the confessions of a life-long snow hater

     A good Saturday morning to everyone out there~hard to even begin to imagine that this is the last weekend of the month of September.  I'm beginning to believe that the higher the altitude you live at, the faster the time goes.  The calendar may say that today's date is September 28th but it really feels a whole lot more like November 28th here along the Western Slopes.  It didn't quite make it to freezing overnight but according to the weather app on my phone, it got mighty close at its current temperature of 34 degrees.  The mountains around us are beginning to be covered with snow and on Wednesday of this past week when I got home from school, I took the photo below.  Another snow has fallen since then.  Man, they didn't stay barren of the "white stuff" for very long this season.  Welcome to Colorado~

     I wish that I could say to you that I love snow and winter, that I LIVE for the moments when the first flakes of snow make their appearance in the sky.  But if I did that, I'd not be speaking the truth.  The real story is that I hate winter, have a huge disdain for snow, ice, freezing temperatures and everything else that goes along with the season of the year that lasts way too long in my opinion.  It's the time of year that I dread, in big part because it seems to trigger my own version of seasonal depression and anyone who has ever suffered through that malady understands exactly what I'm talking about.  Yet even with all of that being said, since I love the other three seasons of the year I guess a person just has to take the fourth one knowing full well that the others will sooner or later arrive in their own good time.  

     There were several people that I know back home in Kansas who thought I had lost my mind when I made my first trip out here to the west in early January to visit Mike here in Montrose.  I'd never made that kind of trip before, especially in the dead of winter and in the darkness of the very early morning hours.  The weekend I came here was a beautiful one with the sun shining and the sky a beautiful and crisp shade of robin-egg blue.  The temperatures were in the 40's but it didn't seem all that cold to me here.  In fact, it was so nice that I didn't even bother wearing a jacket or gloves.  Even with snow all around us, I just didn't notice the fact that it was winter here.  Mike and I actually spent a great deal of time outdoors seeing the sights, some shown below.

                     At the Black Canyon of the Gunnison-January of 2013

The view along the road to Ouray, a community about 30 miles to the south of us in Montrose~on the way to watch the ice climbers-January of 2013

Now these guys looked like they were having a lot of fun!  I could have stayed there for hours just watching them go up and down the ice wall.  Shoot, might even have to try that myself some day.  

A quarter mile from Box Canyon~a really beautiful January day.  Little did we know then what would lie ahead of us in the months to come.

     A good friend from back home in Reno County sent me an email the other day and asked me if I was ready for the winter weather that I would encounter in the weeks and months to come.  My response back to her was, "Not hardly!" but be ready, or at least to be semi-prepared would be a good plan to have in the old back pocket.  Like it or not, it's going to arrive.  Hey, but when you stop to think of it, really it's not that much different than being prepared for it back in the Midwest either.  Keeping the gas tank of your car filled up, having a blanket or two in the back seat along with some water and non-perishable food and a fully charged cell phone make a lot of sense no matter what part of the country you live in.  And above all else, if you are out there travelling somewhere, let someone know of your plans.  We can't change the weather, only learn to have respect for it.

     13 days more and we'll be heading out of here and back home to the Midwest.  We don't anticipate any travel issues this trip that are weather related and hope to make the journey safely.  Coming home at Thanksgiving and Christmas may present a different scenario but surely between Mike and I sharing the driving responsibilities, we will make it.  Old Monarch Pass hasn't moved a bit since we crossed over it back in early August.  It will be waiting for us when we cross over once again on October 10th.  And since we cannot go around it or through it, we'll just have to climb over it.  I will never be afraid of the attempt.

     I had to laugh the other night as we were listening to a radio station out of Grand Junction.  The DJ was lamenting the fact that after the first snow of the season, the passes on I-70 going into Denver had been closed for several hours due to all of the accidents that had happened.  His comment was, "Hey, I'm just telling you this.  I've lived here all of my life and I would advise everyone to just stay on THIS side of the Continental Divide until winter is over!"  My response to him would have been, "Well young man, I guess you didn't grow up in Kansas."

     Well, the world is waking up around here.  Mike and Sally have arisen, the coffee pot is brewing and it's time to get the day started.  We're heading up to Grand Junction in the afternoon because this "flatlander" needs some warmer clothing for the weeks and months ahead.  And since learning how to snowshoe is on my new bucket list, I guess I might even have the chance to look for a pair of those things today.  Wherever you are dear friends and family, please take care of yourselves.  Watch out for one another always and be at peace with whatever it is that you choose to do.  Love you guys all and see you sooner than we can imagine.  

Looking forward to getting home and seeing good friends from there, just like these two dear ladies.....  Have missed you my friends!