Blizzard Barbecue 2013

It is our first blizzard of the winter, and of course that means it's time for a blizzard barbecue.

We have been trying to bring our weight down, ergo we have not been eating a lot of red meat, so of course today was the perfect excuse to cook up some ribeyes.

 We had to shovel a path to the grill before we could start cooking.

Here is Kathy, knee-deep in snow, taking a picture of me cooking in the snow.

 And here I am taking a picture of her taking a picture of me!

It was great fun and should be great eating. May one say bon appétit to oneself? Well, in any case, itadakimasu!

 

This has become a tradition when we have a blizzard. Here are some past pictures.

Blizzard February 2012

At the beginning of the week, Colorado meteorologists began to warn us of an impending snowstorm of historic proportions.

 It seems the greatest recorded snowfall for February in Colorado was 22 inches in 1912.

 They were predicting between 15 and 22 inches for one 36-hour period.

It came in Thursday evening. I must say CDOT (Colorado Department of Transportation) and our City did a satisfactory job of keeping the roads open in difficult conditions.

 There was a short  hiatus Friday midday, and we wondered (hopefully) if the weather folks had been wrong again, but alas...Good for making snow angels, though.

 It piled pretty high on our front lawn. Here's Pam modeling. Official total for us was 20 inches.

Clearing a path to the porch. These snow walls remind me of what we read in Exodus this morning, i.e. the walls of water rising up on either side of the Israelites as they fled through the Sea of Reeds (aka the Red Sea) before Pharaoh and his chariots.

 For those who think we live in a frigid climate, we do not!

 It was cold for a day or so, but this morning dawned bright and clear. The sun was out, the temperature was in the upper 30's, the humidity was low, and the snow was melting. Balmy!

Pam captured me "prancing" out to get the snow shovel.

And of course, we had to illustrate that in Colorado, we barbecue year round. Our 2012 Blizzard barbecue picture.

Previous Blizzard barbecues here.

Thanks to niece Pam for the most excellent photos.

First Blizzard 2009

Some may argue my characterization of our recent weather phenomenon as a blizzard, but at the very least it was our first heavy snowstorm. It blew in yesterday, lasted the better part of two days, and left a couple feet of snow behind. Here's the front of the house.

I had to dust a little snow off my car.

Trudging through the Great, White North (actually, it's just our backyard).

That evergreen tree was about her height when we moved in.

Clearing the way to the barbecue.

Preparing for the barbecue.

Gotta love Colorado. You can barbecue year round. When we first moved to Colorado, I marveled at people in their shorts in the winter. As our daughter says, I have completely acclimatized. (For my "steak recipe," check out her blog here.)

Many schools and businesses closed yesterday and today, along with large stretches of interstates 25 and 70. Most Denverites chose to stay inside and enjoy the warmth of their homes. Our Nuggets managed to play their season opener at the Pepsi Center last night and prevailed over the Utah Jazz for their first victory of the newborn NBA season.

Mi-ke (pronounced Mee-kay, Japanese for calico) thought she wanted to go outside but soon changed her mind.

 

Winter in Colorado

Thursday we had a snowstorm here in Denver, and it got me thinking about how many people seem to think Colorado weather means snow every other day and low, cold temperatures throughout the winter. Nothing could be further from the truth. We get more sunshine than almost any other city. The first year we were here, in February, there was snow one day—sunshine and 80 degrees the next!

The great thing about the snow here is that one day it snows, and usually within the next day or so, it's gone. It's true, Thursday was pretty dreary, with snow coming down sideways most of the day. Offices were closed; school was cancelled; and traffic was abysmal; but you could count the number of days of snow this winter on both hands. Despite the mini-blizzard on Thursday, this has been a very mild winter, and we can use the moisture that the snow brought.

The first year we were here, I was shocked that people were out and about in shorts in the middle of winter. In Ohio, where I come from, there's no way you go running around outside in freezing temperatures in shorts, let alone bare feet. You can here, however. Our climate is classified as semi-arid, high plains desert. The dryness keeps the temperatures from feeling extremely hot or extremely cold, making this a very pleasant place to live (don't tell anybody—we're trying to keep it a secret).

The picture above shows me clearing a path to the barbecue. The following picture shows me clearing the back porch after a bigger blizzard a few years ago.

The chef has successfully reached the barbecue.

The chef preparing to begin his wintertime barbecue after a storm a few years ago.

When we moved to Canada for a two-year tour of duty, some wag told us there were two seasons, winter and July! I would describe our Colorado weather as follows:

Temperate, with over 300 days of sunshine, some scattered snowstorms and the occasional blizzard.
 

All in all, a great place to visit, and we do love living here.