Preparing for Christmas

The last few days have been quite pleasant up here in Estes. Daily temperatures have been in the mid-high 30s and with the exception of today there's been nearly no wind. Delightful! Most of the snow from the last fall has melted, except on the north-facing areas of town where the sun doesn't hit.

On Saturday, we experienced a full lunar eclipse. We are lucky to have seen the majority of it, as it appears that most of the other residents of town were too low in the valley to see much of it. We weren't able to see totality before it slipped behind the mountains, but we saw almost all of the first phase. It started at roughly 6:05 in the morning, and by the time it disappeared it was just before 7. I am lucky that my parents happened to be visiting for the weekend and it helped get me out of bed in time to see it!

Although the weather here has been peaceful lately, it's been a little tumultuous over the edge of Long's Peak. If I could figure out how to do a time-lapse video of it, I would. The changes in atmosphere around it at any given time are stunning. Here's two photos taken just about 15 hours apart of the old boy:

On the wildlife front, we have deer and elk prints literally beneath our bedroom window. Perhaps I need to set up a security camera of some sort, if only to see what time of day they are coming by, because we have yet to see any of them. Although to be honest, I think the idea of waking in the early hours of the morning to an elk outside the window might be a bit frightening. Just about an hour ago, I was sitting in my office on the computer and something dog-sized and white ran right by the window. I have a feeling it was the neighborhood coyote, but it could have been a bobcat. On a not-so-nice point, I found what I believe was a Black Widow spider in a pile of boxes I had set aside for recycling this morning. This was not so exciting for me, because I am terrified of spiders. I dumped the lethargic bugger out onto the snow and promptly squished it. I had assumed that because of the cold, the spiders had gone dormant for the season, but I guess not. Yuck!

Tomorrow is my Christmas cookie-making day. One of our neighbors recently brought us a hefty stockpile of elk meat (shot in our yard, coincidentally) so I have a pile of cookies planned to thank him for the gift. Christmas is quickly on its way and Estes looks lovely with all its Christmas livery on. With any luck, I'll be able to get some photos of the downtown area with its nighttime lights on. In the meantime, here's a photo of Conklin House all ready for Christmas...well, not including my exterior Christmas tree, which is currently making its stage debut in my production of A Christmas Carol with the Estes Park Repertoire Theatre Company...which I'll update about this weekend before we close.