Connie in Ouray

 It's snowing but not accumulating as I write this.  We are now at 10 feet and two inches.  It snowed 10 inches on the 24th and another four on the 27th.  We continue to be slightly ahead of two years ago and three feet behind last year's epic snow totals. The ice park has officially closed, and the town is so nice and quiet.  I can find parking at the post office!  I figure we've got about four weeks until tourists start showing up, and we who travel Camp Bird Road daily get to take a deep breath. True Grit Mine

 With our last snowstorm, we hit 108 inches, nine feet.  We're still ahead of two years ago and behind last year.  We are really into mud season now, with snow melting fast and the ice park closing in a week.  They've posted that they're not doing any additional farming but working on maintenance only.  The parking lots are still full on weekends.  I've been snowshoeing a lot, and I've even gone to Ironton Park a few times.  I didn't realize how much fun it would be there, thinking that it was strictly for cross country skiing.  Now that the bears are coming out of hibernation, I'm not going anywhere into the woods by myself. Moose tracks! Last week, I went to Ridgway to walk the Uncompahgre River Trail with the dogs.  I'd started feeling a bit closed in and just wanted quantity over quality.  It was gorgeous as ever, and I saw a bald eagle!  It was just hanging out in a tree. And, finally, the new tire cover on our new-to-us Jeep:

 At just 94.5 inches, we are falling farther and farther behind.  The Gunnison water drainage, where we sit on the very most southern edge, is only at 96%.  No one expected last year's near recordbreaking totals.  It's March 2nd, and temps have been in the 50s. Our fisrst mud season has started. Rain - yes, rain! - is in the forecast for today, maybe some snow tomorrow.  Predictions are usually wrong, but they've been unusually wrong this year.   That said, I'm still able to get up snowshoeing, and it's still beautiful.  With the warmer temperatures, Mirabella and Dempsey have started going with me.  That blue sky!