"Aren't you glad you came for Spring Break?"

 This was a question I posed to Aaron and Marchelle (24) after an inauspicious start to their Ouray stay.  When they arrived later Saturday night, they were met with a foot of snow on their driveway, much of which had turned to the consistency of concrete from the melt/freeze/melt/freeze ad nauseam, only to discover, once they finally got to the house, that we didn't have water.  Welcome!

First to the water, it stopped Saturday night.  Our water guy, Ed, came up Sunday midday and found that one of three electrical conduits - please note that these are probably not the correct words - was not working.  The other two were on, which allowed us to have everything electrical in our houses to work, just not the water (no power to the pumps).  Because there isn't an alarm system for this situation, which had not happened in the 20 years he's been working at our pump house, he didn't know.  He got in touch with San Miguel Power, they did their magic, and we had water by late afternoon yesterday.

Aaron and Marchelle hand dug part of their driveway and then were able to get the tractor with snowblower to work last night after our melt yesterday.   As most of you know, they have a very long driveway, so it's not like an hour's work. 

It's snowing very lightly this morning, but we're not expecting much accumulation.  We have had several roof avalanches, one which was very loud and scared the dogs.   This is a view from a bedroom window after the most recent slide.  That is a lot of snow.

The Williamsons had wood window covers on the three back bedroom windows to protect from damage, but we are window people, liking the light and the view, so we decided if a screen was damaged, or glass broken, it was worth a winter of views.

Traffic in Ouray this week is high because of spring breaks. The Ice Park closes March 31st, and we've noticed the parking lot is not nearly as full.  Once April comes, and we're seriously into mud season #5, life will be sane in town until mid-May, at which point all hell breaks loose.  Having lived in Colorado Springs for 40 years, we're used to tourists and all their insanities, so this is nothing new.  We've discovered if we laugh, it's not quite so irritating.  And, most importantly, who can deny them a chance to gawk at the views?!

An article in The Ouray Plaindealer said that there had been recent bear activity in the town itself.  That is early!  Because we have had such warm temperatures, alternating with cold, they might be coming out of hibernation early.  As Mike said, they don't exactly have a calendar.  Time to drag out the bear spray and bear horns, be aware, watch our animals.