Temperature indicators (i.e. - why winter sucks)

For those people living in warmer climes, it is pretty chilly in the northeastern U.S. these days (high teens, low 20's as a HIGH temp during the day, with the occasional single digit temps).  Now I can see why housing prices in California are so high!  The side walks out here are a mess with ice and frozen snow, and I've used my yaktracks quite a bit for running this year just to keep myself vertical.  For those living in Boston, prepare for some bellyaching that you've either heard or uttered yourself many times already.

Things I'm tired of: 

1) Shoveling snow

2) Slipping on black ice (that's our driveway - see the dent my tailbone made?)

3) Being stuck inside when Emmitt sees small animals in the snow and wants to go "outhide," 

4) Haunting the same ole' indoor activities to keep Emmitt from going crazy (Bos. Sci. Museum, malls, Home Depot, uh,...Bos. Sci. Museum,...).  No picture here, just insert visual for boredom.

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Upside of bad weather?  Cool pictures of icicles when the sun decides to come out once in a while.

Sanity check

I may need my head examined.  This morning when I went out running it was really cold (~5F when I checked the temperature a hour after I got back).  I saw two other retards out doing the same thing, but I compounded my lunacy by taking pictures of my lapse in judgement.  I found out that everything freezes when it's that cold.

I guess sweat freezes too.  Who woulda known?

Sun coming up over Chestnut Hill reservoir.  Yes, that's snow on the iced-over reservoir.

Killing time by running laps around Boston College while I wait for the sun to come out.

First signs of life over Chestnut Hill reservoir.

Just before the whimper of dawn.

Dude, where's my town?

Lexington Reservoir in Los Gatos, CA (near where we live(d) in San Jose, CA) has been allowed to fall to 5% of its normal capacity in order for the dam to have work done on it.  However, a funny thing happened as the water level fell - the remains of an old town appeared!  As it turns out, the town of Lexington, CA was drowned back in the early 1950s when the reservoir was built and subsequently filled.  I took the l'il bear down to check out the remains.  There was a bridge over the creek that was dammed to create the reservoir, several tree stumps that looked like they might have been a park, and a few foundations with front steps that used to be homes.  The bridge was cool, and in great shape for having been underwater for 60-something years.  I was only able to get pictures of one of the houses unfortunately, because Emmitt decided that he was through stomping around in the mud and let me know in no uncertain terms.

Steps into someone's home.  This house must have had a pretty nice view, as it overlooked Coyote Creek at one time.

Those small black dots in the picture are tree stumps, that I didn't think to take a picture of up close.  The mud was really thick and stuck to our shoes like you wouldn't believe.  Emmitt couldn't lift his feet after a while so I had to carry him.

This is the view from the front steps in the first picture.  You can kind of see where the creek used to run.

Foundation of a house.  The pile toward the left is a bunch of bricks from what was probably a fire place, a some steps next to it.

The bridge seen from up the bank in the other picture.  

It was Christmas time last month...

Since we've been hauled kicking and screaming into blogging after everyone else has caught on to the idea, we're a little late in getting these types of pictures up.  During our vacation out in sunny California, we;

Broke in a new horse,

Consulted with the tribal elders,

tended to the livestock,

       and played with tribe-mates!

It was great to see our family again, and Emmitt is still periodically asking for Ethan.  Some of these pictures don't do justice to the weather; it never got colder than 30 degrees (in the dead of night) out there and it was sunny almost every day.  We were reminded how great it is to have most chore lists checked off completely with a single stop at one strip mall with free parking, as opposed to the Boston/Brookline version where one sharks a spot for each task to be accomplished, hoping that they get back before their meter runs out.  

Play for a few minutes, get carried for an hour

Since this is our first post, I thought I would make it meaningful. I suppose the standard approach is to put up pictures of Emmitt doing something cute, rather than what came to mind first - stories (and pictures) of his new and unpredictable tendancy to practice his naval warfare strategies by leaving stink mines in the tub during bathtime.

Instead, here's Emmitt's first trip out in knee-deep snow.  He thought it was fun for a few minutes, then he decided it was much more enjoyable if he was carried while he looked things over in the playground.