It snowed all day and part of the night. I can hear the dynamite blasts up at Schweitzer where they're doing avalanche control. We've heard a lot of blasts up that way this week. They must have more snow than they know what to do with. My sister's friend Colleen told her to forget the snowshoe day they'd planned over Christmas break cuz she wasn't going to miss one day of all that phenonmenal powder skiing up at Schweitzer.

Annie went snowshoeing yesterday at the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge with Kiwi and her BSU college friend Kristy. Apparently, she didn't see any signs, forbidding travel by snowshoe---must be that restriction is only reserved for old ladies and golf carts. Quit being nasty Marianne---this is Christmas. Even the Feds who come up with strange rules deserve a little nice right now.

Anyway, Annie said it was kinda crusty up there, so it wasn't the best snowshoeing, but she had a good visit with an old friend.

I went north to Bonners Ferry yesterday too. I attended Mass at St. Ann's. The Mass was interspersed with a lot of blessings bestowed upon a couple who had gotten married somewhere else. There were enough blessings that yesterday's Mass could have been the wedding. It was a nice service, but leave it to this C and E Catholic.

The one time I miss staying home from Mass and actually go do my Catholic duty, my really good Catholic friend Mike Flaim and his wife Monica (a former student and fellow horse lover) stopped by for a visit.

I missed 'em completely, but Annie got to see them. They're home for the Christmas holiday from Amsterdam where they've been living for four years, and they were headed to Western Pleasure Guest Ranch yesterday, where they were sure to have the most exquisite of sleigh rides through this abundant snow.

At least they got to see the Lovestead, and I did visit briefly with Mike over the phone the day after they had arrived in Sandpoint. Mike taught with me at Sandpoint High School, and we did a nice job of being class clowns at faculty meetings. Most of the time we got away with our back-and-forth facial routines as the administrators droned on about tardy policies and copy paper usage.

Well, back to the snow. It brought our neighbor Gary Finney down for a visit last night. He came and plowed part of our driveway. I knew he had a motive. I gave him Christmas cookies last year. About two weeks ago, he stopped Bill at Co-Op Country Store and said, "I'll bet Marianne's baking those Christmas cookies about now." Bill had to tell him no, that Christmas cards were on that week's agenda and the cookies would come later.

Gary must've done some ciphering, and being the meticulous lawyer he is, Gary was dead on. I had just finished filling the cookie platters for the neighbors when I heard the dogs barking. I looked out, and there he was plowing out near the mailbox. It took only one hand gesture for that New Holland to rev up its engine and roll on into the driveway.

Soon Gary was inside the house sitting on the couch, munching the free-for-all stack of cookies and sipping on Russian tea. We had a great time talking about history and old things----no, we didn't talk about us. The old things were actual things, like Guy Hesselgesser's chaps that he bought off from a guy at a gun show. Guy was an old cowboy, often seen riding his horses around downtown Sandpoint. He could be considered one of the icons of Old Sandpoint, in fact.

We also talked about my dad Harold's bat-wing leather chaps, which he sold to Lorraine Bowman for $50 several years ago. We were horrified at the time to think that he would sell them, let alone so cheaply.

Gary said he was gonna find out if those chaps are anywhere in the Bowman family possessions, buy 'em off from them, hang them in his house with all his other old saddles and chaps, and then invite me down to look at them.

I said I might just get to the Bowmans first, cuz it sure would be nice to have those back in the family. Harold wore those chaps when he rode the range in Montana's Madison Valley back in the 1930s. He even convinced my mother one time that it got so cold over there at the Millard Easter ranch that he wore the chaps to bed to stay warm. She believed him for a long time until she caught him grinning one time.

We enjoyed our visit with Gary, and he seemed delighted that the Christmas cookie tray was all ready for him to take home and sample. He said he might have to come over to the bonfire tomorrow night and take a look at Kevin cuz he hasn't seen my brother since high school. And, us being old things, that was a long time ago when winters were about like this one.

It's been piling up, and we don't need to sing Bing to get the nostalgia we want this year. I envision plenty of snow forts and snowmen along with the festivities over the next couple of days.

If your Christmas isn't white, may it be bright, peaceful and filled with family and/or friendly fun.