We are packing today for our trip. Rich dug out my bike so that I could have it to ride on the beach. It is beautiful out again today and some of the snow is melting, the roads are already a mess. It is 34 degrees and it feels almost tropical!

It was such a beautiful day today and the snow was melting. I tried to talk the cats into going out but Camie was resisting. I carried her out and she was fine with that. I put my hand on the black grill and it felt warm so I put her on it. She stood there turning around to look and take in all the sites and sounds. Then, she sat for about 5 minutes and then jumped down, got her paws wet and stood by the door wanting back inside.

Here's one more picture that showed up in my reminiscing of days gone by beach trips. This is Sierra at 6 weeks old on her first trip to Corpus Christi. This just happens to be her first documented smile. The date was 2/22/87.

Today, Rich decided that he needed to go with us on our little get away. So, I found a photo of him in the same year as the previous photo of Kristin and G'ma. Here they are in front of our trailer on Bird Island in Corpus Christi - February of 1987.

Over the last week, Mother and I have been planning a little get away to Corpus Christi. We used to go there every year for a 2 week vacation when the girls were little. Anyway, we were reminiscing about being on the beach and we talked about this photo so I decided to dig it out and take a look. This was on 2/15/1987; Kristin was 27 months old and Sierra was 6 weeks old. This was our first Ford vehicle, a F150. Funny thing is that next week we will return to Corpus Christi after an absence of 8 years in a newer version of a red F150!

This will teach me that I need to always have my "good" camera with me. On the way home today, I saw this bald eagle and it's mate waiting in the trees. There was a road kill deer in the ditch. I stopped to watch for a little bit and saw that several crows were trying to chase the eagles away. The eagles were over twice the size of the crows!

I don't know what else to say about the snow. Here we are at 62 inches. We were forecast to get 6-12 inches last night but for once it missed us and stayed to the south.

My new favorite winter sport! It's like BMX on skis. It's been a favorite at the Winter X Games for extreme action sports — and it's superfast, supercharged and superdangerous. The skiers come out of the gates four at a time, competing for space on the narrow, twisty half-mile course and jockeying for position. They finish in about 50 seconds and get up to speeds of 50 mph, with lots of twists and turns and bumps and jumps along the way. Melissa Block/NPR

Mother sent me this photo of the recent damage to her dock. Wind an ice is a dangerous combination! It really doesn't look too bad until you try to walk on it. Looks like we will have some work to do this summer when the water gets warm.

As you can see, it is snowing again! Charlie insists on staying out in it for a little while, I think it is the husky in him. He stays inside all day so we let him stay out if it is not too cold. On the weather at noon today, they said we are at 58.5 inches of snow now and it's the 5th snowiest of all years recorded. It continued to snow the rest of the day so we'll see what we our total is tomorrow.

Camie loves to try and catch you as you walk down the stairs. She waits under the cedar chest and jumps when you least expect it.

WOW! Miss Kittie actually wanted to go outside this afternoon. She was out for about an hour. Afterwards, she settled in on my laptop bag with the look of "Don't even try to make me move!"

Today, the sun is shining. We are officially at 57.5 inches of snow since our first snowfall on October 8. We have had at least 5 inches of snow on the ground for a total of 70 days. Anytime the wind blows, the drifts appear on the road. The plow was by sometime today and already the drift is growing again.

When we are in Indianapolis, we like to go eat at the Bagel Deli in Broad Ripple. They have an endless menu of bagel sandwiches. Here's Sierra eating her "High Maintenance". Rich and I had "Tape Your Ankles". Tyler had "Morning Mess". Adam had "Wild Honey Pie". Kristin had a BLT with avocado.

These are the flowers Adam gave Sierra for Valentine's Day. He also gave me a tulip that I put in with her roses. Wasn't that sweet of him?

We went to Cirque du Soleil this afternoon in Indianapolis. The tickets were a Christmas gift to Kristin, Tyler, Sierra, and Adam from us. The show was "Alegria" which is described as a baroque ode to the energy and power of youth. These are the nostalgic old birds. As always, the show was fantastic!

This orchid is in full bloom in my office at work. It has 10 blooms on one stalk.

THIS, my friends, is $100 worth of firewood. Really? Maybe some of it is hidden in the drift. I heard on the news today that we have had at least 5" of snow on the ground for a total of 65 days so far this winter.

Today's visitor at the feeder was a Downy woodpecker. The sun was out today for the first time in quite a while. Some of the ice on the paved roads was actually melting.

The animals continue to sleep our long, cold winter away. Today, we are officially at 52.1 inches of snow. Charlie always cracks me up when he sleeps like this, I have to take a pic of him!

This is sounding like a broken record. It snowed all day today and is supposed to continue through tomorrow. The wind is supposed to start gusting tomorrow morning about 9AM - blizzard warnings again!

The Who performed during Superbowl 44 tonight. The New Orleans Saints won for the first time in franchise history.

Since we have so much snow, the birds appreciate the feeders that I have out behind the house. This House Finch spent quite a lot of time getting his fill of sunflower seeds this afternoon.

Today, I worked at Walgreens providing free blood glucose testing to anyone who came in the store. Diabetes awareness was the topic of Oprah's show yesterday and she encouraged everyone to be tested. Walgreens hosted the event at 8,000+ stores in the next 2 weeks.

Chase was barking at something under the pine tree this evening. I went out to investigate and found a possum doing what possums do best - playing possum!

After dinner last night, Charlie got loose and was gone for only 2 1/2 hours. When he came back, he was glassy eyed, tired, and covered with frozen ice clusters. After drying him with a towel, he headed upstairs and jumped into bed. Here's Thule and Charlie playing tug of war last weekend.

This evening, we had dinner with the Allen family. They are BMX friends that moved from here to Phoenix a couple of years ago. They were in town for a funeral. The boys have grown quite a bit since we saw them a year ago in Arizona. From left to right: Susie, Troy, Dalton, Vincent, Austin, and Tyler.

Here we go yet again! I'm pretty sure that the forecast was for flurries, maybe some drizzle. Instead, It started snowing about 1:30 PM and by the time I got home there was at least 2 inches of new snow. By rush hour, the accidents began on I-35 north of town.