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

Christmas 2014

The time off so far has been fun.  My sisters and BIL came to town for a few days.  We did a lot of tourist things and went to a bunch of local restaurants.  A good time was had.

One thing that disappointed me was the lack of hot air balloons.  I talk all the time about how we see balloons in the air all year 'round.  No such luck.  I guess all the balloonists were working at their day jobs in the days leading up to Christmas.  My younger sister did get lucky on Christmas Day.  She went out to get the newspaper and there one was at the end of the street.  She took a couple of photos (I don't have copies).  They left on Friday and wouldn't you know, one took off from the park out back this morning.

In looking at my last post, this appears to be the same balloon shown in my previous post.  I guess they're a balloonist that resides in this neighborhood who finds the park a convenient launching pad.

Today I added to my small amount of Christmas decorations.  While my sisters and BIL were in town, it occurred to me that putting Christmas tree balls in my cut glass bowls would be pretty.  I was at Target today and they had decorations on sale so, what the heck.

I think they look very festive.

Happy Holidays!
Papillon

A Weekend - Gone Too Quickly

On Friday morning I was awakened by a hot air balloon.

My suspicion is that they were taking advantage of the weather.  Friday was a lovely day.  Sunny and cool but not cold.

For the past several days, the local weather people have been sounding the alarm.  The front that had dumped a whole bunch of rain on California was headed our way.  Weather warnings!  Weather warnings!  This will hit on Saturday PM.

With this is mind, I did all my errands on Saturday because they were forecasting possible snow for the whole metro area and I wasn't sure what the roads would be like on Sunday.

Sure enough, the rain started around 7:30PM.  From the puddles remaining today, we must have gotten a significant amount of rain.  However, it wasn't the violent downpour the weathercasters had made it sound like we'd be getting.  It was more of an extended gentle rain. 

This morning I woke up to sunny skies.  It was chilly, made more so by a sharp wind.  It sounds like the wind has died down, but it's still quite chilly.

Having said all that, the metro area did get snow.  This picture shows why I don't live in the Sandia mountains east of town.  I try to avoid situations that involve me shoveling snow.

I'm still missing Oscar.  It's been a week and 3 days.  I miss seeing him curled up asleep in my recliner.  I even find myself missing him at 8 PM.  He had to have one vaso-dilator pill a day and that was the time I usually gave it to him.  Missing you, you silly furball.

Papillon

Missing Oscar

Over 16 1/2 years ago, I adopted an orange tabby named Oscar.  Here he is, just a day or so after coming home with me.

He has aged gracefully over the years, at least until April of this year.  At that time, he began losing weight.  Since he was not overweight at the time, this was not a good thing.

I took him to the vet who said it was a question of 16+ YO kidneys beginning to give out.  The vet gave me a prescription for Oscar, vaso-dilators to help his kidneys continue to function.

He did OK, but more and more little things started to surface.  He couldn't jump up onto things like he used to - such as my bed.  I put a chair in place so he'd have a halfway point to use.  Then, his balance was beginning to go.  He couldn't make quick turns. 

This past week, the downhill slide speeded up.  When I got home from work on Tuesday, he was so heavily asleep it took him a half hour to notice I was home.  Even more balance problems, including not being able to squat when he urinated and getting urine on the floor.

I called the vet and set an appointment for Thursday morning.  Wednesday evening we spent with him on my lap being petted.  By this point, he was still drinking water, but had stopped eating.

Since my appointment was early on Thursday, I was hoping for some peace and quiet.  No such luck.  There were a couple of unhappy cats letting everyone know how unhappy they were.  Plus, a large dog (golden Lab?) who did some barking. 

That said, I did get some alone time with Oscar in the exam room and got to hold him as he passed over.

I sure do miss him.

Here he is, about a week prior.

I love you, silly kitty.
Papillon