THE BIG SNOW WHITEOUT!!!!!!

Sunday after church we drove to Bear Lake to stay in our condo for a couple of days. On Monday we had some business to take care of Montipelier, but a phone call took care of it so we were able to enjoy the entire day at our home there. We ate a delicious brisket lunch at the next door restaurant which is now run and operated by the son of one of Ed's UPS associates. I spent a good part of the day reading this month's book club selection, The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. It's a historical novel about Mississippi during Civil Rights years. It's really good. I recommend it. Just as the day was ending, and as the wind was picking up (unfortunately we waited too long and the little bit of sunshine we had enjoyed had turned to gray skies), we took a trek down to the lake. The water never froze this year and the water was lapping at the shore and coming up under some crusty banks that had grown out over the water. The wind was blowing, but we didn't mind. How we do love the lake!!!

We also had business in Preston and Providence and so headed back Tuesday morning, leaving Garden City at 9:15 a.m. Fifteen minutes into our drive, and as we approached the summit, we hit a blinding, whiteout snowstorm. Ed couldn't see a thing. We passed a car that had already pulled off the road. Ed drove a few feet and then decided that he, too,had better pull over. He ended up driving off the road and getting us stuck in a snowbank.

Snowplows were getting through, and helping other stranded motorists, and one went by leading the car out that had pulled over behind us and in the process plowed more snow along the left side of the truck, hemming us in for good. He stopped and promised to send another snowplow back to pull us out. I thought about the Little House on the Prarie books and pioneer stories where I'd read about these sort of blizzards, and wondered if we'd spend the rest of the day (and night) in the canyon. We couldn't help thinking about our warm, comfortable condo just a few miles behind us. This snowstorm was the first one that Ed has ever been in that was a total whiteout to the point that he didn't dare move forward or backward. And, one must remember, that Ed's job with UPS took him all over the state and into Idaho in all kinds of stormy weather.

A few cars, mostly trucks, and some semi's were succesful in getting through the canyon by following behind snowplows. As we watched them pass, we wished that we were one of them. After about an hour of waiting, another snowplow did come along and pulled us out. We followed him a short distance and then he encountered a wrecked cadillac up ahead blocking the road and a semi-trailer/truck behind that car.

Eventually, he helped everything get untangled, and we were able to follow him down into the canyon, away from the summit, where all the blowing snow was going on.

(I might insert here, that in the middle of all this I experienced the joy of being a woman when nature calls and you are not in a convenient place. Exiting a warm vehicle into a freezing snowstorm is not any fun! I hoped the open door would afford a little privacy, and shield me a bit from the blowing wind. I finished just before the snowplow guy walked back and I hurridly jumped into the truck, barely getting my pants pulled back up.)

Following the snowplow, the wind gusts reminded us of what we had just left behind. Ice forms on the windshield. (In this photo, you can barely see the road in front of us. Back up on the summit, nothing was visible, what-so-ever. It was that bad! I didn't get our camera out until after we were through the worst of it!)

The Snow begins to clear. We can see the road that is being plowed in front of us.

In spite of water droplets on the window, the canyon reveals her beauty.

Up ahead, a police car stops motorists coming from Logan from proceeding further into the canyon.

We pass the snowman we saw a couple of months ago and who appeared on an earlier blog. He is still there, though drooping sadly.

The snowfall has stopped; the road is clear. The flocked trees are lovely.

With the ride through the canyon behind us, we drive to Preston and on the way back stop to visit my sister, Deanna's gravesite in Whitney, Idaho.

One of our church presidents is buried in this cemetary

It is a very small, peaceful one. Deanna's grave is in back of the pole on the lower left.

Next, we drive to Providence to transfer 4 gravesites that Ed's parents bought, probably 65 years ago, into Ed's name and his sister's name. We have decided that they will be our final resting place.

Last stop, we visit with Cliff , Deanna's husband, before heading home.

THINGS I SPEND MY TIME ON....

Time is wheeling past rapidly. Lately I've been busy with editing old photos in Photoshop Elements as I sluggishly push my way through my life history. Wish all the old photos had been cared for better over the years.

Original

After two hours of editing:

I volunteered to sew a quilt top for a Humanitarian Project. It sat for about three weeks on my desk. On Saturday, I decided it was time to sew it up! Here is the finished project which I handed in on Sunday.

CYNDY'S BIRTHDAY - MARCH 15, 2011

Today is my birthday--the BIG ONE!!!!!

(I get to draw Social Security, Woopee! But, I'd rather have my youth back, ha, ha.)

During the day, I received cards, phone calls, and emails with birthday wishes!

A big surprise came when there was a knock on the door and a delivery woman was holding a gorgeous bouquet of spring flowers. She didn't know who sent them, but the card revealed it was from my son, Eddie and his fiancee, Kathy. It really made my day!!!!

The back side of the basket of flowers.

In the evening, Ed and I went to dinner at Applebys and had schrimp shishcabobs with rice and vegetables. We then crossed the street and attended the musical, "A Tale of Two Cities" at the Hale Theater. This is a theater in the round. The stage has several platforms that can be lowered into the ground, go round and round, or be all one stage. A bridge descends from the ceiling or steps go up from the stage. The performance was wonderful and we loved being in the center of the acting. We had excellent seats. What fun we had!

I loved my birthday from beginning to end. Happy Birthday Cyndy!

MARCH SNOWFALL!

March 6, 2011 - Last big snowstorm for the year. We got 6 inches!

The trees in the back yard were loaded.

Love the snowflocked evergreens!

The mountains are lovely in winter!

With that said, it doesn't take long for it all to melt as spring approaches!

Listen to Cyndys Songs

FEBRUARY 18, 2011 - Cyndy rolled her machine!

Mother and Son - Out for fun!

Last Friday, we met Derek halfway at Strawberry Reservoir so that he and I could go snowmobiling together. We headed out on what I thought was a trail, but it was only a detour. Derek was following some tracks to see where they headed. When they led him to the base of a very steep mountain, he headed up without hesitation. I, not knowing that this was not the trail, hesitated at the bottom, then followed him up.

After he had crested the top, he parked his machine and came to the ridge to tell me not to follow, but he was too late. I was heading up at full speed. The ground flew swiftly past me and it didn’t seem so steep after all, that is until I reached the last 20 feet or so of the hillside. Then the ascent became almost vertical. I think fear must have subconsciously made me steer away from it because I got off course and my machine curved slightly left. It was too late to correct my course and get back onto the tracks of the other snowmobilers. I knew I was in trouble. I had two choices: jump off the machine, or leap to the hide side of the snowmobile and attempt to turn my machine around. I really didn’t have the expertise to do the latter on so steep a hill.

In that nanosecond of thought just before one has to make a do or die decision, I mourned the loss of my machine and leaped off. As I struck the ground to the downward left side of the snowmobile, I glanced over my right shoulder and viewed my upside down machine, skis sticking high in the air rolling towards me. I said the s.... word for the second time (the first time being when I found myself in this predicament in the first place) as I realized that I was about to be crushed by my machine. The machine continued in its roll and struck me on my right side, then it righted itself in the roll and continued its downward plunge on the mountainside, now right-side up. I watched it bounce along for a second and I realized that I, too, was sliding down the mountainside, superman style, and that because of the steepness of the ground, there was no stopping! I also realized that this is what probably saved me from being crushed. As the machine was following gravity, so was I, and while it was falling toward me, I was falling away from it. A quick mental body check assured me that I hadn't been hurt.

Meanwhile, in my plummet down the mountain, I thought that if I could turn sideways, maybe that would stop my sliding. Instead, when I tried it, that slight shift made me realize instantly that if I continued this maneuver, I would find myself rolling side over side down the mountainside. Correcting back to Superman slide, I remembered my feet and began to dig in my toes. This finally stopped me, and by carefully maneuvering my legs around me, I was able to sit up and slide down on my seat the rest of the way.

My machine, meanwhile had come to rest in a grove of quaking aspen at the bottom of the hill.

Derek had witnessed the whole thing from the top. When he saw me sliding face down, he thought I looked like an unconscious body falling down the mountain. He was relieved when I sat up and gave him a thumbs up. He went back to his machine and rode it down. He said that was tricky business because he couldn’t brake or he would have lost control, so he came down in brake-skid, brake-skid fashion. He was glad I didn’t have to do it.

After examining my machine, we decided that the damage wasn’t too intense. Besides a cracked windshield which occurred on the first roll, there was a 4-5 inch crack in the right front bumper and the lights had been pushed in. The machine had hit a smaller dead tree which not only stopped it, but saved it from total destruction. It narrowly missed a head-on crash with a larger, healthier tree which would have totaled it.

Derek opened up the hood and pushed the lights back in place. Then, instead of having to abort our ride five minutes out, we were able to hit the trail, the real trail and ride for three more hours.

We had a really great time and hit speeds of 70 mph on the last stretch back to the truck.

I felt no pain during the entire day until Ed and I stopped at Arby’s in Heber City on the drive back home. I discovered that I could hardly get out of the truck and walking was painful. I then realized where the machine had struck me. It had hit my right thigh and bruised it good. But, I knew it would quickly heal, which it did.

So, did I use another of my nine lives? I’ve already used a few. How many do I get? Actually, I felt that I’d been really watched over. And to think that whoever was looking after me also took care of my machine, as well. Now, isn’t that something?

First post in 2011

It's been awhile since we've blogged. Life gets in the way. In December Ed had back surgery in CA. We think it went okay, but it didn't fix everything, as we'd hoped. The damage in his back is too old.

I had eyelid lift surgery, also in December. I've had a lot of scarring and other problems. On the bright side, I am seeing better and the weight of the eyelids is off the eye, so I'm not bothered by the detached vitreous humor in the left eye so much. And, the eyes are prettier. The doctor thinks the problems will go away in a few months. They are just taking longer than normal to heal. I certainly hope so.

Ed's parents' home has sold. He and Cheryl are just waiting for it to close.

We're both feeling healthy, at the most, had a lot of sickness in December and January and my sister, Deanna, died December 29. Her death was unexpected and very sad. I miss her.

We've had her son, Shon, and family over for dinner and games and my other sister, Lydia's son, Robert and family over for dinner and games twice. It was a lot of fun that we hope to repeat often.

I've been snowmobiling once with Derek. We hope to go again, this time in Vernal, but snowstorms keep getting in the way.

On the drive to Garden City at Lookout Point, a bank of clouds enshrouded the town at sunset. It was beautiful!

Let the fun begin!

Derek lands a terrific jump!

Cyndy gives it a try. Well, she got a little air!

Leaving the canyon on the way home, someone made a giant snowman. What Fun!