The Blizzard of "Ought-Four", Part 4.

Today's Top Story:
At the time of this posting, 1333 US soldiers have died in Iraq.
Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/

(Why is this "The Top Story"?

1. Each of these soldiers died in a war that was initiated by a President
who intentionally misled the American people about the reasons for war in Iraq, (and
2. Like Gen. Anthony Zinni, I believe that this has got to be more important than "American Idol").

Today's Feature: The Blizzard of "Ought-Four", Part 4.

Monday, December 27, 2004

7:30am: We awoke today to a cold, clear and brilliantly sunny morning. Outside the trees were coated with a shiny layer of hoarfrost. (While I had seen it before, I didn't know what hoarfrost was until I read about it in our local paper the next day. One more thing I've learned this week.)

I got outside quickly to get some pictures before it melted.


Hoarfroast on the Serenity Garden.



A brilliant view.


I walked down to the end of the street to get a shot of the early morning sun shining through the trees.


Sun through the trees.

As I walk back to the house, I feel invigorated by the cold and the sunshine. Maybe, I think, I can learn to like this winter thing.

11:00am: The street still hasn't been plowed, but we venture out anyway. The main streets are clear, but the stores are still packed. We buy our supplies and head back home.

5:00pm: Just at dusk the snowplow comes through the neighborhood. He works our streets for a couple of hours, methodically working back and forth.


Sunday, January 2, 2005

We've had 4 days of unseasonably warm weather. Today it was 55 degrees outside. The snow is almost completely melted. I even drug out the garden hose and washed the cars. Surprise - instead of two dull grey vehicles, we actually have a black one and a white one! Tomorrow the vacation ends and we go back to work. Life here is almost back to normal.

But we are very mindful that for hundreds of thousands of our neighbors on the other side of the planet, life will not be back to normal for years, if ever. An editorial page headline in our local paper this week put things in the proper context: "Tsunami makes our 'crisis' pale".

For a very immediate view of activities around the crisis - reported by a group of people close to the scene - see the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog. To make an online donation to one of the major relief agencies, visit http://www.google.com/tsunami_relief.html .