Happy Holidays!

Holiday Cheer to all!

We didn't make it to my folks in the Midwest this year to celebrate Christmas with them and the rest of my family. 

We're disappointed, but with the thick fog that has rolled in, we're glad to be cozy in our house this evening.

I tried to get photos but alas, this is the best I could do

 Although our little family doesn't celebrate Christmas, this is what we had roasting this afternoon (plus all the trimmings)...
 

 We figured we would be eating this at my brother's house, so why not here in little ole Laramie.

It was the smallest bird they had, but at 13 lbs, I think we'll be eating turkey for some time to come.

Stay safe, be warm and be happy!

Winter at 7,200

This morning…

Let’s be clear.

This is not the first snow to blanket Laramie this year. 

The first snow fell back in October.

The teenager has walked to school in 11 degree temps with nothing but a little hoodie and gloves jammed into his jacket—and only because I stuffed them there.

Over Turkey Day temps plummeted to -35.  

Late Friday afternoon on December 9, the wind gusts were so severe that tiny snow pellets blew horizontal—sounding like gravel against the windows and doors—and left a sheet of ice, everywhere.  

The morning after--what was left of the ice covered sidewalks

That afternoon the legal dude was out there—on the roads—returning from getting “ice” tires installed on his little black “pet hearse.”  He said the roads weren’t too bad.

Is it possible? Has the legal dude turned into a Wyomingite? 

Nah, but maybe a Laramie—ite…

Me?

I’m working on it.

It happens, I guess...

Though not often.

Yesterday UDub closed at 1 pm due to inclement weather.   

First time since we’ve been here and who knows when it last happened—if ever

With below freezing temps—again, nothing unusual—and snow falling all day long, UDub shuttered its doors and let everyone go home.

I guess even the “hardy state” has it breaking point.

Midnight Musings...

[Written—but not posted—Monday, December 20]

It’s snowing tonight.

Not anything unusual for up here on the high windswept plains of Laramie, Wyoming.

The snow is “of easy wind and downy flake” a la Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

The soft and downy flakes are falling gently against the dark and empty night. 

Stepping outside, with the Medicine Bow National Forest to the East and the Snowies to the West, one can almost hear the snowflakes gently falling. 

Laramie is deserted about now.

Everyone is gone—or soon will be—to points elsewhere around the lower 48.

I would love to be in Yellowstone, or the Tetons, “to watch the woods fill up with snow.”

Then again, this past spring I wrote about feeling “almost” lost up in the Medicine Bow National Forest on a May day. 

It was gorgeous and I had that “if a tree falls in the woods” sense of isolation.

I’m hoping to have more “adventures” this coming year.

Tonight is the last lunar eclipse until 2014. 

Alas, I missed it. 

With the snow and cloud cover, I don’t know if it was even visible from Laramie. 

Hope someone out there got to see it. 

FINI, FINITO, FIN

Yep. 

That’s right. 

The semester is over and I am done—done—done—until January 10 that is.

Friday was my last day. 

I didn’t have finals per se, rather several intense projects due during finals week.

I wish I could say that I was totally organized, got an early start and completed all tasks ahead of time.

Alas, I was boring down on the keyboard until the very last minute Friday evening.

In my defense I had been living assignment to assignment.

Four separate units would open 8 am Monday morning and when they closed, and all assignments completed and submitted, it would begin all anew. 

A never ending cycle that, literally, kept me busy 24/7.

One course in particular kept me buzzing and up into the wee hours of the morn.  

But it’s all over and I can now relax, sort of. 

I’m still waiting on two grades—I'm a little nervous about one and hugely nervous about the other.

I managed to maintain solid A’s in all classes.

I’m worried, however, that my perfect GPA will be tarnished by a less than stellar grade in one course, which is sad, because I loved that class, the Prof, the readings, etc., etc.

It’s a lesson learned though: I’ll be taking as many citation and bibliography sessions as I can this next semester.

As one of the Legal Dude’s colleagues recently queried—“Isn’t being a full-time student such a luxury?”

Yep, it truly is and I am so profoundly grateful, and immensely enjoying the luxury of it all.   

Therefore, it makes no sense to do anything less than my absolute and personal best.      

Hope all has been well with everyone out there...