30 degrees and dropping

The flight to Salt Lake City was off on time and an hour and 40 minutes we landed on a clear, snowy day. I made the next flight, too; it's always dicey flying standby. We sat on the tarmac awaiting out place in line and I looked out the window at the beautiful snow-covered mountains; even took a picture but can't put it up until I get back to the trusty MacLap. When we were about to take off for Bozeman from Salt Lake City the pilot came on the PA system to announce local time, flight conditions ("It may be a little bumpy"), and the weather in Bozeman: "It's 18 degrees and clear." I didn't even know there was something called "18 degrees." By the time the plane landed, however, it had soared to 27 degrees. It's quit a surprise when you step out of the airport into the cold, sharp air. But the sky was blue, and if you stood still long enough, even a little warm. The only mishap was that my luggage took a side trip to Billings. We were promised it would return to Bozeman last evening and we could pick it up this morning, which we did.

Cait provided me with several layers of fleece and we took Ike, now a strapping 8-months old, for a bracing walk through fields covered with patchy snow and tall winter grasses. It looks very different at this time of year. In the summer it's a thousand shades of green; now it's a thousand shades of brown and white. Last evening some of Cait's neighbors came by for an election celebratory toast; Gallatin County went solidly blue this election, and the governor of Montana, also a Democrat, won reelection by a wide margin even though the state went red for McCain.

Last night's light snowfall turned into rain so it's wet and cold this morning. We went for another long walk, this time under grey skies. Tonight we are going to dinner at a local tapas restaurant for yet more election celebration. I am really glad it's all over though. I can't take much more of this celebration stuff and can once again sleep through the night without waking at 2 AM obsessing about "what if he loses?"

73 days until 1/20/2009: End of an Error