Snow days

The forecasters were right when they said snow would be coming to the metro area.

Friday morning I woke up to snow, and more snow.

I was hoping for a delayed opening at work.  No such luck.

It did finally taper off in early afternoon and the high temperatures got up to several degrees above freezing so things did start to thaw a bit, creating this fun design on the pavilion in the park.

The snow continued, very lightly, overnight.  It put more snow back on the pavilion.

Not surprisingly, there were folks in the park having fun with snow.  Of course, there were the obligatory snowmen-in-the-making.  (I'm not sure what the people and dog are all looking at.)

And there was a couple playing 'fetch the snowball' with a small dog.

While driving around running errands, I found myself wanting to stop at the house of total strangers.  Most houses in the area show they have good insulation in their crawl spaces by the mostly complete blankets of snow on the roofs.  However, one house had NO snow on the roof of the living space.  There was snow over the unheated garage.  I wanted to ring their doorbell and say - you could probably cut your heating bills in HALF if you would just add more insulation over your living spaces.  I didn't stop because I knew they would be totally taken aback by being accosted in this way by a strange woman.  But the thought was there.

Things should be back to chilly mornings and cool afternoons next week.  It'll be nice to see the sun after several days of lots of clouds.

Papillon

End of the weekend

This past couple of weeks have been mildly painful.  Literally.

On Tuesday, January 6th, I fell off of a parking lot.  Once again, literally.

The parking lot had two parts, an official part which is paved and an unofficial part which is dirt.  The paved section is about an inch higher than the dirt section.  I was walking facing into the sun and in the glare didn't notice the divide between two sections.  I rolled my ankle and did a 3-point landing.

The small area of road rash on my right palm is almost completely healed.  The large area of road rash on my left knee is about 80% healed.  It's still got some scabbing and a large area of red where I lost a layer or two of skin.  The biggest problem is the right ankle.  It's still swollen and rather achy.  There also may be a small fracture.  Eew alert -- According to the X-rays, a ligament may have pulled loose a tiny section of bone.  The X-rays are a bit ambiguous. 

So, I'm now looking at having an MRI scheduled.  And some physical therapy.  What a pain in my....umm...ankle.

On a more fun note, after a couple of weeks with no balloons, a bunch were back up this morning -- almost a dozen.

A fun angle.

Starting out close together.

 

Then the balloon on the right started to fire their propane.

And continued to rise.

It's been nice to have sunshine after the snow we had earlier this week.

Papillon

 

Holiday's End

It is sure going to be tough going back to work tomorrow.  I freely admit, sloth is my favorite of the (alleged) seven deadly sin.  I've gotten a lot of books read and lots of sleep time.  I'm sure gonna miss it.

In typical Albuquerque metro fashion, the end of the weekend was sent off via balloons.  At least a half dozen were up and cruising this morning.

And another one.

I wasn't sure if this balloon was officially landed or if they were changing passengers.  It was chilly out this morning and I didn't hang around long enough to find out.

Ah, well.  Back to work tomorrow.

Papillon

New Year's - 2015

Last night was spent quietly enjoying some champagne and snacks.  It was funny, even though I had the TV countdown on, I really didn't need it.  When midnight rolled around, there was lots of noisemakers and fireworks in the neighborhood.

This morning I woke up to cloudy skies and a light dusting of snow.

Fortunately, it was cold enough when it started to snow that there wasn't any ice, just some dry snow.

Later on, the clouds went away for the most part and the sun emerged.  As can be expected here in the Albuquerque metro area, folks celebrated by launching a couple of balloons from the park out back.  Balloons normally go up in the morning, so I was startled when I heard the propane whoosh around 2:00 PM.

The above two balloons seem to be a joint effort.

About half an hour later, I heard another whoosh.  Et, voila!

I'm not sure if the bumble bee color scheme balloon was with the first two or if it showed up independently.

Typical Albuquerque metro celebrating of the holiday.

Happy New Year!
Papillon