More Snow!

Kate and I are back in Fort Collins...and we are once again being hit by a snowstorm. :-)

This storm doesn't look like it's going to be as bad as last week's blizzard, but we still got peppered with almost a foot of snow. It was enough to cause the closure of both the Fort Collins and Loveland libraries - so Kate and I got yet another snow day today! The snow is supposed to be continuing on through Sunday (New Year's Eve). We'll have to see if it affects our plans for a holiday party.

Here's some pictures:











Fortunately, the city is being pretty prompt about clearing the roads so we ought to be able to make it to work tomorrow.

Oh, as a random addition...my folks took me and Kate to a small Chinese restaurant called Shanghai in Colorado Springs. Kate and I got a kick out of the messages in our fortune cookies.

Kate's: "You'll be so rich that many banks will ask you for financial help."
Mike's: "You'll be chosen to be heir of a kingdom in Europe."

I find myself looking forward to the future. ;-)

Thanks for reading and we hope you're having a great holiday!

Merry Christmas!

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirini-us was governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

- Luke John 1:12

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch of their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

- Luke 2:8-11



I have shown you in every way by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.

- Acts 20:35



For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

- John 3:16

If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this Love each other as I have loved you.

- John 15:10-12



Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

- Philippians 4:8

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

- John 14:27



Kate and I wish you and yours all of God's blessings this holiday season. May you have a very merry Christmas!

Blizzard 2006

Well, I figured I'd better document the "great blizzard of 2006" that sort of adjusted our holiday plans. On Wednesday the 20th a massive storm system descended on Colorado and dumped on just about the whole of the state. Here in Fort Collins, we must have accumulated over two feet of snow! Words don't properly express so take a look at some pictures...







Kate was actually scheduled to work a full day starting at noon and going until closing, but thankfully the Loveland library decided to shut down before she had to make the trek from Fort Collins. We started to get word trickling in through the afternoon that different places were shutting down as snow, cold, and wind just kept anything from happening. The roads were nonexistent, crippling traffic from Fort Collins to Pueblo. Kate and I started to worry whether it was going to be worth the risk to try driving down to DIA the next day to catch our flight to Selah, Washington. Then my mother called me to let us know that DIA had canceled all flights for Wednesday and Thursday and shut down the facility.

Well, that sort of made the decision for us. Plus, we were being told not to drive (especially along the interstate) unless it was an absolute emergency. Not that that stopped some people. Reports of accidents and stranded travelers abounded.

But in Fort Collins, Kate and I decided to settle in for a 'snow day.' We spent the day packing for the flight to Selah and got all the housecleaning we meant to get done finished. We ventured out once to drop off a couple packages with the post office and that convinced me that we didn't need to go again that day. Since we had nowhere to be on Thursday morning now, we invited Bill, Tammy, and Ron over to play games. It was a great way to spend a wintry night!

The next day (Thursday), Kate started trying to call Frontier Airlines to see when we could reschedule our flight. Unfortunately, it sounded like ALL of Frontier's other customers were doing the same because Kate kept getting an "All Circuits are Busy" message whenever she called. (To this date, she still hasn't been able to get through!)

The snow had stopped in Fort Collins by about 9am on Thursday (though it continued on into the afternoon in southern Colorado). I noticed that our neighbors had shoveled out our walk for us.



Just for fun, Kate and I let Chiral come outside into the snow-covered back porch to see whether she'd like it. She complained constantly, presumably about all this stuff that we had deliberately put in her way...





We invited Rune out as well, but she didn't want anything to do with the cold, wet stuff...



Eventually, we headed outside to get some exercise and air...and discovered that a number of neighbors had turned out to shovel out the driveway and parking lot. We decided to pitch in and help out. Seemed only fair after all...


Kate helps out...

Ron struggles to excavate his own car...






As the evening grew colder, Kate and Bill took a little time to play in the snow...






A number of our neighbors made snowmen...






And a group of our neighbors created an awesome snow castle!




Thursday night was spent with our friends again. Kate learned that DIA would be closed through Friday mid-day so we stayed up chatting with our friends. The next day I spent part of the morning un-burying my own car...



Kate still couldn't get a hold of Frontier and we finally realized that the trip to Selah wasn't going to happen. We decided that if the interstate wasn't too bad over the weekend, we would head down to Colorado Springs and see my folks - then we could try again next Christmas to see the O'Connells. As luck would have it, the main roads were actually in pretty good shape so we adjusted our plans and rolled with it.

Sometimes things just happen, I guess. Kate and I are thankful that we were able to spend our 'snow days' with friends, that we have helpful neighbors to work with, and that we could still see some family for the Christmas holiday.

Life doesn't always work out as planned - but that doesn't mean that things are ruined. :-)

Thanks for reading and we wish you and yours all the best this holiday season!

Catching Up

Uh, yeah, so... :-/

How about I just hit the high points? :-)

1. Kate and I visited my family in Colorado Springs at the beginning of October and made a trip out to Helen Hunt Falls. Pictures will be up...one day.

2. Kate and I celebrated our first anniversary on October 16th! W00t us! As a gift to ourselves, we had dinner at a swanky restaurant in Loveland called the Inglenook. If you're ever in Loveland and need a really nice, cozy spot for dinner, we highly recommend the Inglenook. Oh, and yeah for us making a whole year! :-)

3. Our library district initiative for Fort Collins passed in November. Yay! Naturally, it must have had something to do with my appearing in the Rocky Mountain Collegian (CSU's student newspaper). Yeah, right.

4. My family came up to join us in Fort Collins for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun because it was the largest group meal that Kate and I ever prepared. Again, pictures will be showing up one of these days.

5. The semester is over and I'm sure glad to see it go! It was a rough one. I just completely finals last Thursday and thankfully I think I did fairly decently on them all. We'll see how the final grades turn out. :-/

Ongoing things include:

- Kate's working like a dog between three jobs. The extra money has been nice, especially during the holiday season, but Kate's really looking forward to our Christmas vacation to Selah.

- Since we've upgraded to high speed internet, I've canceled my old dialup access...which means that some of the online photos I stored with that account may no longer be accessable. I'm in the process of moving things either to Shutterfly, Photobucket, or another Yahoo Photos account...but until everything is moved over some of the links found in the archives of this blog or on our website probably won't be working.

(Oh, yeah, and I'm hoping to be updating that archaic webpage sometime while I'm on vacation next week.)

Once more, I feebly promise to try to be more up to date on this blog, but by now readers probably know not to rely on my word. ;-)

Thanks for reading and I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season!