Viva Las Vegas!

Headed south last week for a much-needed break from work and weather. Given the particularly nasty winter we've had, even here in The South, the warm nights and bright lights of Las Vegas beckoned.

We also took advantage of some tips from a good friend, and made good use of the Caesar's Total Rewards program to nab some great deals on rooms. Not only did we get several nights "comped" (free) in Vegas, we also got a comped room in Windsor the night before our flight, putting us closer to the border and Detroit airport for morning takeoff. Sounds too good to be true, but in reality, they would rather have two potential customers in their establishment than a room sitting empty.

I must also highly recommend Southwest Airlines - good rates, bags fly free, decent legroom, direct flight from Detroit, and fun and friendly staff (similar to Westjet). There is no assigned seating, so you board in the order you checked in (starting 24 hours before your flight) and choose any seat, rewarding those of us that tend to be early anyway. It also helps that Jane's peanut allergy qualifies her as "disabled", as they still serve peanuts for snacks on US flights.....which means she boards in the first group anyway, along with one "caretaker", namely ME!

I must also acknowledge the unintentional irony that we flew Southwest to indeed fly.....southwest. Humour for the birds, no doubt.

Free room at Caesar's Windsor

Gateway to Adventure

Departures!

Above the clouds

The River Below

Touching down in Nevada

Winter Collage

Been a while since I've updated things.....though sadly not much exciting to add. We're pretty much hunkered down for winter here. Most days hunkered down in one room, which is easier to keep warm this especially frigid season than the whole house. Very busy with work, consistently spilling over into "my" time.

The least I can offer are some visual stimuli representing the past few months......

Frozen pipes in kitchen meant doing dishes in the tub!

Parking at road means less shovelling but more hiking

Frosty sunrise over Pennywise

Icy willow

A perfectly camouflaged Pennywise

New brewery in St. Jacobs - great beer AND atmosphere!

Kicking the house cats outside on a sunny day

A face only a mother could love....

Earl Grey and Keiko (aka Booty) playing in the snow

Shovelling IN to shovel OUT a stranded cat......

....who shows his appreciation!

Another random arrival, we dub thee Azazel

Putting the "wary" in January

The January blahs continue, with record-breaking low temperatures (at least for this area), and general wintery mayhem. The kitchen sinks have frozen twice, likely more to do with the greywater outlets in the yard outside rather than the house pipes themselves.

Several nasty winter storms have blown through in the past two weeks, bringing crazy winds, drifting and whiteouts, closing major roads including the 401 on several recent occasions. Jane got caught in Tilbury the other night, a mere fifteen minutes from home, yet unable to go any further. The OPP closed the 401 in both directions. The municipality pulled the plows off the roads, leaving the north/south passages like Wheatley Road (Kent Road 1) particularly treacherous. Local police were too busy getting themselves out of ditches and drifts to be much assistance getting others out of ditches and drifts, and were particularly challenged by stranded motorists leaving their vehicles to wander off into the whiteout.

She spent the night sleeping in the Juke in the Tilbury Tim Horton's parking lot, with a host of other stranded travellers, including the plow drivers and the police. Well, they were in their OWN vehicles, or so I was told.

Pennywise was similarly drifted in, with only a small channel along his fence-line that didn't even reach the gate/door to the enclosure. As usual though, nothing seems to dampen his spirits, and in spite of it all he is consistently the happiest cat we have ever seen. Made it hard to shovel him out, even once I had managed to  get the door open and shovel my way INSIDE his cage.....he kept rolling around on the shovel!

Beautiful though, in it's own way. You be the judge.

Snow Day for Pennywise

Winter Wonderland

...on the catwalk....do your little turn on the catwalk....

How the indoor cats cope with the cold

The Return of Winter

The snows returned on New Year's Eve day, and by the dawning of 2014 we were once again white. Well, somewhat. As is typical down here, the fluffy stuff gets unevenly deposited amidst the raging winds.....and then re-distributed every few hours thereafter. We end up with bare grass in some places, and waist-high drifts in others.

I know, stop complaining.....say our friends who suffer through waist-high or worse snow EVERYWHERE. Not complaining, merely reporting the facts.   :)

Shovelled out Pennywise, whose pen was not only fully drifted but whose house was also somewhat affected. We decided to heap snow over one end and totally block off that exit, all the better to keep prying winds out and body heat in.

Very pretty, especially with today's sunshine. Reminds me of rippling seas or undulating sand dunes when you watch the drifts literally move over the span of a few minutes. A better photographer than I might attempt to capture some form of time lapse magic.    

Windswept winter wheat

X-Files: Shadowy Men from the Lowest Levels of Government

If you get my drift....

Juke can't park here!

New Game - generally played from the kitchen window - Where's Pennywise?

Festive Travails, er, Travels

Some random pics of our recent holiday travels, including some good old fashioned winter-type stuff in parts North. Brought back many a memory of childhood in the snowy hills. Very hectic schedule but great to see friends and family for the holidays!

This year, Santa also brought UFC 168 for Coxmas, streamed direct from the Norht Pole to John and Julie's 106" big screen. Maybe Anderson Silva will get a new leg next year if he's good, and Miesha Tate will likely once again ask for a Defence Against Dark Armbars textbook.

Arrived home after ten days away to mild temperatures, green-ish grass, and most importantly, eleven furry people accounted for.

UP NORTH

COXMAS

DOWN SOUTH

Winter Comes to Wheatley

Got home yesterday from Guelph, where I had spent several days in the grip of Winter. Luckily the drive home was merciful, and arrived to relatively spring-like conditions of no snow and temperatures just below zero. Today however, winter arrived here in earnest, as it did in most of Ontario.

Not a ton of accumulation, but certainly lots of drifting given the usual Winds of Wheatley. Had to shovel out Pennywise in his outdoor cage, and actually heaped the snow around him to insulate and also to cut the wind and drifting....a little trick I learned in my many years Up North. Also hooked him up with a new heated water bowl (thanks Cindy!), which will hopefully keep his water in liquid form throughout the winter.

Also parked the Juke out at the road so that we can leave tomorrow without shovelling out a LONG driveway.

Heaping snow for insulation

Mmmmmm, heated water bowl!

Pennywise the Content

One happy boy

Out with the old....

...and in with the NEW!

Hot water heater started leaking recently. More concerning than usual when it's in your UPSTAIRS bedroom closet.

Thought of going with tankless in-line replacement, then realized the considerable cost and poor timing of having to shut off and upgrade hydro in mid-December to install. Maybe later. For now, just replaced with smaller and newer version.