Tag: snow

Max is so Helpful

Max is so helpful! He runs outside anytime we go out to plow the snow. He hangs around outside most of the time. There was enough snowfall last night that the first thing Peter had to do was plow. He uses the tractor we purchased from our sister & brother-in-law when they moved down south. This piece of machinery is the biggest blessing to us in the past few years. It makes a lot of the work done around here much easier on us.

But I wanted you to see this video that shows how helpful Max really is while Pete does the plowing during winter. I’m sure Pete appreciates his standing right in front of the blade where he can’t even see him. He even seems as though he is saying,

“Yep, I’m right here waiting on you Dad”.

“What! Do I have to move?”

Okay then.

He jumps out of the way at the last minute and runs alongside. Max is a crazy dog and we love him.

Dashing Through the Snow

08SledRoad07One of my favorite songs is, “Dashing Through the Snow“! What a delightful white wonderland snow creates for us to play in. Don’t stay inside and miss it, an everchanging painting outside. I love winters with snow through each day. Magical, cold hard water on the lakes, and soft flakey water falling from the sky. A quiet and majestic coating on top of everything.08SledRoad43

Winter moisture is so very therapeutic to our planet. Cold precipitation gives us clean water replenished, and makes the insects decrease the following spring. Yay!08SledRoad11

You can see that this love of the Inland Norwest is introduced at an early age. We start by catching snowflakes on our tongues, and graduate to walking and eating handfuls of snow. Here is one of our grandkids learning from Grandpa not to eat dirty snow.

08SledRoad21FYI-Here is the definition of toboggan |təˈbäɡən|
noun
a long narrow sled used for the sport of coasting downhill over snow or ice. It typically is made of a lightweight board that is curved upward and backward at the front.
toboggan
verb [ no obj. ] (usu. go tobogganing)
slide downhill over snow on a toboggan: my kids love to go tobogganing in the park before Christmas dinner | we tobogganed down a steep hill nearby.
DERIVATIVES
tobogganer |təˈbäɡ(ə)nər| noun.
tobogganist |-nist| noun
ORIGIN
early 19th cent.: from Canadian French tabaganne, from Micmac topaĝan ‘sled.’ Isn’t is amazing what you can learn from books?

I still think sliding down a hill is one of the very finest things you can do in your life. Pete and I, both, plan to ski till we die because it is a truly real natural high. As I age, the winter activities get less radical, like, I tend to be much more careful on a runner sled, toboggan, or any kind of ski. I actually check out the route before I go because it is nice to be sure you will avoid where your car is parked. Sorry, it is a family joke.

Loving the snow!

4″ of Snow

Max Hurley Val 05

We got about 4″ of snow last night and it looks like a white sparkly fairyland outside this morning. It is gorgeous. It is not heavy snow like we have had in the past, but it is covering everything and will do just fine for sledding.

Max Hurley Val 06

I put on my Santa hat and grabbed the camera going outside for pictures. Have you ever tried to get two excited dogs to stop and pose for the camera?

Max Hurley Val 02Good luck Val, really! Hold still you two. Ha Ha!

deer tracks snowYou can tell that these two woofers love to go outside and play in the snow. Max runs everywhere in a cloud of white powder smelling all the deer tracks in the snow. He makes the whole perimeter circuit in a flash.

Max Hurley Val 07Hurley prefers to roll in the snow and jump up and down in front of me, as he tries to cool off from his heavy sheepdog-type curly coat.

Max Hurley Val 08

It is nice powdery snow and we look forward to much more so we can start skiing this year.

Fun in Snow

Ben with snowball
Ben’s big snowball

Kids know how to have fun in snow.

Isaac and Ben
Isaac and Ben

You can make forts to protect yourself from snowball fights.

Nathanael and Ben
Nathanael and Ben

Perfect the art of throwing over and over.

Nathanael with snowball
Nathanael with snowball

Or, simply be the teenager who tries to nail a brother at every given opportunity.

Winter With Family

Let it Snow

Winter with family in the snow can be so much fun! We were fortunate to have our cousin’s son, Sam, and his lovely fiancee (Jess) over for the weekend at the start of their ski vacation trip. Yay! We are so jealous!

Always a fun time with those two and their furry critter Hilti! Our dog Max and their Hilti are best friends, totally! Here are both.

Holland Sam Jess

Now, the real personality comes out!

Holland Sam Jess 2

We spent Saturday up on the hill at 49 Degrees North Ski Resort, what a blast. Got a workout and great sunshine all day, who says winter has to be dark?

Crooked TreeOn Sunday we were able to walk near our house to the “crooked tree”. What a destination huh? It is about a mile and a half walk for us, which is a good stretch of the over-skied and boarded legs from the day before. Crunch, crunch, crunch. However, it must be about ten miles for the dogs running in circles around us as we go. BTW, it is amazing what nature will overcome?

Check out this old tree, wonder if it could talk what would it say? Pete proves that he is truly a tree hugger and a tree-sitter while we are there.

Pete Tree Hugger

When we got back home we had breakfast with Rachel and her family to celebrate her birthday which was the day before. A great winter weekend.

 

Snow White Christmas Wish Granted

Snowy Snowy Night

My snow-white Christmas wish was granted. Go to sleep dreaming of a snowy white Christmas and here is what a little bit of snow overnight action looks like at out house. Isn’t it a glorious transformation? It is a truly sparkly white winter wonderland? Amazing, to say the least. Dark green trees adorned in white crystals that pick up sunlight from everywhere. See more posts of snow here at home. Or better yet, check out the snow report at 49 Degrees North, things are looking good!

snow white house 1

snow white trees 3

Plowing Snow

This snow white winter change requires another set of skills to be performed by any home-owner deciding to live in a rural setting in the inland northwest hills. Luckily, we have family willing to let us buy machinery in payments because this machine has made the clearing of this snow so much easier on these old bones. Not only that, the man driving it smiles and is happy to go outside. Pete loves his Tonka toy.

snow removal 04 Max exhaust 1 04 Max exhaust 2 snow removal back blade down

Snow plowing does something strange to our playful Swiss Mountain Dog/Pitbull named Max. Mighty Max never says no to a walk or run and is in love with the outdoors. He loves snow! Or, is it the tractor that he is in love with? Hmmm.

snow Max back at exhaust 1 Maxbackatexhaust1Mystery Solved

I had been wondering why this bundle of love muscle has a strange smell after going out and plowing snow with Pete, and this time I discovered what it is that he likes to do. Watching while Pete started up the Kubota, I noticed Max rushing over and getting right under it in the exhaust fumes and rolling in absolute delight in the snow.

You know how some animals roll in dead things they find, well, Max rolls wherever the Kubota spews exhaust. He gets out of the way quickly when Peter starts to plow with the blade, but as soon as he can, he goes right back to where he was rolling before to smell and roll in the snow. Diesel exhaust never impressed me as attractive enough to roll myself in but… It almost looks like he is saying, “What? Mom, it smells so good! I gotta roll in it.”

Maxbackatexhaust3

You can see how Pete clears the lower road where our garden is about the most weed-free it can be, with absolutely no effort on our part. No weeding in the winter, Yay! I digress, sorry. Peter is an expert snow plower with any machine!

snow plow 2 snow white plow 3

Road & Driveway Before

Pictures of the snow white scenery before Pete plows… Here is the road in front of our property, then our driveway before he plows. Next is the lower driveway cleared looking up to the house on the hill. Pete proceeds to get all of the driveway and the road in front of our property clear, so going to work in the morning will be a breeze.snow white roadway snow white driveway

snow lower driveway house

Walking back up the hill I take some shots of the house noticing the bright red metal roof and feeling so blessed to have put such a steep roof on the place. You can see that very little snow ever accumulates. snow white house 2 snow white house 1

We have had enough shoveling of the roof on the mobile home earlier in life. We are so fortunate to not have to shovel this roof in our old age.