Frozen . . . the Selle 'hood

It was a day of concession-stand popcorn, Costco samples, old friends in the grocery crowd, savory iced mocha lattes, delicious chili, no onions for the inexpensive but yummy Polish sausage sandwiches,  a Zags victory, a Lady Bulldog loss, early-evening candlelight, Christmas gifts and brilliant sunshine in the bitter cold.

Happily, the strong winds that had been predicted blew some other direction.  

So, we have survived the introductory hours of this temporary frigid zone and have thrived from a day of beauty and good times.

For a while last evening, I wondered, though, and worried.  

I worried especially for two hours about those automatic waterers in the pasture and the barn, which are kept running and filled with water rather than ice from electric heat.  

Would they survive the two-hour power outage that extended from our neighborhood clear up the Rapid Lightning Creek Road.  

My sister, who had electricity,  and I joked about how this time it was cold enough that we needn't worry about our refrigerator and freezer food going bad----unlike this past summer when damaging winds did find their way here several times causing days electrical outages. 

Well, yes, the food would still be fine if the power outage lasted for any considerable time, but the waterers could have some major and messy problems if their inner workings froze.  
Happily, just like the welcome absence of strong winds, the Northern Lights, Inc. heroes of our utility world braved the weather and restored the power in time for some of our neighbors---who didn't have sisters with electricity and TV's---to watch the ZAGS game. 

While waiting and wondering, though, we lived through reminders of the olden days when life was not quite so cushy.  Bill brought home "survival candles" on his way home from work. We lit the candles,  and switched on the lantern for a while before going to my sisters' for "chili" and to watch the game. 

Cell phones continued to work, so the neighbors kept in touch about the outage and cheered in cyberspace when the power came back on. 

So far, we've managed to stay ahead of the major problems that occur with this type of weather and have actually enjoyed it, for the most part----mainly due to the delicious eye candy these clear, crisp, cold days offer.

A highlight of coming home from Coeur d'Alene yesterday was prepping Swiss Miss for the sight she was gonna see when we crossed "that bridge."  It did not disappoint. 

Swiss Miss (who, I've learned, has wonderful grandparents) has been wishing for snow while the rest of us would be just as happy without it.  

Well, her wish came true when she arrived back in Sandpoint on Sunday night, and yesterday she received the "frosting on the North Idaho mountains" when we did cross that bridge. 

Seemingly frozen whitecaps contrasted with the deep turquoise lake water and vied for attention in the foreground while soft pink hues of snow-capped Cabinet mountains and the Selkirks superseded any show the water could offer. 

The combination was beyond breath-taking, and this old codger, who's lived here forever, was probably just as taken as Swiss Miss was with the 360-degree show of natural beauty. 

Yup, it's cold outside for bodies that like to stay warm but incomparable for eyes that joyously behold the boundless and priceless silver linings of these extreme weather conditions.  

Happy Tuesday.   Stay warm.