There are strange and mysterious sounds
When the winds of winter blow,
The long nights are crystal clear and cold,
And the fields and meadows are covered with snow.
The stars are frosty against the sky,
And the wind's whistle is shrill,
As the snow blows against the house
And drifts against the hill.
Yet, I like to see during the winter
A white carpet on the ground,
To plod aimlessly in the deep snow,
where deer tracks abound.
I like to feel the stillness
Of a crisp winter's night,
Watching a full moon rise over the horizon,
Exposing a winter wonderland beautiful and bright.
Joseph T. Renaldi
We are ready for the cold temperatures. Retired Mountain Man has filled the basement furnace room with lots of wood for the fire and yesterday I ran the snowblower and cleared all of our paths and the parking area. There's no new snow in the forecast for a few days, just cold, cold, cold temperatures.
Our neighbor, Mike, plowed our driveway and started the snow pile for the sled run. He and Teresa are both very skillful plowing the snow with their skidster. He left just enough snow on the hill for the sleds.
These next few days are the best to bake my Christmas cookies, cakes, and scones. It will help keep the house warm, not to mention how good it smells and getting to eat a cookie or two is one of the best parts of getting ready for Christmas.
Yesterday Jon hiked out and about with the sled and cut down boughs for me to make a few more Christmas wreathes. It
really smells good in the basement when we bring in all the boughs. I'll have to see if I can come up with something like this one that I made last year for a cowgirl friend who loves horses.
It's not time to get the tree yet. This is a photo from December 2011. We already have quite a bit more snow on the ground than we did back then. Retired Mountain Man does have a tree picked out, but it's too early to cut it down. Next week. We will be hiking through a lot more snow to cut it down, but then that's what makes it a special event.
