How I'm Spending the First Part of '08

Just in case you've wondered about my sporadic rate of blogging the last few weeks, here's a hint of what's been eating up my hours so far this year:

This is yours truly, using herself as a human measuring stick against this year's north Idaho snowfall. The building is our weekend house about 45 miles from the ranch. That big untouched snow mound on the left of the image tells you how much snow's fallen on the level. Roof drop alongside buildings adds that much more to the piles all around the town. Our place is still standing, but other buildings around the town are not. No wonder, huh?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

More dig-out continues there as well. The fallen snow depth wasn't as great, but the wind-drift factor set up its own series of issues.

Positives: I saw a robin yesterday, hopping over the top of a white bank. And I got to turn some horses out into runs, because we managed to get the doors to them freed after they got snowed shut in the latest storm. Those are some VERY happy horses. (And lucky ones, too, to have had a barn to get into during this record-setting winter.)