A Day to like...

Despite my cheery disposition with my two men regarding our late spring storms, this past weekend's weather was starting to get to me.

It's all fun and even kind of exciting, but it is the end of April after all, and more snow is predicted for the end of the week.

We had an acquaintance fly in from Southern California over the weekend.

It was "iffy" if his flight was even going to be able to land in Laramie on Saturday afternoon.

Since the roads were closed, there was no way we would have been able to drive to Denver to get him if the plane had been forced to detour.

He left late yesterday afternoon, but unfortunately some cloud cover and a quick, short burst of wind and snow come in just as the plane was ready to taxi down the runway.

So it sat for about 45 minutes, which meant he missed his connection in Denver.

But today?



Oh my...sunny, warm and gorgeous!



While it may technically be spring around the rest of the country, it's still "winter" here in our little neck of the woods.



But who can complain, when "winter" is as gorgeous as it is today...

Spring snowstorm...

The snowstorm that blew in late Thursday night/Friday morning, only got worse as the day progressed.

By late Friday afternoon, the roads closed and did not re-open until Saturday afternoon.

We gathered at a friend’s home up the street and around the corner on Friday evening, and when we left, the wind and the swirling snow were so intense it felt like we were in the Arctic!

What greeted us Saturday morning...



eight to ten inches, and higher in some places due to snowdrifts.



Yep...the Wyoming winds did this...



We managed to accomplish this…



and this...



in between the teenager’s morning and afternoon basketball games.



Despite the late snowstorm, we see signs of spring...



and kites flying high in the sky...



Stopping by to check out the activity—wolf—dog—dog wolf?



The collar gives it away...

I woke up this morning...

A friend and I were planning to drive to Denver today.

We decided to wait for another day...


















See the colorful little windmills?

Proof that this isn't a photo from earlier in the year.

The roads on the way to taking the teenager to school...













I drove to campus and then walked across to the Psych Department to check on my most recent grades.






















I thought these bikes outside Half-Acre Gym looked kind of cool looking...


























Pick-up time at the teenager's school.













I'm two or three cars behind the maroon Subaru, idling in a small side parking lot with the ability to only go around and forward.

All those cars to the left and front of the maroon Subaru are waiting to make a left hand turn.

There are several cars behind me, while we all wait for parents to load their little ones...















Think pick-up at Jamestown was bad?

Jamestown doesn't have ANYthing on this situation!

Happy Earth Day…

I was going to stick around, take some photos and help out.

















Unfortunately, it started to pour—although I’m sure the hardy frontier folk didn’t let a little thing like rain stop them.

By the time I made it to my car, I was soaked.

Who knew I would need an umbrella, here where the sun shines 300 plus days—snow boots and shovels, yeah, but an umbrella?

Now go unplug all those electronic toys you aren't using...

Sneeking a peek…

Walking across campus after my morning class, I heard shouting and laughing that sounded a lot like young people’s voices.

Not college age young, which from my vantage point is very young, nor were the voices kid-let young.

No, these voices sounded like “teenager” young, and in fact, like “my” teenager.

Sure enough, I looked across the pasture, which is what we call it here, and saw my teenager and a bunch of his buds playing football—something that causes me high anxiety.

















I don’t know if he saw me—standing next to Ross Hall—taking photos.






















If he did, he ignored me, which he is pretty good at these days.






















I don’t know.

There’s just something really cool and comforting about strolling across campus and seeing your son, playing around with his buds.






















I have to ask: who is this tall, young man-boy, with his cap nonchalantly perched backwards...

I don't like to post photos of the teenager, but I figure he's too far away to recognize, unless you know him.

I think, in the second and third photos, his baseball cap looks a bit like a beret making him look a bit like Che.

On that note, his Spanish teacher told him his first day in class that he looks just like a young Pete Sampras.

A little bit of knowledge…

is a dangerous thing.

This has definitely been the case with my Developmental Psych course.

More often than not, I have walked out of class feeling depressed, sometimes near tears, thinking “boy, have I ever screwed up with the teenager.”









[clipart]

It’s true—I’ ve spent the past four months reading and hearing about all the things I "should have" done but of course I didn't do, or about all the things I “shouldn't have" done but of course did do.

Gees...

It got to the point where the Legal Dude forced the following mantras on me…”don’t take it so personal” and “it’s all just theory.”

The only (meager) consolation is that my Professor, who had her doctorate before having kids, claims she feels the same way.

This past Tuesday, as we studied the family and children and the styles of child rearing, I at last walked out of class thinking, “FINALLY—just maybe I had gotten something right!"

That doesn't mean however, that I'll stop worrying about what I still might, or might not, do to completely and totally screw up with the teenager!

Thank goodness, next Thursday is my last class!

My Laramie...

Took a break from studying to walk with a friend along Laramie’s Greenway...



several miles of paved path



that meanders alongside the Laramie River.



I find it interesting that as we enter into spring, the colors look as if fall is coming.



A bit of spiritual "yang" on the path...





The Wyoming Territorial Prison there in the background, is now a museum as well as archaeological site for the middle school students at the teenager's school.



I love that one can almost always see mountains in the background around Laramie.



Stairway to Heaven…



Wish I had seen the graffiti when I took this shot as I would have gone for a different angle—tilted upward.

The steel walkways over the RR tracks to West Laramie, somehow remind me of Chicago.



View of downtown Laramie from the steel walkway on the West Laramie side.



Were the Egyptians here too?



Laramie’s very own obelisk



I'm told this home in West Laramie has been built with bales of hay.



We saw a lot of these…





and these.



Despite the continued cooler weather, signs of spring are beginning to emerge





but not on the trees in our yard.