To begin: a look back (part 1: winter)

After the crazy ride of 2009, in which we settled in together as newlyweds, bought a house, and had a baby, 2010 seemed pretty quiet, though we did get to spend time with all our far-flung family, some of whom were celebrating major milestones. Most of the action for us centered around the amazing development of Carson's first year (and a bit) of life. Since this blog exists to chronicle his growth and our mundane family happenings, we'll take the opportunity to recap 2010 before jumping into the new year.

JANUARY

Three months old


One of Carson's first rides in the marvelous BOB

Little burrito baby

Early January--enjoying no snow yet!

JANUARY hit us with a bang as Mount Shasta was pummeled by the Great Storm of 2010. Over the course of a week, at least 8 feet of snow fell at our house, most of that in the first 3 days.

"Our deer" looking for food on the first full day of the storm.
Last we'd see of them until May.

Day 3--view from the top of the woodshed,
which we shoveled to prevent collapse

Because it was wet, heavy snow and because temperatures stayed too low for melting, this storm caused tremendous damage throughout the Mt Shasta area. Limbs and trees fell everywhere, and the whole town was without power for several days. Ultimately, southern Siskiyou County was officially declared a natural disaster area.

Our house from the road, Day 3. Burdened trees.

Fallen maple branch blocking garage door

Bubba looking to knock some snow off bent birches

Carson and I huddled by the woodstove for 4 days before the lights went back on here, melting snow for water since the well pump wasn't running either.

Carson really pitched in to help during these tough times

Meanwhile Bubba endlessly shoveled snow to keep open access to the wood shed and to get our cars out of the driveway.

Our front doorstep, day 4

Hey, my car's in there!

That's my car too! Yeah, the lump.

Front yard. Those lumps are crabapple trees.

Front yard. Walkway to garage and woodshed.

We lost one mature birch next to the house and had major damage to a dozen or more fruit trees and other deciduous trees, but were grateful there was no harm to any structures. It was a harsh introduction to what winter looks like in our new home, but it's likely we will never see such severe weather again.

Fallen birch and very bent birch.
All four surviving birches lost large segments of trunk.

Spruce and firs in the front yard.
The conifers came through much better than
the birches, locusts, willows, apples...

With more snow on the way, we got these two hard-working
fellows to partially shovel our roof on day 6. When they were done,
they stepped off into the drift!

Carson, still unperturbed after a week of storming

Just a couple of days before the storm, Bubba rescued a stray kitten from a foreclosed house in the middle of nowhere on the Klamath River. I was not enthusiastic about adding a fourth member to our already complicated feline family, but despite never receiving a real name, "Little Cat" stayed with us for 6 months before meeting an untimely end. More about him to come.

In FEBRUARY we continued to grapple with winter and adjust to my working one day per week (which I started in January). We were blessed to have both of Carson's grandmas make the long trek up to babysit him when both Bubba and I were working. They continued to do this regularly until he turned a year and we finally made other arrangements--what generosity! Carson enjoyed the attention of his grandmas and also the gifts that often arrived with them. This month Grandma Mac brought him a bouncer, which he took to enthusiastically.

A favorite game at this time, called "how big is my mouth?"

Four months old

Daddy loves his boy

We took a couple of trips to the Redding area this month in search of warmer weather and sun.

Off trail mountaineering in the Bob at Clear Creek Gorge

First shoots of baby buckeye

In MARCH we enjoyed a trip to Sonoma County to celebrate my mother's 60th birthday at Cornerstone Gardens.

Carson is a fan of his (soon-to-be) Aunt Sarah

A serious and arty game of ball?

In other news, Carson worked on sitting up and started eating solids--the first spark of a consuming and enduring passion! He was a happy baby and by this point lots of fun to play and laugh with.
Since March is an unequivocally wintry month in Mount Shasta, our other activities consisted of basic survival and keeping a fire going at all times--meaning we don't have exciting photos.

Except this one:Bubba's being mobbed!

To be continued...