The winter cometh

- "So you killed a guy, then moved cities, and killed another guy? You gotta stop doing this shit, man - they are gonna catch you and put you in the fucking chair!"

I think Seattle is a perfectly safe city, but as I've been walking around a lot more lately, occasionally I now get to overhear an interesting conversation - the above was one end of a phone exchange. I reflected that it's nice that I wasn't walking anywhere particularly near the guy on the other end of the call. Tina, Bailey, and Brodie felt the conversation needed to be shared with the blog (which we have, admittedly, been neglecting a bit lately), so here it is - an update on the excitement in my life these days!

Speaking of Tina, Bailey, and Brodie, we were having this conversation on the way to Mt. Baker last Sunday, because winter has shown up in Washington State early this year, bringing with it amazing amounts of early snow, and prompting all the local resorts to open operations at record-setting early dates. So, off we went, and wonderful it was! The whole mountain was already open, hardly any lift lines (as is the norm at Baker) and lots of fresh powder, including 11 fresh inches overnight. Yes, the visibility could've been better, but I don't think any of us were about to complain! I've recently concluded that the winter rather sucks in Seattle, what with all the rain, and cold, and wind, but the snow in the mountains does generally make it worthwhile:

All four of us on the lift. Baker finally has quad chairs everywhere....

Tina relaxing in the snow

Bailey plowing on

And beautiful white powder everywhere!

And then Thanksgiving came, bringing with friends, dogs, and, well, lots of delicious food! We were camped out at Jon and Janna's house for about 24 hrs eating, drinking, watching football, playing games, and entertaining the seven dogs in attendance:

Jon, focused on the meat... wonderful, delicious meat...

And that would be a turkey. Wrapped in bacon, of course. Lott's excited

The 12+ hour smoked ham

Meat, as seen through the wine

Alex sharing a moment with Ru

and Ann sharing a couch with three (of the seven) dogs

And tomorrow, in the name of healthiness after all that food, I suppose, or maybe just in the name of the 544cm of snow that they've already received this year, it's off to Whistler!