Last night up the hill

[Guest guest]

My son and I are up late, our last night at Tahoe for this trip. He'll

go back down to UC Irvine to begin another semester and we'll miss his

warm, easygoing company. And I'll have to learn all over again how to

make do without his long arms to get stuff down from the high shelves

(he's nearly 6'3 " ).

We're looking out the window at a foot of newly-fallen powder and

wondering if we'll really get the Camry down the road tomorrow at 9am,

even with chains? The snowplow just went by, so there's a chance,

depending on how much it snows and/or how much the snow drifts in the

wind. Sometimes the windgusts have the snow blowing in wild circles!

The last family Christmas party tomorrow, at the inlaws. Then it's

back to real life. In addition to the breathtaking beauty of this

place, I'm sure another reason I love it here is being away from all

the " stuff " that cries out for attention at home. The bills, the

dustbunnies, the carpet that needs shampooing.

My sister (who lives 4 miles from here) was asking today about how the

altitude affects me. It was one of those slo-mo days when my stomach

felt slightly rocky and it took all my energy to take a shower then

stumble down to sprawl on the sofa with the comforter. But these days

happen just as often, maybe more, at home at 114 ft as they do at

6400ft elev. The view out the window is a lot more uplifting here!

My deepest sympathies to all of you who suffer so much terrible pain.

It's hard enough being tired! I can only imagine how hard it is for

you all to put one foot in front of the other to get through the day.

That downright takes courage and I admire you all.

Oh am I lucky! My DH did absolutely all the shopping and cooking this

week! What a love he is.

Oh! A big boom just resounded down from the mountain ridge! The first

time we thought maybe the snowplow hit something but then we realized

it's the avalanche cannon, about two miles from here. We're just a

couple miles from the highway down from Echo Summit. The hwy cuts

laterally across a terrifyingly steep cliff but is a major route over

the mountains to the lakeside casinos. So it must be kept open at all

costs! Gotta keep that moolah flowing into the coffers of Harrahs,

Caesar's, Bill's and Harvey's! Not to mention the all-night wedding

chapels.

Life is different in the snowy high country!

Tenayahh