Avalanches

One thing that is unique to living near a ski resort is that the sound of explosions at 7 AM on a winter day does not set the lights on the 911 switchboard flashing. I was sitting here blogging, listening to the "boom! boom!" of the explosions up on the ski hill, and realized how infrequently I am even aware of them. It's avalanche control. The ski patrol guys are up there setting off charges to start avalanches, so that a wayward skier doesn't. With all the snow we had over the weekend, there are probably lots of potential avalanches up there. "Up there" is only about 6 miles as the crow flies from my house. The base of the ski hill is 7 driving miles away. The resort village is another few miles up the hill, a drive that takes about 20 minutes. So, when they set off the explosions, it's pretty loud here. The TV is on (big gas leak in NYC apparently, making everyone sick and scared), but the explosions are easy to hear - and feel. The windows are rattling.

We interrupt this program..... the cat from across the street just dashed across my deck, obviously after something. I went to the door to see what it was after, but couldn't see him. I sat back down, and suddenly there is the cat, at my sliding glass door, a bird in his mouth. I guess he wants to show me what a great hunter he is. I love cats, but I hate to see them eat birds. This poor bird was just hopping along, minding his own business, and now he's cat food. I opened the door to try to scare the cat into dropping the still alive bird. No dice. The cat just ran off, the bird's wings flapping madly, clenching the bird in his teeth. That cat is one helluva hunter. All summer long he leaves mouse carcasses in our yard, on our deck, and in the flower beds. I'm glad he catches mice, but I am not so fond of the bird catching. He has gotten more than few baby birds, and it makes me really sad.

Kaboom! Kaboom! It's going to be a great day for skiing. It's sunny and there is probably a foot of new powder. Click here to check out the live web cams (the lens on the first one on the page has snow on it, but the other two have great shots!)