Aspenglow - John Denver

John Denver was born on December 31, 1943. I share sun signs with him. Maybe that is why I loved his music so much. Maybe it's was because his music made me happy and long for a simple life in the Rocky Mountains in a cabin. Of all of his songs I love, I love Aspenglow the most. It's one of his lesser known songs, but it's a song of Winter that actually makes me like Winter.

I remember the day he died. It was on October 12, 1997. I cried all day upon hearing the news. I don't know. I felt as if a dream of crisp white snow under golden aspen trees and high mountain tops had died, too.

This year John Denver would of been 71 years old.

The cool video above was done by RockySunshine8

Lost Pictures

Some people are claiming he made this up. Others think it's a great find. I think he really did find these pictures. I hope he can find the owners. These are great photos. Very professional looking.

My Snow Day

So, my day started off good. It had snowed over night. A beautiful, glittering snow.I mean, it really glittered. Beautiful in the porch light. I got up to go to work. It was easy to remove the snow from my car. My car started up just fine (which surprised me.). The roads looked really clear. So I started off. I made it to the top on the hill just 100 yards from my house and started to slide. And there was no stopping it until I was in a ditch. There went my morning. So I called work and was told that all the roads were bad. They looked clear, but apparently were covered in a thin layer of black ice.
So I walked back home. Where my boss called me to asked if I could find a way in. Yeah, be right there. Not. I live in the country surrounded by farmers. Wasn't going to bang on my neighbors doors at six in the morning to ask them to take me to work.
Boss called back to say forget it. Which I already had.
Then came the round of calls to wrecker services. I guess they all saw an opportunity to make some extra money off us. Every one I called wanted $60-$75 to pull my car out. Even the one I use when I have car problems wanted $65. What the *****. They only charged me $40 last time I had them tow my car.
I called my mechanic to ask if he knew someone that would like to make some cash. He didn't and he was too busy to come out. *sigh*
Called work to see if anyone there could pull me out after work. One of my co-workers said he had to go home and get his chains but that he would come out after work. Yay! We take care of each other there.
Later that day he called to say he couldn't find his chain. Started to feel as if I would have to call a wrecker. I was getting so not happy.
Then a miracle. My next door neighbor, a young hefty guy, along with a youngster from down the street, another young strong boy, knocked on my door. I was told to get my nephew coated up and the three of them would get the car out. I was dubious as I followed them down to where my poor car sat back end in the ditch. The snow was almost gone at this point. The younger guy got in and, with the other two pushing, gunned it and the car was in the street. I did a happy dance. I'm sure that entertained them. They also refused money for helping me and I know they both could use it.
I now know my car is front wheel drive. That's good to know.
So, I'll try this again in the morning. I can't afford to miss another day.

Oh, yes. My boss posted on Facebook that she was taking a snow day off tomorrow. Urgh! That means more work for me.

Today is...

Freedom Day

GI Joe Day (our troops? We should celebrate every day.

the cartoon and comic book? hey, I raised boys.I know all about them.

the movie? yeah, I love bad, cheesy movies.

Working Naked Day (ewwwww !)

My Happy Monday post is about one of my favorite things-a full winter moon. Saturday was a wolf moon, meaning a really bright moon. Here it was shining down on new fallen snow. A really beautiful sight. I tried to capture it in this photo.

Obviously, I need to practice taking night photos.

Is it any wonder that our ancestors worshipped the moon.

First Snow and An Harrowing Trip Home

Love the snow but wish I wasn't out in it Friday night. When I went in to buy supplies it was raining. When I came back out the parking lot was covered. Thus began My harrowing trip home. What is normally a 20 minute drive began 3 hours long. There were cars all over the road, in ditches, and stopped on hills they could not get up. I managed to get within 5 miles of my house and hit a hill I could not get up. I finally slid into the ditch while trying to get up it.

Luckily a nice man and his son came by and got my car out of the ditch. And while we were doing that a young lady in an SUV came by and offered me a ride home. With my grocies. And of course, the lights kept going off and on. I shouldn't complain. Some people still don't have power.

My neighbor helped me go get my car out of the ditch yesterday, so all's good. I did not like my car on the side of the road.

A Cold Snowy Day

First Snow and Christmas Past

Looks like we might have a white christmas this year. It's snows just alittle bit here every other day. I would love to see some snow on Christmas Day. Just not enough to keep me from getting to work later on in the week.

I really don't remember having a white Christmas in-well-decades.

I do remember one Christmas when visiting my grandparents when I was a child it snowed on Christmas. I can still see the white blanket glistening under a bright sun as we traveled familiar roads to reach their house, excited about seeing them, knowing there was all kinds on goodies awaiting us. Grandpa always had cream drops for us and Grandma baked cookies. They weren't rich and usually their presents consisted on coloring books and crayons, bubble bath, maybe night gowns that Grandma had made us girls. It was enough. Just being there with them at Christmas was what we wanted.

The Ending...

Lucky for me I had a fireman living down the street from me and he was coming home to check on his family. He stopped and picked me up, gave me some of his coffee, a lecture on being stupid, and set me down on my parents' front porch. They were fine, just bundled under tons of blankets. After I thrawed out some I went and got my babies to stay with my parents and me. I still worried about my sis and her boys. We were without electricity for a week. I could see across the lake to the rich people houses and they had lights. Lucky them.
Fifth day out my sister's boyfriend showed up to take me and my sister to get kerosene heaters and maybe get my car. We had to stand in line to get it right off the truck. When we got back the lights were on. Great. Now I'm prepared with said heater, kerosene, food that does not need cooking, and etc stored away just in case we get another weather emergency. Never again will I wait until it's too late to get permission to leave work. I'll just go and my employer and lump it. No job is worth it risking it.

The Rest Of The Story

In Paul Harvey's words, "Now, for the rest of the story..."
As I said I almost made it home.
There is a very sharp curve at the bottom of a hill just as one turns onto my road. I made it around the curve but as I started up the hill I could not get up it. I was stuck. The man that lived on that curve came out and tried to help me out, but finally we just had to move the car to the side of the road. He had a jeep and said he had just come back from getting his mother-in-law and the road was ok onward. Then he went back into his house without an offer to take me home or allow me to go in and call someone. To this day I still snarl as I pass his house. The world is full of butts. It wasn't even a mile to my home and I was sure I could make it. So I started to walk.
That was an eerie experience.
The world was silent, except for the cruch of snow as I walked and my breathing. Every once in a while a branch would snap under the weight of the snow, sounding like a large animal passing in the woods. After a while I began to wonder if it was an animal. I have seen bears out there. Then there was the electric transformers blowing out with great displays of sparks and loud humming suddenly silenced. With the electricity going out you would think it was getting dark being it was after ten pm. It was not. The clouds overhead had a strange pick glow to them that gave off enough light to see by. It looked as if I were walking through an alien world.
I was beginning to worry about the electricity being down. This was my second winter in my new home and I had just gotten two kittens and was worried they would be freezing. I also was concerned for my elderly parents who lived near me being without heat. My sister also lived nearby and had three young boys. How were they doing? Did my co-workers and friends make it home? I worried about everyone except myself. I would make it. I always came out ok. That is the way I am. I should of been paying more attention to myself. After an hour of walking I was no longer cold and feeling pretty good. Can we say hyperthermia? I was proberly on my way to freezing to death there just within shouting distance of my house.

Let It Snow

It's snowing again. Just flurries, maybe alittle rain and sleet mix. It's been doing this for the past week and the weather channel says it will be doing this for another week. Not really memorial. Every year we seem to get less and less snow around here. I know we got a good snow in 1998, and a few smaller ones that didn't last long after that one. But the snow I remember the most was the Blizzard of 1996. That was a dozy. It shut nearly the whole east and southeast down. I remember it because I was out in it.
I had gone to work that afternoon beacause the weather guy on the radio said to expect only flurries. So I went on to work. I remember being uneasy seeing the big, thick, wet flakes hitting my windshield, but I went on because I did not wish to lose my job. Not long after I started work it began to really come down. By six it was covering the tires of the cars in the parking lot. Still, my bosses would not let any of us go. By eight our cars were covered and we were finally allowed to leave. Assholes were more afraid of not making production and losing business than they were of losing employees. It took me and some of the men I worked with nearly an hour to dig our cars out to even leave.
Luckily I was driving a small straight shift at that time and I made good time, still what was normally a twenty minute drive took nearly two hours and I almost made it home.

See my next blog to see what happened.