The weather service issued a blizzard warning for the Raton area starting tomorrow. Our timing turned out to be quite lucky; the weather on our drive to Longmont was just perfect. Sunny skies with temps. in the lower 60*’s. Traffic was light except in the Denver area where we got caught in the Denver Broncos home game traffic snarl.
Arrived at Suzanne’s house about 1:30pm. The storm forecast for the Raton area is due in Longmont tomorrow. Chris installed a 30 amp plug on the front porch so we were able to run the small electric space heaters and stay toasty warm.
I received a phone call today informing us that our long time neighbor, Brian Knapp unexpectedly passed away yesterday. He was 47 years old. His wife Elizabeth, looks after Mom when we’re traveling. 47. That’s so very young.
Monday, December 19, 2011
This morning it was 31* and snowing when I took Gopher for her first walk of the day. After that, I worked setting up the trains in the basement. In about 1947, my father bought me a set of Lionel trains, built a platform for the setup and built houses for a village. The quality of his work is just amazing. Regrettably, I didn’t inherit those skills.
The trains were wrapped in an edition of the Miami Herald dated December 28, 1983; that was the last time they were used. The newspaper headline was about Ronald Regan and the attack on the Marine base in Beirut, Lebanon. There was a K-Mart ad. A microwave oven was on sale for $399.99. Today, less then $100 will but a microwave. They were selling champagne for $2.49/bottle. The K-Mart quality, of course, but still. When I unpacked the trains, there was a note Jennifer had written to Suzanne about some game they were playing with the trains. Suzanne posted the note on her bulletin board.
The trains all set up.
Carol and Oliver playing light saber.
Today was cookie making day. Pecan balls, chocolate cookies with crushed peppermint, and such.
Gopher and I took several walks today in spite of the cold and snow. She’s a real snow dog. Chews on it, rolls in it, bites at the snow flakes. Wonder if it’s because snow is such a novelty to her? It doesn’t snow in South Florida.
Suzanne took Carol and the children shopping today. The girls like shopping with Carol because she has a credit card. :-)
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
I finally got the train set running this afternoon. I surprised myself considering the trains are about 65 years old and the last time I set them up was in 1983; 28 years ago. It was fun watching Izzy and Oliver play with them much as Jennifer, Suzanne and Alex did when they were young and as Ginny and I did when Dad first set them up in either 1947 or ‘48. The paperwork with the train transformer, said it was the 1947 model. I’m so glad I kept the trains for all these years and that Suzanne wanted them for her children.
Everyone went shopping again today except for Gopher and me. We went walking and just enjoyed a pretty day.
Tomorrow is another shopping day. Why not? We worked long and hard for our money. The time has come to spend it.
Wednesday & Thursday(The Winter Solstice)
Wednesday was another shopping day; this time to Boulder.
The snow started falling in the late afternoon on Wednesday. When Gopher and I took our Thursday morning walk, there was at least a foot of snow. Right now it's 11:00am and it's still snowing. The weather forecast is for below freezing temperatures for the next two days. Come Monday, we'll be ready to head south.
There was so much snow on the roads, that Chris didn't have to go to work today so the entire family will be here until Monday.
Today everyone is finding inside things to do.
The park where Gopher and I take our walks.
It takes two electric cube heaters running on high to keep us warm at night
2 comments:
That train set-up is just amazing. How wonderful that you kept it all these years, that is a true treasure.
That is one heck-of-a lot of snow! Hope it clears up some before you have to drive in it.
After seeing your pictures I really can't feel bad about the temperature getting down to 7 degrees last night. At least I don't have snow to deal with as well. Looking forward to seeing you in a warmer climate.
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