More Snow, Endless Snow

This is our post office this morning. We went out to see if we could get to our postmistress's house to check up on her and see if she felt the need to go to work. She's 83. She has earned some checking. Even with four wheel drive, we didn't attempt her road (technically, it's our road, too, but we can go the other way and it's better). Instead, I hiked in about a quarter mile to find her in her bathrobe, perfectly fine, but happy for a visit and the fruit, cheese, and crackers I brought. I hiked back out with a list of phone calls to make for her. I don't think the post office will gets lots of business today.

Getting to the post office was really fun! This is weather in which I would rather not have to get out of the car to open cattle gates. Michael thought it was amusing. He got to stay in the car.

The skies were really dramatic. I have a shot-that-got-away that would have been ridiculous if I had just angled up a little bit more. Instead, I give you the mountain top peeking out from the clouds.

Darcy was playing in deep snow during the lull between the storms. So, in other words, on Tuesday. Last night, when the snow was still blowing horizontally and it was well below freezing and dark, she insisted on going out in the snow. So we took her out, with a headlamp and all of us very bundled, figuring she'd want to come right back in. No. She was happy out there. Must be her Alaskan birth.

Once we convinced her to come in, she was red-cheeked and ready to be warmed up. Here she is standing on the washing machine being divested of her 17 layers of clothing.

The snow really is gorgeous today. The sun has pretty much banished the clouds now and we have deep blue skies. Luckily, we're staying in. Or, luckily, we don't have anywhere we need to be today 'cause we're not getting out of here in our car unless they come scrape our road again. It's all a matter of perception.

Snow! Snow! Snow!

Cima House in the snow. It takes a picture like this for me to fully appreciate how big our surrounding Joshua trees really are. The one behind the house, in particular, is just massive. They are all looking a little more substantial with their snowcaps.

Our snow seems to have ended for the day, although snow showers may continue for the next couple days. We're hoping that our road miraculously gets plowed. I'm not sure I'm holding my breath, but I don't think the Corolla would make it out in this. This picture is the scene across the road from the house. We probably have another inch on top of this.

The yuccas want to be birds of paradise, I think. Or, at least this one does. All the desert plants look very cute and out of their element all covered in snow.

Darcy likes to hug Joshua trees like this one outside our door. Today, though, she insists that she is climbing the tree, not hugging it.

Darcy didn't spend a lot of time on her feet in this afternoon's deeper snow. She found it easier to crawl and then found the remnants of the flowers she enjoyed picking this summer and fall. I don't think the mittens were welcome at this point. Fine for letting her hands stay warm while on hands and knees, but very much in the way for picking/holding flowers.

Snow Darcy!

One to three inches? Hah! We laugh at that! Darcy finds all-fours a good way to get about in the snow.

Wild Friends

Well, our snow didn't start last night as promised, but did finally arrive around 8:45 this morning. Darcy has already played in it for well over an hour. She had fun, and that was even before it started sticking.

Darcy's well asleep now, but someone else came to play in our snow!! We have had a few coyote sightings over the past couple months. There's also been scat in the yard every once in a while, too. But our coyote friend has always come and gone too quickly to get a picture. Not today! I made several short videos of him/her looking for rabbits or ground squirrels (I assume, since there was a pounce involved at one point). They were all taken out the living room window. Luckily, the blinds were already up so Darcy could watch the snow fall.

I love our wild friends! Sorry the quality's not a bit better, but our connection sometimes times out if I try to upload too many plain ol' photos at one time, so I thought I'd be safe.

Happy Belated Halloween!

So, this post isn't really about Halloween, but it's a picture that I'd already resized, so this is what you get. I need to get a post up about our trip to Tucson for Jenna's wedding. Darcy danced late into the night (ok, not exactly, but it had been dark for a while). She had fun. This picture was taken after the frog costume got just too hot for a girl to wear at the playground.

This post is really about checkups and snow. Darcy had her two-year checkup today (yes, a month late; life gets in the way sometimes). She's staying on track for her weight and height gains. She's in the low-middle percentiles for both, and still has a larger-than-normal head circumference, although I don't see that. But the low-middle sizes does explain why quite a few 24 month/2T size clothes are still too big for her.

She didn't exactly love the doctor's visit. In fact, she has NEVER been that upset/loud/clingy before. Not once ever. She was climbing me as if I was the only thing that could save her. And that was just while I was trying to change her diaper in an exam room that wasn't even the one we were going to be in for the appointment. It didn't get better.

Tomorrow will make her forget all of that, I think. We are supposed to get SNOW, and maybe lots of it! The prediction is for 6-12 inches at our elevation, with the snow starting late tonight and continuing on through Monday night. I'm glad Darcy and I don't have any pressing engagements tomorrow, 'cause I'll be glad to stay put. I hope to get some good photos of Darcy and the Joshua trees in snow. It will be my first time seeing these odd plants snow-covered! I'm just sorry that I didn't get Santa hats at the dollar store for them ... that was my plan!

Portland

We all headed to Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR the day after election day. Darcy, as you can see, loved being on the airplane. We loved that our flight was not very full, so they were able to give us a row of three seats. Darcy sat still and quiet the whole way. Hardly moved a muscle.

Portland was a good place for Darcy. We had a great view of airplanes coming into the airport from our hotel across the river. She had a great time playing at the Children's Museum. A week after we were there, she woke up in a very talkative mood. I listened to her babble for a while through the monitor. She was talking about things she liked, mostly. And then she said, "Darcy play with trains on bus with kid Bennett. I love Bennett." And it's true. She played with a boy named Bennet on the "bus" at the Children's Museum. She had carried a bunch of trains in there with her. Her memory is scary.

We also went to this waterfall, a little outside the city. It was raining and a little cool, but it was a beautiful drive and the falls were gorgeous.

Here are Darcy and Michael on the bridge that can be seen in the first picture between the upper and lower falls. I stepped out onto the bridge briefly. It was high up. I didn't need to be there.

The next day, we hit the zoo before Michael took Darcy and I to the airport. This sealion "kissed" people standing at this corner of the viewing area. Darcy loved watching it, but didn't really want to get too close. Michael got kissed.

Darcy watched.

We also had a wonderful visit with my cousin, Tina. Darcy was, perhaps, most particularly impressed by Tina's housemates' pets. Mimi, a white cat, jumped into our car when we first parked in front of the house. The dog, Roxanne, was very excited to meet new people, but Darcy preferred the cat inside -- Sapphire. We're still hearing about her. Darcy followed her upstairs. Looked for her in Tina's closet (she was right, even though we all told her she wasn't in there). Followed her back downstairs. Then we went out to eat at a vegan-friendly restaurant where we all had very tasty sandwiches. Mine was full of roasted asparagus and carmelized onions. After dinner, we went to a supermarket to get diapers and all ended up chatting with our checker about how excited we are about Obama's election.

All in all, we had a good time. Our flight to Burbank on the trip home was very full, so I had Darcy on my lap. That was quite interesting. Even though I'm not thrilled about having to buy three seats from now on, I am very glad that Darcy will have her very own car seat to sit and sleep in when we head to New York for Christmas.

Happy Birthday to Darcy!

Ok, so I'm a few days late, but Darcy had her Happy Birthday last Thursday and is now two years old. She's a little unclear on the age concept, but she definitely knows all about birthday parties now. Her requirements were HB hats, HB balloons, HB cake, HB candles, HB song. Presents weren't part of her birthday vocabulary, but, of course, they are now.

One of the highlights, in Darcy's words, was "all those cousins". Although Michael was unfortunately absent from the party because he was still in Portland, Darcy's Western cousins (from left to right) Henry (aka Hank), Alfred, Celaya, and Harry were all there. Granny Mimi (Betty) hosted, with a menu of pizza and birthday cake. Darcy was very impressed when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her and again when Grandma and Grandad (Kathy and Dave) called and sang it again over speaker phone.

Alfred helped open all the presents because Darcy was busy playing with a helicopter. She has since been enjoying the gifts. Cima House is suddenly a little more hazardous for walking.

Thanks to all who attended and sent birthday greetings from afar! Her first birthday was the day the movers came to pack up our house in King Salmon, so this was her first and only real birthday celebration and she really enjoyed the process.

I'll get some pictures of our trip to Vancouver, WA/Portland uploaded soon. We had a great trip in a beautiful part of the world, but we're very, very happy to be home now.

Our New President

Hail to the (new) chief! Here's President-Elect Obama three days before the election, at the rally we went to in Henderson, NV. Yay, Nevada, for going blue this election! Darcy not only knows Barack Obama when she sees him, she even recognizes his logo, based on her reaction to a photo of the Obama cupcakes a friend of mine made for election night. She's expressed a desire to see our new President at Cima house, instead of outside. We'll extend an open invitation.

This guy was being heavily photographed while everyone waited for Obama's arrival at the event. In case it's not quite evident, the shirt reads, "Meet the Fuckers" (a play on the movie title, "Meet the Fockers", for non-pop-culture watchers).

Go Obama!

Ok, so I think Darcy is starting to stir, so I'll make this quick. We got emails from the Obama campaign on Thursday saying that he was going to be in Henderson on Saturday morning. Even though Michael has not spent a whole day at home in almost a month, we decided to go. We got to the site early enough (6:40 am!) to be able to avoid shuttles. It was an amazing crowd and Obama was still energetic and enthusiastic, even after all these months on the road. Darcy got photographed by a few strangers who thought she looked so cute in her "Kids for Obama" t-shirt.

Darcy was a little freaked out by being in the middle of the crowd, so I took her to the opposite end of the football field once things really got going. I still had a good view of Obama and could hear everything; Darcy got to run around with other crowd-shy toddlers. Michael stayed closer to the stage and got some good pictures of Obama speaking, but I haven't run those through Photoshop yet to make them easily uploadable.

Go vote!

Darcy At The Beach

Darcy has been to beaches before, but not since she's been independently mobile. We took her to Zuma Beach in Malibu last time we hit Simi and she had a ball. She chased waves, she ran after shorebirds, she watched kites fly, she saw a Coast Guard helicopter, she threw sand. She got completely soaked, covered in sand from head to toe, and completely tuckered out. Our late October beach venture was a total success.

You may have noticed that I have not gone back and finished the vacation series. I decided to move on.

Darcy Loves Animals

I know that you will all be astounded to learn that Darcy has a fondness for the critters. I mean, given how little I care about our furred, feathered, scaled, and finned friends. She talks about them. She pretends to be them. She knows what they say. And she likes to be with them.


We recently played host to Tule for a couple days, much to Darcy's delight. When I first told her that our friend would be bringing her dog, she lit up and said, "Dog LICK Darcy!" And, yes, Tule made good on that prediction and licked Darcy, bringing on many squeals of delight.


Darcy also likes to ride animals. During our recent trip to Simi, we went to the farmers' market and found pony rides. Darcy showed interest, so we waited for two other sets of little girls to ride the ponies and then Darcy got strapped into the very secure saddle. After a few rounds, the 20ish guy leading her pony came over to the fences and said, with a big grin, "She keeps saying, "Say neigh! Say neigh!" She got a little extra riding for that, I think. Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera with us because we didn't expect the ponies, so instead, here's a picture of her riding an elephant at a nearby mall's play area.


And riding is even fun if there's no animal underneath you; here's Darcy with (Mimi) Betty and (Aunt) Jo on the saddle at Kelso Depot a few weeks ago.

Vacation, Part III

Ok, so Ev recently commented about my failure to finish the Vacation series, so here's the next installment. This will finish up the camping portion of the trip and I'll do one more with some pictures from our time in Simi Valley.

We got a new backpack carrier for the trip, as the used one we had been given had some issues. Here is Michael with our small hiker on our way to Rainbow Falls. This hike went through mostly burnt areas, which wasn't so pleasant, but it did get Darcy back on the shuttle bus that provides transport around Devil's Postpile. She loved that bus!

Rainbow Falls was gorgeous and had quite a crowd of admirers while we were there. We rested a bit in the shade and munched on freeze dried mango slices.

Darcy liked to look at the falls, but of course, she also said hi to everyone and danced around the observation area.


At one of the river access points in our campground, there was this beautiful stand of lupine. We saw a lot of lupine everywhere; it was so lush compared to our smaller versions from this spring. I took these pictures when I went down to the water after Darcy's bedtime to wash my pumice-dust-encrusted feet. The mosquitoes were awful, but with the moon rising above the sunset, I toughed it out to try to get a few get photos.


This was our last night of camping. Sometime early in the morning, Darcy got so cold that even being in our bed couldn't keep her warm enough to fall asleep. When there was the slightest hint of light, we decided we'd be better off just packing up camp and moving on. By 6:05, we were on the road and the car claimed it was 38 outside! No wonder she was a little chilly. We stopped at a bakery on our way out of town for egg and cheese croissants and coffee, and then drove to Simi Valley, arriving filthy and tired.

We're Living in The Wild, Wild West

So, there was a train robbery a few miles from our house on Saturday. We treated it as more or less a joke at first because, really, who expects train robberies in this day and age? It seemed less funny a few hours later when we had a phone message from one of the Park's law enforcement rangers saying that we should make sure our doors were locked because there were still some suspects unaccounted for. It seemed MUCH less funny the next day when a teenager involved in the robbery was found dead in the desert.

I have more photos coming soon, I promise. Photoshop was being mean to me earlier today or there would already be a picture of our rabbit-wrangling girl on her trusty steed.

Vacation, Part II

Today's exciting news (yesterday's was our upcoming freedom from AT&T) is that we had rain! Lots of rain! There were light showers last night and early this morning, but then the skies opened up shortly after Darcy started her nap and we had a real, sustained downpour. Very exciting.

This is campsite number two, a Park Service campground in Devil's Postpile National Monument. The ground is mostly ground-up pumice, which made for very dirty feet for all of us, and very dirty everything for Darcy given her fondness for dirt and rocks. And charcoal, which is what adorns her face in this picture. She was slumped in this chair playing with small pieces of pumice that were mostly under her back. It amused her for at least fifteen minutes, which meant fifteen minutes of the day that she wasn't in full motion.

Along with tunnels, Darcy learned to love bridges on this trip. Both campgrounds had nearby bridges that we made multiple visits to. This one has a special place in Michael's heart. It is the stopping point for one of his favorite views in all of the Sierra. (See below; I wouldn't tease like that.)

The View From the Bridge. Need I say more?

Devil's Postpile is a stunning volcanic feature made up of hundreds (or thousands?) of columns of basalt that formed when lava cooled very slowly. We didn't go up on top, but glacial action long after the columns formed sheared them off to look like a very fancy tile floor. You can see more pictures of the Monument here.

Darcy, of course, enjoyed the Postpile immensely because it's all rocks. Big rocks. In Darcy's world, rocks are either big (or sometimes heavy rather than big) or tiny. If she can hold it in one hand, she will almost always answer "Tiny!" if you ask if her rock is big or small.

More pictures will follow shortly. There is still a waterfall to see, so stay tuned!

Vacation, Part I

So, we moved! With some delay and a great deal of frustration due to moving company nightmares, we now live in Cima! We're still working on unpacking the last boxes and getting a telephone number (we will be free of AT&T apparently and that is some of the best news ever), but we will send out a new address soon. Almost immediately after moving, we set off on our planned vacation...

Darcy took to camping very well. Our first three nights were in a campground just outside Kings Canyon National Park. Darcy enjoyed her giraffe chair and the fact that the bench made a perfect table, built just for her. She's also fond of pancakes, no matter where she eats them.

The campground is on Forest Service land and was heavily logged about a hundred years ago. Sequoias being virtually indestructible, the stumps are still there. We had a few surrounding our campsite and this massive one was part of a short walking trail adjacent to the campground. During the logging frenzy, there was a need for a holding pond, so they built nearby Hume Lake. We spent one afternoon swimming there. Again, because sequoia wood lasts indefinitely, there were a few giant logs still hanging out in the water, a couple big enough that three or four people were log-rolling on them at the same time.

Darcy likes to touch noses. It's part of a song. We indulge her and she thinks it's hilarious. Our other major indulgence on this trip was music. We made a CD of her Very Most Favorite Songs Ever, the most favorite of which was on there twice. We listened to it a lot. It made the longer driving days more bearable for everyone.

Another of Darcy's favorite things are tunnels. Going under a highway overpass? Tunnel. The space underneath a table? Tunnel. A sequoia that's been lying down for over a century? Tunnel tree! Of course, that's what it's called by most people, but Darcy's just started putting two words together, so it's extra fun to hear her say it. She dragged Michael back and forth through this tree many, many times. This is part of Grant's Grove, the cluster of sequoias that includes the General Grant tree, "America's Christmas Tree".

Mornings were cold! The campground was at about 6000 feet above sea level, so the nights really cooled off. Hats and sweaters with cute sheep-buttons were definite necessities. Here, Darcy helps direct our camp tear-down on our last morning at Kings Canyon.

Our vacation interlude involved a long day of driving with a few stops in Yosemite National Park. Do you sense a theme in our destinations? Yosemite Valley was too hot to spend a lot of time, but Tuolumne Meadows are very high and so were a much more pleasant temperature. We stopped for a walk and a little feet-splashing in the stream. It was a beautiful afternoon.

From there, we finished the drive to Mammoth Lakes, with a short driving detour through the June Lake Loop, which was beautiful. We were supposed to camp one night in June Lake so we'd be close to the first-come/first-served campgrounds Michael had his eye on near Devil's Postpile. But, given the very long day of driving, we had canceled that plan and stayed in a hotel for the night, getting showered/bathed and refreshed for the next camping days.

Within a few days, I'll post more pictures from the second and third parts of our trip. Right now, I'm watching three chipmunk-like critters digging little holes in the drainage from our swamp cooler. They're lying as flat as three-dimensional critters can get to cool off their bellies. Or so I assume. It really isn't that hot here; not like Baker. Mornings and evenings are lovely, and the one night we've left the swamp cooler on overnight, it was too cold inside the next morning.

Hope This Isn't A Jinx!

With any luck, the house pictured here will soon be our new house! We're waiting for the bidding to close and the official word, but we believe that we will be moving here in the near future. Why, you ask, do we want to move seven months after getting here? Moving isn't fun, it's true, but neither is life in Baker. It looks like a town, it really does, but it doesn't feel much like one. We're not losing much by being away from town and we're gaining a lot: peace and quiet; beautiful views, pleasant places to walk; 3000 feet in elevation (and therefore, much, much lower temperatures); affordable rent; neighbors with cows as pets; greater proximity to all parts of the park; shorter commute for Michael; and the list goes on!

We'll let you all know as soon as we hear definitive word and set a moving date!

In other news, Darcy Jo is trying to learn everything all at once. Her vocabulary grows at leaps and bounds, and she now points to letters she recognizes on all sorts of things (like her cup at lunch yesterday; it took me a while to figure out why she kept saying "emm" because I couldn't see the writing). She can pick out maybe a third of the alphabet and grins like a maniac when we confirm that it really is the letter she said it was. Likewise, she is extremely proud that she has (how? I have no idea!) learned the concept of "two". It started with her saying "two" if she was holding two of the same object, but now extends to just having two things, alike or different, and fingers! If you hold up two fingers and ask how many there are, she'll tell you -- and she did it the very first time we tried it.

Her other new trick is crawling! Finally! We took her to a mall when we were visiting in Simi Valley last week and it was crawling (forgive the pun) with kids. There were a lot of tunnels, which Darcy loves, but they weren't tall enough for her to stand in, so she couldn't take advantage of them. It's a little heartbreaking to watch her in those situations because it's clear that if she had had a crawling phase, she would now have a much better grasp of climbing on, under, and over things. She has to just watch the other kids a lot. She loves that, but I want her to be able to DO, not just watch.

She's been doing what she calls crawling every once in a while for a month or two. It's sort of like swimming on the carpet, as her belly is still flat on the floor. But after spending quite a lot of time watching so many other kids crawling around and seeing that she was missing out, this week, she crawls! True, hands-and-knees, belly-off-the-floor crawling! She mostly just uses this to crawl to something that will help her stand up if she's plopped down on her tush, but we also set up the couch cushions as an obstacle course and she's almost able to crawl up and over a stack of two. It will only take another visit or two to a play area for her to get up to speed.

Darcy Wears Boxers!

I know that I've recently promised some photographic and possibly video evidence of Darcy's love for (maybe even obsession with) water, but those are on the other computer, so you'll have to wait a little bit longer. Instead, for your viewing pleasure, I offer these treats:

Michael was folding laundry in the living room and Darcy absconded with his Christmas-themed boxers and asked me to put them on her. So I did. The clothespin was an essential part of the ensemble. She spent about ten minutes dancing around in the boxers before deciding that they were just annoying.


It took much less time for her to decide that finger paint on her hands was annoying. She did smear this paint around a little bit more, but then refused to touch any color of paint again. I tried to teach her a one-finger method, but she was having none of it. We'll wait a couple weeks and try again.

In other news, her 18 month checkup was on Friday and went well. She is growing well and let the doctor check her out a little more thoroughly than last time. She balked at the hearing test, so the nurse couldn't get the ear piece in far enough to test via vibrations, but said that she'd accept Darcy's "beep beep" as evidence that she heard, well...the beep.

Darcy Discovers The Bandana

Flowers, Everywhere We Look, Flowers

Ok, so there has been some prodding recently for some new photos and an update. We've been silent because we spend all our free time (well, I do, Michael sometimes thinks it's more of the stuff he does at work) looking at flowers. And hosting guests and doing some traveling, I should add, but flowers really have taken over our lives (and our hard drive).

So here are some lovely flowers. (Clicking on a picture gets you a larger image.)



Michael received an email a few weeks back saying that Devil's Playground was in a once in a lifetime state of bloom. We were lucky enough to get out there a few days later -- it was breathtaking! Dune evening primroses as far as the eye could see in all directions, with lots of prickly poppies, sunflower-family yellow flowers, hairy sand verbena, desert needles, and so many other flowers mixed in. The primroses, however, were the stars of this show, flowering in enormous mounds and double rings (top photo).


After a lot of driving (we might have bitten off a little more than we should have) we stopped for a picnic lunch at some well-known (to us) rocks. Darcy is all smiles because she's eating her very first PB and J. She also loves rocks, so was happy even before she discovered the glorious presence of jelly.

The flower season moves from lower to higher elevations here, and different flowers show up in the varied ecosystems that make up the Preserve. The following pictures are of the yucca and cactus family blooms, which are spectacular.

Joshua Trees in bloom

Up close and personal with a banana yucca

Beavertail cactus on Zyzzyx road

Claret cup cactus among the Joshua trees

Darcy will do anything for some more flower sightings...her first solo* rock climb.

And she's rewarded! With cliff roses, Palmer's penstemon, and rattlesnake weed (in that order). The rattlesnake weed fooled us -- it looks huge in the pictures in the guidebooks; we were expecting something ten times that size at least!




All that flower hunting and rock climbing and walking does wear a girl out, though. Even the coolest shades in the world can't keep this one awake...

*Solo as in, Daddy's hand is just out of the picture by an inch. Don't call child protective services just yet!