Leaving, melting snow, and Happy Easter

And it's goodbye to Star Mt., until mid June. Frantic errands, packing, calls, emails, blah, blah, blah. It''s the long car trip with our designated restaurant stops to keep us going through the endless miles.

Last of many things happening this week. Snow shoe, nordic, downhill skiing, snowmobile, and dog sledding all ending. Never done the dog sled thing, Heather and I saw them careening down the street,with dogs barking at the top of their lungs. Wonder what they get up to in the off season. We ate at Le Bosquet with friends and they are closing as of this Sunday for the requisite 6 weeks. Only a hardy few will stay open.

This photo looks identical to one I took last year. Only difference is last year's was taken April 24. The warm temps and a spitting of snow in the last couple weeks make for early melting.

We will miss the initial greening up and the four legged creatures coming back. Flap, do not eat my daylilies while I'm gone. And the hummingbirds, oh dear, hopefully some will hang around for when we get back. Weird how possessive we have gotten over what are completely wild, non caring about us, creatures. And why you ask are you staying away so long?  There are changes afoot in our life that bring Florida in the picture much more. To be revealed in a future post. Soon...

Happy Easter and welcome spring!

Spring winds, tasty morsels, and loving Heather's visit

Fun continues with Heather. The week is going by waayy too fast. Had so much fun with Lisa and Charles for their visit at the start. And since they left we've been here and there, continuing on the lots of eating out. A good portion of the restaurants close here shortly for 6 weeks and there's much talk of staff vacation plans. The oddity of Crested Butte - it's a resort area after all.

And Girl Scout cookies are everywhere, CB included.

Rummmmm

Oh yes Montanya...

And Soupcon. Jason's talented cooking as terrific as ever.

El Paradiso for lunch. And Ryce for lunch on another day, plus Blue Mesa Grill for dinner. And I jumped out to walk 5 miles today just, well, just because...I wish to continue to fit in my clothes.

Heather's had coyote friends singing in the night, calves are still dropping every day, and a dusting of snow here and there is all that's happening. Yes, we are down in snowfall for the season. April is not usually a big snow month here, so it is what it is. And the giant packing begins...

Winter thaw and surprise visitors

Posting while I have a second otherwise I will be very tardy again. We are at the end of winter, well, our end anyway. We head to Naples the last day of March, back mid June.

Yippee, company here. More than was scheduled, a big surprise. Lisa and Charles drove over from Santa Fe to surprise Heather at the airport.

Shenanigans abound already. Any time Heather, Lisa, and I are together look out... We stopped at the Shaman's Corner in Gunnison with Heather's suitcase still in the car. All I will say about this is some purchases were made.

We are enjoying gorgeous weather 40's which is warm, warm, warm for here. My daffodils and daylilies are poking up little green shoots where snow has melted in our southern front exposure. Ski mountain closes in two weeks.

Its spring time calving season. We're seeing babies all over. No actual birth in progress but since I saw half a dozen in the act last year eyes are peeled.

And Miss Juliet turned 1 this week. Precious precious child. For those who didn't see Tiffany's facebook post...

Sings of Spring and the snow is melting, melting

That glaze is melting snowy ice!

What a great week we had with the Texas Adams. Interesting choice of words - we used to be Texas Adams too, a long time ago now. Anyway. perfect conditions for whatever activity you wanted to do.

Had one more taker -Sherry-on the snowshoeing. It's fun but I think this activity is done unless more snow shows up on the next couple of week. Warm and melting is the word of the day.

In the last few days I've seen fox, coyote, robins, red winged blackbirds, great horned owls, a couple of chipmunks squirting across the snow, and bluebirds. Lots of them, including one of our two pairs that nest under the deck. Spring is coming! The sandhill cranes are here too, on their way north. Mark's had a sighting but I haven't yet. Quite the magical birds.

Before we have gotten over our sadness that company is gone, more is coming. Heather flies in Saturday for a week - yippee. We always have fun times when she's here.

Cross country may be done for the season too

And another "have you heard" piece: The newest dietary guidelines for Americans from the Dept of Agriculture and Health and Human services have just been released, and oh boy, is it a turnaround.. The low fat guidelines from the 70's that we've all been adhering to in the last 30 years, guess what, didn't work. All of that skim milk, egg beaters, margarine, egg whites, etc. etc. that were supposed to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease did not.
In addition all the "reduced-fat" processed foods could cause disease. The latest info all but says throw it all out.
So what do they say to do?
In brief:
Limit refined vegetable and hydrogenated oils. (use flax, sesame, avocado, or extra virgin olive oils (okay I've already talked about the olive oil scam - more work).
no faux meat products (soy products)
reduce refined carbohydrates and sugar
more vegetables - no surprise there
eat healthy fats - nuts,wild fish, grass feed beef,avocado, chicken
full fat products - just not masses of them - eggs, butter, whole milk, etc.
CRAZY right!  What in the world are all those companies that have been marketing this stuff to us all these years going to do??

And Happy St. Patrick's Day to all.

Winter fun with family

Wow, the week with family is zooming by. Last day tomorrow! Lots of skiing, some snowshoeing, and shopping a happening.

ah the Crested Butte ambiance

The weather has been gorgeous and quite warm for here. The dreaded massive spring break crowds didn't really happen so enjoyment all around.

Krissy and I went out snowshoeing and of course she's in such great shape, didn't even breath hard.
We were the only noises in a completely silent forest.Mystery animal prints too - a three toed something. Not in my track book so who knows.

Lots of fun dinners and great conversations. Warning though, make sure you've got all your facts lined up before expressing opinions in this group. You will be laughed out of the room if not.

Not our usual artist resident but a new female one

Nothing prosaic about Crested Butte. It's always good for a few interesting sights- including family photo technique.

This is the famous chocolate chip cookie with cinnamon ice cream concoction at Gunnisack. First time for Krissy. It's crazy good and, strictly only to keep her company of course, I had some. What suffering...

Magical times here and there

"Where the buffalo roam" on our drive to Colorado Springs

Well I'm back,late, and this time I have a sort of excuse. We made it back from VA and I brought back a bad cold- my first in 4 or 5 years. Definitely under the weather for a couple of days but back with a vengence if still a little hoarse.

the winter wonderland of Crested Butte

We had 3 feet of snow at Star Mt. while we were gone, with our lovely neighbor Linda updating us all the way. The mountain had 5ft - that's a lot of snow folks and all are thrilled. The irony is we had to be plowed out and the deck blown off while we were gone when we have all the equipment, and are prepared gosh darn it.  Oh well, at least we had great people to help.

We apparently missed our very good friends, ha,ha, Brad and Angelina et al, while we were gone as well. Trying to keep a low profile skiing at CB and taking over in entirety, a restaurant (unnamed) to have, well of course, peace and quiet. We can be known for such a thing, in between the concerts, festivals, and other wild doings. As an example, I believe the infamous Big Air happening is this weekend in CB where tons of snow is trucked in for many crazy activities such as ski jumping on Elk St.

Recess!

No outside activities have happened yet, unlike the kids above, since we've been back (except Mark having to blow the driveway and the deck) but it starts tomorrow. I'll have to break trail in our woods on snowshoes as if I never touched it all those weeks from the first of the year.

So has anyone heard the devastating news that most of the olive oil in our stores is FAKE? We use olive oil all the time and thought of course we were getting the benefits that are touted in every medical article. Ha - we buy the brands that were on the bad list, so will be looking for the safer, reliable options, albeit more expensive options on the good list. Do a search for the list it's readily available.

Finally snapped a photo of the yak I've been seeing to and from CB. There are only 4 and don't know what the plans are for these huge beasts but it's always fun to see the exotic around here. There are two tibetan restaurants but yak has not been on the menu as of recent times.

And the need for magic spring water arose today. Thank goodness someone before us shoveled a little path. Still going strong 24/7.

Company coming Saturday yippee! Paul, Sherry, and family will be here for spring break all next week. We shall prepare for fun.

Wow, miss those precious little girls Penny and Juliet. The whole visit went by in a blur. So much so, I really didn't get a lot of good photos. This one was at the end - Miss Juliet is about to walk and she spent much time practically running practicing with this ladybug on wheels around the house.