Mike's home along with some serious weather.

I always seem to have less time for blog entries when Mike gets a trip home so figured I should say as much to avoid anyone worrying about me! He arrived Tuesday evening after driving through the aftermath of blizzard conditions in Colorado, and extreme wind and black ice conditions here in New Mexico. On Monday night the wind never stopped howling up the mountain. It's unusal for it to be coming from the southeast and I didn't get much sleep as gusts shook and swayed the yurt and deck. It's all designed to move and give though, and it no longer makes me think everything is going to fall down around us. In fact, if we were in earthquake country it would be a very safe structure to live in.

Monday and Tuesday's wind storm was the worst we've had since we moved here and I expected to see roofs off and buildings down when I drove into town to go to the post office. To my surprise there was no visible damage, at least not on my route to town. The most dangerous part was black ice everywhere. The warm up and rain over the weekend caused a big melt of snow and old ice and then the sudden drop in temperatures Monday night set things up for accidents and road closures all over the state. The Navajo Reservation was declared a disaster area due to road conditions and wind damage. We had high winds again last night and it's just plain damn cold at 14 degrees this morning and who knows what the wind chill is. I'm not looking forward to going out to feed the boys in a few minutes but I'm sure they are more than ready for a good warm breakfast.