Snowed in over Christmas!

As I write this, snow is falling outside. That has been the case, off and on, for the last 48 hours. Although today for at least ten or so hours we had a break. I don't think that it's supposed to snow much longer, the system is moving on out, as I understand.

Jenny and I came down to Mom and Dad's on Christmas Eve, since they were forecasting a lot of snow and wind, and the blizzard conditions virtually guaranteed that we weren't going to be able to come down on Christmas Day, as we had planned. So we came down in Dad's pickup, with the gifts and our quickly packed suitcase in the back.

Christmas morning dawned in a perfect blizzard. Peter's decided after a quick evaluation that there was no way they could make the trip from Beaver Crossing out to us, and Matt's and Dave's were down in Lincoln since they had to plow snow Saturday morning, and had been afraid to stay home, they didn't think they would be able to get out. They were right, if they had stayed home they still would be there, two days later. We had an unusual Christmas... It's a nice feeling to be inside on Christmas with snow falling outside, it's even okay to be snowed in as long as the family is there. Unfortunately, they weren't and so it felt a little lonely compared to what had been planned. We spent the day playing games and deciding which pies to eat and which to save for Sunday, when we hope the rest of the family can join us.

Saturday morning, Dad, David, and I went out to try to get to town and push snow. We made it about a mile and a half before turning back. The tractor and loader got us through a drift or two, but they weren't very bad drifts (comparatively) and we decided it wasn't worth trying to go further, since it was still blowing snow. David and I went over to Matts (by taking a tractor and shortcutting through the field for a mile or so) and did his chores. They have a really nice eight foot drift over their garden that I know Zerrick will really have fun with. I would guess you'll see pictures of it on Amy's blog soon. We came home and had lunch, and then worked at getting the snow out of the drive. After a while, we decided to try again and see if we could get to any place the snowplow had gone. We got the pickup stuck, dug it out, and decided once again to turn back, when we reached a drift four feet deep, fifteen feet long, and hard as a brick. We heard that the snowplow got stuck on Jenny and I's road, and broke his blade getting out.

Church has been cancelled for tomorrow, as of now no one has managed to even get to the church to try to plow it out. All the county graders are being used strictly to help the power company get to downed lines to fix them. That and other emergencies. We don't know when they'll get to actually trying to clear roads for all of us without emergencies, but they'll do it when they can, I guess.

We planned to leave for Wisconsin today, but that is totally out of the question. Even if we could get to the interstate, it is closed, as are all the major highways. They should be open soon though. We hope to leave Monday, but we don't even know for sure that we'll get out of Mom and Dad's before then. I guess we don't have a lot of choices, so we'll try to enjoy ourselves!

In the back yard here at Dad's is one of the largest drifts I ever remember seeing. David took a shovel and dug into it's side and determined that it's 9' 4 1/2" deep. To see a picture of that, you can click here.

I'll put my slideshow above right to show the Christmas pictures I have, and that should grow as we get more pictures here in Nebraska, and then in Wisconsin.

~GB

I think I'll stick with something substantive

As you all know, it simply doesn't do to not have the best in social networking. So being interested in having the best in social networking I thought that I should check it out. After all, the best in social networking is not anything at which to sneer. Nor should one who wishes to appear up on technology ignore the best in social networking. So after the bandwagon had traversed most of the streets in town and was receding off into the sunset, I hurriedly crawled over the tail gate to explore the glories of the best in social networking.

E'er I go further, may I make something clear? I don't really care if any of you enjoy Facebook. I'm even happy if you find something worthwhile in it. And if you do, please don't take offense at my lack of rapport in its networking capabilities. I don't mean to offend those who use Facebook, if they happen to read my blog, and I hope that they will allow me the courtesy of expressing and holding my own opinions.

Frankly, the best in social networking (if I may jestingly use that description) left me with much to be desired. First, on a technical level I thought the site was poorly designed and it had an annoying habit of telling me that "they're sorry, but what I'm trying to do right now just doesn't work right now, and it probably will later." So I admit to prejudice against it purely on that level. After all, in my opinion the best in social networking should be capable of handling simple web queries.

On a deeper level however, (or perhaps a more shallow one) I wasn't impressed with the content. It seems to work fine for the casual back and forth banter of general friendship, but one always must remember that everything posted will be up for anyone to see.... I don't see the wisdom in that. In contrast, I can carefully monitor who reads my blog if I choose. I can also totally control the content of anyone who posts anything on it. Not so with Facebook.

I guess the chat feature would be something usable, but I just don't need it, having another advanced system by which I chat with my friends. Nor did I need the little message center (which usually wouldn't load correctly), when I have e-mail which handles things much better. So frankly, I couldn't, and can't see the reasons for using the best in social networking. And I came to realize after a short time that the best in social networking, may not actually live up to that name. In fact, if this were an allegory it would receive a much different name from me. Perhaps you Facebook junkies will be tempted to think that I only created an account so that I would have a legitimate excuse for ripping it on my blog. You'd be wrong on that. I actually thought it might be something interesting and/or useful. It didn't work for me on either level.

My status with it right now? I tried to deactivate the account but so far have had a noticeable lack of success. Mainly due to the fact that the site isn't loading correctly.... Hmmm, it's about par for the course. (blame my computer if you like, but it works fine on every other site I visit...)

Well, that's my Facebook experience! I'm sure a good share of you differ with me, but we can disagree and be friends, right?
~GB

Christmas letter frustration

Has anyone had this ever happen? You sit down to write a Christmas letter, tell everyone how you are etc. (you know along the lines of "Junior is graduating at the top of his class, and well, it's almost embarrassing how many compliments we get on our younger childrens beautiful behavior and manners.....") That sort of thing. And you end up with this....

Dear Family and Friends,

Having never written a Christmas letter before, you will all be asked to bear with us as we make this first attempt.

Here’s a brief run-down of our year.

To kick things off, we hurriedly finished wedding plans, which my very organized wife managed to pull off flawlessly.

Following our wedding on Valentines day, we honeymooned on the north shore of lake Superior in Minnesota, at a bed and breakfast.

Then we came home.

Trip to Idaho

Went to Maryland

Then Wisconsin

And Colorado

Just about ready to go to Wisconsin

Then it should be next year.

P.S. Merry Christmas!

.....Maybe I'll keep working on it.

~GB

Hi everybody!
We have had such a beautiful snowstorm, and now I have something inspiring to write about :) We've gotten lots of snow in the last few days, as you can see from the pictures. Last evening, the wind began to blow quite blusteringly and by this morning, we were really, and truly, snowed in. We still are actually :) I am enjoying it very much. This morning we went outside, and while Gabe shoveled snow, I took pictures and admired the drifts that grew during the night. It is still rather blustery and cold outside, and the sun is shining brightly... a beautiful day in Nebraska!
Yesterday Gabe and I braved the elements and made a quick trip to Seward and while we were there got a whole stack of books from the library. So that should help keep us occupied as we enjoy our snowed in state.
Also, I have been enjoying Christmas music and Christmas decorations, and tomorrow we Burkey ladies are going to have our Christmas cookie day...
I hope you all have wonderful day.... I'm planning to!

Thanksgiving in Colorado

Jenny and I got back from our trip on Tuesday morning at about 4:30 am. For those of you who don't know, we took the train to Colorado for Thanksgiving. We went out on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and stayed through the weekend. We had a very enjoyable time with Hans and Mandy, as well as Richards and Carlins.

Some of our activities included picture taking....

Sightseeing.....
Tractor pulling.....
Clay pigeon shooting.....
And of course, train riding......
We did have a good time, and if you'd like to see more pictures, just go here to go to my picasa, or watch them on my embedded slide show (as soon as I get it changed)! If this gets comments, maybe Jenny will be inspired to post.....

~GB