no until my husband comes home, then she plays him and he’s the “Fun Guy” who throws the ball.
On the human side, when he’s not throwing a ball for Zoe in the living room, we actually have conversations from mundane to esoteric or regarding laws of physics.
I do happen to be a good cook, and Jim has learned to twist balloons (you know this, right?) so if we cook or do balloons for the boys on the Russian luge team, we know they’ll never thank us with the customary vodka, because we’re in Utah!
Na Zdrowie, Dee
Cooking with Dee 