It's Winter In The (Southern) Rockies

I'm not really a cold-weather/snow kinda guy.

I skied as a youth in NM, and in Germany as a GI on leave, too. I ice-skated too, when we lived in Ohio. My pop taught me. He'd been a 'figures skater' (that's what they did: they skated classical figures in the ice, over and over again) as well as an inter-collegiate fencer in college before WW II. I remember the skating rink in the winter in lakewood, where all the kids hung out and flirted and skated after school in my early jr.high (6th/7th grades). I had crushes on Carol Lombardi, Marybeth cohan, and Connie Burke...oh yes, and Madonna Elwell...who, iirc, were the first girls in our grade to grow their breasts. Skating in pairs was the designated style of flirtation, and gave one the opportunity to hold hands and exchange glances with one's 'crush(es)'...I skied pretty regularly between 1962 and 1975. Tweaked a knee, and gave it up.

It has been snowing here (northern New Mexico) for about a month, depending on altitude and latitude--which, I had not noticed until this very moment, are anagrams. There was fresh snow on the ground in Santa Fe Friday, after relatively gentle storms the day before. Snow in all the mountains, from the Black Range and the Gila down south up up to the Arctic, really.

The forecast here for the next day or so is for rain/snow (what they call "wintry mix," like some snack-food at and egg-nogg party--i had low-fat eggnog (mixed with Old Crow) over the holiday and was pleasantly surprised that it was not awful) through the night and tomorrow...Moisture coming in from the south, cold from the north. The first big winter storm; in a La Nina year, it may be the last.

Farther north, around Taos or Chama, and up on the Res, there's talk there could be a couple of feet of snow; mere inches in Abq, and that mostly in the foothills of the Sandias; a little more in Santa Fe, and Los Alamos...
Chilly, though. 39 F now, spitting cold rain/sleet.

I finally lit the gas furnace this afternoon.

I like the smell of the pinon in the fire place. There's a lot of it around because of the drought and the blight that the drought loosed upon them killed pinon trees and bushes in their thousands. Gotta clean the chimney more often cuz of the resins...

In the main, i find it easier to cool off when too hot than to warm up when too cold.