A beautiful winter scene right here on the ranch.

Another shot from the ranch driveway, this is before the big 10-18 in snowstorm.

On Christmas my roommate and I had a present exchange. We all bought one good present and one bad present. I ended up with a reindeer that poops brown jellybeans and a really soft hat and glove set. This here is my roommate Jen, sporting her bad present.

"Antisthenes says that in a certain faraway land the cold is so intense that words freeze as soon as they are uttered, and after some time then thaw and become audible, so that words spoken in winter go unheard until the next summer." ~Plutarch, Moralia

Life in the Cold

Being back in Montana again brings back all the reasons that I loved it out here to begin with. Winter is so completly differnt than summer and the winter has hardly began. For the past week and have been pretty much confined to the ranch because during the 2 days it got below -20 something happend to my car and it hasnt wanted to start since then. But all is well. Ive been doing some cross country skiing a couple of times. The first time I went out I really enjoyed it, but today I went again, on a trail that was basically all up hill, then you just skiied back down. Not much fun to me, I think I prefer taking the life up a mountain, wearing big powder skis, and being able to ski down for 20 mins as opposed to the inconsistante up and down of nordic, but I will give it a try again later. Today it snowed for the first time in like a week. But the rest of the week the outlooks not so great. No snow and temps in the teens to below 0 at night.
Here too are some photos of me and my family from when I was back in TN in November, and one of some friends. Enjoy!

Mi familia. Theres dad, newphew (hayden), me, sister (angela), little baby cassell (in belly), and mom. Bro-in-law not pictured, he took the photo.

Me and dad. When I was little people always use to tell me that I looked just like my dad. For awhile I didnt understand why people thought I looked like a boy, but them after I got a little older I figured out what was going on. I must say I wished that I had gotten dad's blue eyes. (plus their really cool cause he has this one brown speck on one of them.)

Me and two of my very dearest friends, Kat and Tiff. We were neighbors our freshman year in college in the dorms and even though I dont get to talk with them often or see them a lot, they are two of my most treasured realtionships.

Brrr

Well, here I am, back in cold, real cold, Montana. Last night the temp was suppose to get down to around -25/30. I took this picture around midnight, so it could very well have gotten much colder after I went to bed. But that is definatly one of the coldest temps it gets around here. Besides that it has been ok really with the weather. Yeah its been in the single digits and teens, but its really not been all that bad. You just got to put on a lot of layers. And the snow is so beautiful. If it get warmer today Ill try to go out and get some shots of the snow. Right now the power is off too, which means the computer is about to di........

Things to do in December

~Learn the words to Auld Lang Syne (http://wilstar.com/xmas/auldlangsyne.htm )
~Start learning how to snowboard
~Crochet a hat

Wow, there really isnt much going on in December.

Ode to December

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
~Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ring Out, Wild Bells