New "friend"

 Thursday night, the motion light outside our bedroom was triggered around midnight, which usually means an animal has wandered by.  I've gotten up before to check and haven't ever seen one.  This time, I got up, peeked out the window, and not 10 feet from the window was a coyote.  We stared at each other for about 10 seconds, and then it ran off.  It happened again last night.  We've named him Wile E. Coyote.  Our son Alex asked if it might go after Mirabella and Dempsey, and Mike thinks not since they are bigger dogs.  For those of you with smaller animals, I think being aware is a good policy.

I can't remember if I've mentioned before the Ouray County Plaindealer, our local newspaper.  It is really excellent.  This week, it has two really good articles about the ice caves, and one in particular struck a note with me for two reasons.  One, it showed that people on opposite sides of a position can come together and do something for the good of the community at large.  Secondly, the writer knew to use the word "among" instead of "between" when describing the groups in the negotiations.   This English major has a thing about that.

Mike, who can't seem to get rid of his old job, is enamored with the job openings in the paper.  This week, there were jobs for a tow lift operator at Lee's Ski Hill here in Ouray, a maintenance operator for the ice rink (which means it's opening!), and a sightseeing tour guide.   We'll see what happens once he can get these last two trials done, if ever.

A digital subscripion costs $48.00 a year.  We get both print and digital because Mike still likes a newspaper in hand, and it reminds him a little of his hometown newspaper, The Courier-Tribune in Seneca, Kansas.

Fingers crossed, we think we've solved the frozen pipes problem in the house.  The first night we stayed in the house over a year ago, the pipes froze overnight, and Mike spent a lot of time this summer doing mitigation work on what he thought was the problem.   However, last Friday night, when the temps went below zero, the pipe bringing hot water into the house froze for about 48 hours. Fortunately, it thawed before the plumber got here, which saved us a boatload of money.  Mike worked on that this week, and with the temps hovering around zero last night, that worked, too.   

We went snowshoeing for the first time this season.  It was so much fun!