Winter came late this year, but it appears to be trying to compensate with an extra dose of damn-it’s-cold!

Sub zero temps, the first I’ve seen in our three years on the mountain.  So far, it was down to -15F (yes, that’s 15 degrees below zero) at the coldest.  According to the local post office, the coldest he had seen it was 20 below and that was about 20 years ago.

When January ended with barely any snow to speak of, I thought we were going to get away with a light winter this year (January 2010, we’d had several feet by that time).  No such luck.  First days of February brought about 6 inches, but that wasn’t as bad as the freakin’ freezin’ weather!  I’ve never experienced anything below zero, so it was a surprise to me when I went outside to let the dog pee, my lungs reached up  to my throat and slammed the door shut.  It was an interesting sensation, if not pleasant – my bronchial tubes constricting like that.   I wonder how people adapt when it’s even colder.   Like on top of Mount Everest, and in deep space.

In the news, upper New Mexico cities are in a state of emergency with natural gas not being delivered to homes for several days.  Our new governor Suzanna Martinez is kicking ass and taking names (or so it appears from television interviews).  We blame Texas.  In local news, the Cloudcroft schools were shut down three days last week and one day this week.  Water pipe issues.  And the school busses broke.

Here on the mountain, we are nice and warm in our log home, with our wood stove cranking away.

Oh.  Golf anyone?

~Nan