Gray Skies for Sky Watch

It might be gray skies here but the Eagles like it. This one seems to be guarding a nest waiting for his mate to do an in-home inspection. MB

To check out skies all over the world or to participate go to:
www.skyley.blogspot.com Enjoy!

The Last Time I saw Paree............

........Well actually the last time I saw Mt. Rainier this is what she looked like before the blackcloud fell down and we had SNOW. This was taken Saturday at 7:30AM. Well we didn't have snow until Sunday and Monday---but still. MB

Winter Hummers

My friend sent me these pictures of the Hummingbirds still hanging around even though winter is here. I know they winter over but have never seen them this late in the year. They sure love his feeders.
Photos by DJ

BTW: All the snow disappeared overnight. Amazing. MB

More Snow

Well the snow did arrive and school was cancelled for the day. Both daughters left for work and arrived ok. Kylee had a friend over and they went horseback riding. As you can see our dirt road was covered with snow and stayed that way all day. Apparently there is not much snow about 4 miles away. that is down the hill. So it looks pretty up here and life goes on elsewhere

First snow

First snow of this winter was today.
So far we have about 5 inches of the white stuff.This pic was taken this morning feeding the horses. So we will see what happens in the morning. This is a country of many hills so snow means sometimes schools are closed or without 4 wheel drive the kids don't get to schools if they are open. Like I said we'll see.

Leavenworth, Washington & Festival of Christmas Lights

Well Saturday I went to the small touristy town of Leavenworth, Washington. It is over the mountains in Eastern Wa. I went with a tour group---I will never do that again. Too many people for me. I am not a people person on that scale. Since it was the Festival of the Christmas Lights of course there were at least a bajillion people roaming around seemingly loving to stand in long lines to be jostled by more people. I will slow down--I think I am cranky. LOL

First picture is some of the crowd during the day
Second pic is of Ron the leader of the parade with his star and bell The last 3 pics are of the town all lit up. They also have a park across from the shops which has a gazebo and huge trees and they all lit up---on the count of 1..2..3..Boom. Magical!!

The first route across Stevens Pass was built by the Great Northern Railway in 1892. The townsite was across the Wenatchee River from Icicle and was named Leavenworth the same year the rail construction began. Captain Charles Leavenworth, president of the Okanogan Investment Company, purchased the land in the present-day downtown and laid the streets parallel to the new railroad tracks.

The railroad construction was completed during the winter of 1893. Lafayette Lamb and his brother, Chauncery Lamb arrived in 1903 from Iowa to build the second largest sawmill in Washington state.

Leavenworth was officially incorporated on September 5, 1906. A small timber community, it became the headquarters of the Great North Railroad in the early 1900s. The railroad relocated to Wenatchee in the 1920s, greatly affecting Leavenworth's economy.

The city struggled until 1962, when the Project LIFE (Leavenworth Improvement For Everyone) Committee was formed to transform the city into a mock Bavarian village to revitalize its economy. In this same vein, Leavenworth is home to the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum, which opened in 1995 and contains more than 5,000 nutcrackers dating from prehistoric to modern. Leavenworth's annual Oktoberfest celebration is claimed to be one of the most attended in the world outside Munich, Germany. Leavenworth's transformation into a theme town was inspired, and assisted, by Solvang, California. Later the Washington town of Winthrop followed Leavenworth's example and adopted a town theme. Winthrop has a western theme.

My camera is in the shop again and the camera I used was not my baby. I have some pictures of the beautiful sights across the mts. Later!

Frozen

It has been very cold with record low temps for this area. Mid teen to lower20s--but on the up side that means it has been sunny with a blue sky and all the mountains are out and glowing.
1. Here is Mt. Rainier at daybreak from my front room---too cold to go out on the deck.
2&3.A frozen fountain
4. Ice down by my pond waterfall.

I will be gone for a couple days but will try to visit and make comments. MB