Christmas Day

Kids opened some presents and then we sat around the house waiting for the turkey to cook. I turned a couple bowls out of Apricot wood that Scott Simmons gave me from their project house in Durango; nice stuff! We did get out for a little sledding too.

Christmas Eve skiing

With the family all in town, we took a trip to the top of the pass today for some skiing and sledding. Here's some pictures off Craig's camera.

Train Yard snow

A walk in the snow

Snow fun

Crazy!

Check this out from the Wolf Creek Ski report:
Midway Base Depth : 102 inches
Last 7 Days : 75 inches
Latest Storm : 8 inches
Year to Date : 182 inches

That is 6ft 3in in a week!

The great Elk massacree of Ought Seven

I went on my annual Tribal Employee cow elk hunt this morning with the guys; Tom: Wildlife Biologist, Stuart: Director of Game & Fish, Doug: BIA Natural Resouces, and Dave: Doug's friend. It was bitterly cold, somewhere around 8ºF when we met at 6am and set out for Willow Creek Ranch. We had progressed no further than 1/4 mile down the access road when a herd of 6 or 8 elk ran across the road in front of us. We jumped out of the truck but decided against shooting as it would have been impossible to get close to a downed one where they were. About a mile further we came upon a second small group and shortly afterward a third and fourth. The recent snow we've had (24") has apparently forced the migratory herds down out of the high country. There were elk everywhere we looked.
Stuart quickly dropped a small cow and Tom took a long, fast shot at another that was over 400 yards out. I was pretty sure he hit it and after a short discussion he and I hiked up the hill through the snow to see. I felt pretty bad for being so sure he'd hit it because when we got to where they had been standing there was no sign of any damage, let alone a cow down. We agreed it was better to hike a little and be sure than to leave a wounded animal out there.
After hiking down the hill, Tom and I got in Dave's truck the others had left behind for us and drove until we met up with them. About 3 minutes later we ran into a herd of over 50 elk milling around about 350 yard out on the side of a hill. Six shots later there were 3 more down and we were done for the day! It was 8:57 when I checked my watch.
Here's some pictures.... click to start:

Winter

Here are a few shots from our trip home from Durango on Sunday. You can click them to view larger versions.

The coolest video you will see today.

This makes you want to buy a suit.

Sorry, I can't directly post the video, just click the picture to load it.

A little ski video

Here's Holly cutting it up at Purgatory......

Ron makes the Blog!!

We went to Durango on Friday night in the middle of a rain storm. The rain that fell all day in town was snow in the mountains..... over 3 ft. of it! Sara watched the kids and Scott, Holly & I had a big powder day. Click the picture of Ron to go to the album.

A bit of snow

 
We got about 6" of snow last night. Here is the wife doing her duty and clearing the driveway. "FASTER, FASTER"

Potsdam Brass Quintet: Contrapunctus IX (Bach)

We went out for a little "Culture" tonight (hard to come by in a town of 1100) and listened to a nice concert by the New Mexico Symphony Brass Quintet. They opened with this piece, played here by the Potsdam Brass Quintet. A real treat, although the kids got a little restless sitting in the Episcopal Church pew for 1:20.

Aunt Pauline's funeral trip

I flew back to NH last week for the funeral of my Aunt Pauline Chappell. It was nice to see a bunch of cousins and relatives I hadn't seen for a long time. I didn't have my camera so here are a few pictures off my cell phone.