Remember when school was great?

Remember when you were a kid, and weekends seemed to last forever? Spring break? SUMMER VACATION? It seemed like an eternity.
This all came to a head the other night when I stopped by to visit my fave kids in G-Town, Ben and Izzy. Ben asked, "So what are you doing for spring break?" Good question Ben. Working, man! Rather be playing video games, board games, baking cookies, and watching Harry Potter marathons, though.

Days like this

So yesterday sucked. Car issues (smell of something burning and a check engine light, but the experts at the Gardiner Tire Iron assured me nothing is wrong...) continuing financial woes with doggy hip surgery a week away, bills, bills, bills, realizing I have to do my damn taxes, applying for a possibly groovy better paying job, getting course work done, and, oh, my job where I never seem to get caught up.
Today was a bit better. Burning smell is gone, still haven't gotten a hell of a lot done with personal finances, but decided to have people over for venison spaghetti at 3:30. So just those of us with no plans on a Wednesday night :-)
Too tired to do much of anything (just finished the dishes from Friday's sushi night, last night, and now have a new pile) but totally worth the work cause it was quite fun to sit around and watch Project Runway re-runs with the girls.
I can feel it - I'll be falling asleep in chapter 4 of my remote sensing book tonight...

Let it snow!

Oh the weather outside is frightful...
Well, it's felt almost like spring the past week, but we've returned to winter - here's the forecast for the next few days:
Hazardous weather condition(s):
Hazardous Weather Outlook
Tonight: Snow. Low around 7. Wind chill values as low as zero. Northwest wind between 3 and 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of around 2 inches.
Monday: Snow, mainly before noon. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 22. Wind chill values as low as zero. West wind between 3 and 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of less than 1 inch possible.
Monday Night: Snow likely. The snow could be heavy at times. Cloudy, with a low around 5. Wind chill values as low as -5. North northwest wind between 6 and 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of around 2 inches.
Tuesday: A 40 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 22. Wind chill values as low as -5. West wind between 8 and 10 mph.
Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 2. West southwest wind around 10 mph.

Home again

Well, I just realized I took no pictures while in Florida. Silly, but honestly the training really could have been anywhere and it would not have made a difference. I flew in late Sunday night, and took a shuttle to the hotel that took over 2 hours. Checked in at 0230 and was up for class at 0730. That set the scene for the week. Up, classes till noon, grab some lunch, back in class, back to the room, get some reading done, sleep, repeat. I had some time free Friday afternoon, but really it was just enough to get things packed and take a nap. Had to leave for the airport at o330 Saturday (0130 MT time ugh). Flights into and out of Atlanta were delayed by weather so didn't end up getting to Bozeman until 1500. Grabbed a few groceries and drove home at 1730. A long day by any standards.
On the up side, S-341 GIS for Incident Management was an excellent course. It brought a lot of things into focus for me that had previously been ambiguous. If we are mapping fire at YELL, we should be using the same tools and SOP's as the rest of the world. I'm not sure it's any easier than the way we are doing things now, but at least it's a national standard that other people are maintaining. It will certainly reduce the amount of time needed to maintain our ad hoc mapping efforts, file structure, training, and naming conventions. But I digress.
It's good to be home. Emily took excellent care of Hunter Eddie and the apartment for me. He seemed excited to have me back, but I'm sure he had a blast being spoiled while I was gone. I took a few minutes to put away the perishables, then fell exhausted onto my lovely couch. I'd been dreaming of it for days - sitting uncomfortably in a vinyl chair in my hotel room! The snow was a welcome relief. Although the southern warmth was a welcome diversion, I am happy to be home to winter. Still many trails to ski before spring!
It is a little quiet after spending a week in Louisiana with the craziness of my boys' lives, but things will soon be back to normal here in Gardiner, with friends coming over to watch TV and knit. I do miss them horribly. The daily happenings of the house on Holiday Place are always entertaining! I ponied up for a voice over IP channel that the boys and I share - it's great to be able to talk to them almost every day and stay involved with their lives.
The river is running pretty freely, so spring feels imminent but there are a few more months of weather before summer backpacking season.
Well, it's about 0230 now and I need to get some sleep. For details of my time in LA, see my sister's blog (photos posted). It's great to be home!