UPDATE 24 JANUARY 2019

Had some snow, some rain, and did a little skiing.  Had a few good powder days.  Had a few that were not so good.  Starting to get ready or at least thinking about going south to Arizona next month.

Freezing rain with a wind blows the ice off the drain chain.

A couple of colorful sunrises.

Skiing with an old Vietnam buddy Dale Stovall at the top of the lifts.

Brenda and Connie getting off the lift.

At the top of chair 4.  Dale, Ike, Brenda, John, and Connie.  Had some fun and laughs.  Great tree skiing until it got cut up. 

SOME FROSTY PICTURES

Our inversion is still going strong so we have a lot of frost on the everything.  Got tired of being in the house and took the dog for a walk with my camera in my pocket and took a few pictures.

Even old baling twine looks good with frost on it.

This is frost on horsehair from a mane in the feeder.

More horsehair.

Even the hay hook handles have frost.

And barbwire can't escape it.

GREAT DAY SKIING GROOMERS

Went up to Lost Trail and skied some great groomers on a blue bird clear day.  A little cold right at first but warmed up.  We have an inversion event happening here in Southwestern Montana and Eastern central Idaho.  Cold air trapped in the valleys with fog. Clear and warmer up in the mountains though. 

This is our little ski resort on the Montana - Idaho border about 50 miles south of our place.  Great little mom and pop place (it is actually son and daughter outfit now). 

That is Ike in the red coat waiting on Brenda and Connie to show up.  The folks in blue are the instructors waiting for their students.

Some of the runs.

 

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Connie, Brenda, and Ike.

This is looking south into Idaho.

 

This group is what we refer to as the "Old Guys" with about half in their 80s and the rest in their 70s.  Good skiers and have a great time skiing together.  Look close and you can see Connie "photo bombing" this picture right in the middle/back.  From the left is Peter, Ed (the youngest in his mid 70s), Tom D., (Connie in the back in blue coat) Jerry, Tom E., and Jay.  Like I said, they are all very good skiers and really a great group of guys.  Ladies ski with them sometimes also. 

Connie making some good turns on White Lightning run.

Over at chair 4.

The ski lodge in the background.

The top of chair 5 on our way to the lodge.

New ski patrolers.  I know this because their jackets look like they just came out of a box.

Connie and Brenda right ahead of the ski patrol.

When we got home from skiing I took Zeph for a walk south of the cabin in the frosty forest.

Lots of frost on the pine needles with this inversion.

You can see our trail down the center of picture. 

UPDATE 12 JANUARY 2019

Not much going on around here except doing a little skiing and working around here.  We have some snow on the ground but need a lot more for both skiing and water for next summer.  Also starting to think about going south for warmer temperatures.  Worked on the table in the camper, or I should say rebuilt it.  The top has come unglued over the years so took it apart and put some plywood instead of styrofoam and particle board to make it more rigid and stronger. 

Out feeding the horses.

You can see a little inversion down in the valley.

Sunrise on our morning walk.

And the first rays hitting the west side of the valley.

Brenda at the bottom of the super G run and you can see we need more snow to cover up the tree tops!

John, Brenda, and Connie.

This shows the old bottom of the camper table.  What you can't see is the top that has come off on the top side and how warped it has gotten. 

A LITTLE SKIING - A LOT OF RAIN - A LOT OF DRIVING

Right after the first we took a little drive over to Wallace, Idaho and stayed in the old Ryan Hotel in downtown Wallace.  Neat place and had fun exploring around the place.  The plan was to go skiing the next day at Silver Mountain Ski Resort near Kellogg, ID.  The next day we got up early, had breakfast in a little cafe with a lot of locals then headed to the ski resort.  On the way Connie looked on line on her phone and found out the winds were to high to allow the gondola to operate at the ski resort.  We went on just to check it out and figured they would open it up a little later.  That was not to be the case.  It took them over 4 hours just to get all the people off the mountain that worked up there.  We did check out the rest of the resort and did some site seeing at Cataldo, ID at the old mission there.  That was pretty interesting even in the rain.  We then drove over to Quinn's Hotsprings near Paradise and stayed there for a couple of nights with a day of skiing at Lookout Pass on the Montana - Idaho border.  Quinn's is a great place to stay and the hotsprings are worth the stop. 

If only the walls could talk.  Our room at the old Ryan Hotel in Wallace, ID.

The gondola at Kellogg, ID

Brenda, Ike, and Connie at the Silver Mountain Resort.

We checked out the water park there also.

It rained and it rained.

The restored old Mission at Cataldo.

Connie and Ike in the old mission talking to nephew Doug back in Montana on Ike's phone.

Finally getting to ski.