Snow!

There are four inches of snow in my backyard, and it's still coming down. A little to the south and west of my apartment is the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), where they officially have 11 inches of snow. The weather folks are now saying that Boulder will receive 18 to 24 inches of snow by noon Thursday. Banichi poked his head out the back door and then just backed up. Lovey ran outside, sunk to her belly in the snow, and came back inside, while giving me a tongue-lashing. The alley on the north side of the apartments has about two inches of standing water with slush and a light coating of snow over it all. ... The weather folks said, yesterday afternoon and evening, that we'd have rain from about 6 p.m. until midnight, when the rain would change to snow. It rained from 5 to 7 p.m., then changed to snow. Now they say the storm will intensify around noon today, and we'll have snow through Thursday afternoon. ... And I received an e-mail from cousin Sarah in Missouri late last night (as well as a phone call this morning), stating that she was OK, but her truck was totalled in an accident last night. Her "OK" includes bumps and bangs and broken and loose teeth... the teeth troubles are from her airbag. Please send get well thoughts and wishes her way.

A search for Bigfoot is getting underway in the Dolly Sods Wilderness area in the Monongahela National Forest near Elkins, West Virginia. A group of Sasquatch believers are hoping to document the existence of said creature via footprints in the bogs and marshes of Dolly Sods. ... My Mother was born and raised in Accocmack County, Virginia - and I was raised eating lots of meat and chicken, fresh fruit, tons of canned (not fresh) vegetables, and lots of sweet desserts (cakes, pies, fudge, cookies, taffy, puddings, etc). It was without surprise that I read that Accomack County has the most obese people in residence than any other county in the state of Virginia. And there's a lot of problems with diabetes, cholesterol, and cancer, as well. .... I called brother-in-law Jim this morning, and found that the heavy wet snow had cost him the cherry tree in their backyard. He had swept and shaken the branches of the peach and cherry, apple and other "light-weight" trees twice last night, and was dumb-founded to find the cherry tree trunk had broken off at knee-height between midnight and 7 this morning. The TV just reported that Nederland is reporting 13 inches of snow so far, while Rollinsville is at the top of the list with 18 inches. Chain laws are in effect for trucks crossing the Divide, and the Interstates are moving, but very slowly. Traffic is creeping in the 'teens (mph) in downtown Denver, and in the 20s and 30s elsewhere. - And, of course, Trail Ridge Road, the two-lane that crosses the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountain National Park, closed for the season on October 4th. Trail Ridge should open again on Memorial Day 2010, even if there are 10-to-20 foot snow drifts on either side of the plowed roadway. Have a warm day!! (I say that 'cuz it's 29 degrees and falling here...)