Sunday, January 27, 2013

No Winter Whining: Off to the Races


Winter Colors


Early in the week, we went for a late day drive. Hubby wanted to show me a field where the afternoon before he had seen full of Canada Geese. He had heard the geese fly over, so he followed them to see where they bed down for the night. He came home nearly breathless after seeing thousands upon thousands of geese. As they migrate south, Norther Colorado is the destination location. Of course the next night the geese had chosen another field elsewhere to bed down.  Headed home we drove into the sunset. I had hoped for a clearer shot of the silhouette of the freight train. None the less, a beautiful sun set.


And certainly we have no reason to whine when we can spend the day hanging out with these two handsome lads. Jacob participated in the Boy Scouts' Pinewood Derby. He and his dad built the pine car. Jacob took 3rd place in the Webelo division and will race again in the district competition. Little brother Nathan wanted to race his school bus, but there wasn't a division for buses.


An impressive collection of hand crafted pine cars that could weigh no more than 5 ounces. I loved the car with the Angry Birds green pig.


Here is the tract. It really is high tech because it times the cars and calculates each car's speed in terms of real cars. Jacob's was clocked at 203 mph. Wow. Way to go, Jacob.



Each car raced four times. I can't tell in this photo which car is Jacob's. He will have to tell me which one his is.



This is NOT a good sign--watering in January. If there is to be any winter whining allowed, surely Colorado gardeners and farmers should be allowed. No snow this winter means no water this summer. Denver is considering going to Stage 2 Drought which means water restrictions. Here, our town may call for water restrictions, too. Fortunately we have access to well water. Today hubby watered the new hydrangeas that we planted last summer and the other small bushes that were new last summer. While we have had 0 temps, the ground is not frozen just very dry.

I am linking up with Heather at  Life is A Garden. Join on the fun next Sunday to find the color in winter, the joy in the season.

Can you believe that we are entering the 3rd week of the semester? I have my research classes looking for research topics on the Signs of the Time. I explained to them what events defined my college days: the Civil Rights Movement, the Feminist Movement, Viet Name War, bell bottomed pants, Sonny and Cher. I asked them to think about how their college times will be defined. I am curious to see what they come up with. The advanced writing class themed Issues in Education is half English majors. Love that. They will explore problems in education. And the Intro to Lit: Cinderella. I love my job. I will have Mondays off this semester, or rather Monday will be my day to stay home and grade. I like not having to get up on Monday morning.

Thank you all so much for you kind thoughts on my mother in law's post.

Have great week.






9 comments:

  1. It looks so dry where you live; hope you get some rain or snow soon. Our snow has melted in Northern Ireland except on the higher mountains. We're back to rain and gales now.

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  2. Last week we also had fields full of geese in the snow. When I came again with my camera they had left. Nice that the pine cars are all handcrafted, it gives the sport an extra dimension. Looks a sort of a problem if you have to water your Hydrangeas even in winter. I whish you lots of rainshowers!

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  3. Hi Ann!
    The pinewood derby looks fun!

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  4. Good morning Ann. I was watering yesterday too. Then lunch on the terrace. A very mild winter indeed. What handsome boys! Thank you for joining in NWW this week. Nice to see you back.

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  5. I love having Mondays off too when I get them.
    Beautiful sunset..how grand your husband was so taken by the geese.
    How fun to spend time with your grandsons.
    On to read your other post..I am WAY behind.

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  6. So is it unusual not to have snow all winter? That's so hard on the plants...and the talk of a water restriction in winter? Scary...

    I hope that it turns for you.

    Thanks for linking up to No Winter Whining.

    Jen

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  7. Oh dear Ann - you can have some of our snow-melt if you like - we are as soggy as soggy things at the moment.

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  8. It does look very dry where you are!! You definitely need to come and visit the UK and see the green green grass!! If you come in May it will be before we visit Wales as we aren't having our holiday there until July. Jackie in Surrey, UK.

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  9. Wonderful photos, such colour in the kiddie pics, and what fun they must have had! Thank you so much for visiting my blog and joining in on the "no winter whining" meme, such a pleasure! Cheers~

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