Deborah Lewis

We finally got some snow here, we've been waiting less than patiently.
It started snowing Tuesday, cold and blowing and nasty and we just stayed
inside and watched movies all day. Dylan likes the old monster movies
with special effects by Ray Harryhausen so we watched "Jason and the
Argonauts" "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" and "Clash of the Titans."
Wednesday was cold but not blowing so much and the snow was crisp and
powdery and beautiful so we went snowshoeing, just Dylan and I, out along
the river. We followed fox tracks and then found the fox, hunting along
a fence line. He saw us but didn't seem to care at all. We watched
him for about half an hour before we noticed we were getting cold just
standing there. He was beautiful.
We had corn with us, just in case we saw a duck or two. Some crazy ducks
stay the winter here and we spend our free time wondering if their big
duck feet are being frozen into the river ice. We like to go out and
listen to the ice moving along the river and we like to feed the brave
ducks who don't mind cold Montana winters. There was a small group of
seven Mallards and we tossed them corn while they swore at us and looked
at us suspiciously, but after we moved away a bit they came and ate. I
later read that Mallards prefer sugar donuts, (who wouldn't?) so that
was the reason for the swearing I suppose.

Thursday was much warmer and friends came over. We built snowmen in the
front yard and had snow ball fights. The big snowman looked a little
like Abe Lincoln, just by accident, and we were proud of our abilities
but while we were inside warming over hot chocolate and a game of Clue
(which I lost) his head fell off. (We found no evidence he'd been shot)
The replacement head looked a little like our current president and
lasted a little longer, too. We made some repairs to his ears and nose
yesterday, but by last night he was done for. Dylan said it was a
random act of sunlight violence.

Friday we went sledding. The snow was slick and fast and we crashed a
lot but it was fun and I have the sore rump to prove it.

Dylan's Dad was home on Saturday and we decided to make ice sculptures.
We filled some rubber maid (sp) storage bins with water and left them out
to freeze, but it didn't stay cold enough and we didn't get ice. We did
make a snow dragon, slithering along the ground and bumping up here and
there until we ran out of snow.

I have been badly beaten at Master Labyrinth and Survival or Extinction
today.
We went out to lunch and took a walk. We made granola. We made oatmeal
cookies. Dylan had a karate class and when he came home my brother was
here with the ultrasound pictures of his little human bean sprout.
We're going to watch "Eight Legged Freaks" tonight and I'm so glad to
have such a cool kid to spend time with.

Deb L