And the snow doth keepeth fallingeth

We had ourselves a nice little snowstorm yesterday in Kalamazoo. It was a relatively warm snowstorm, and the result was perfectly frosted trees. Here are some pictures I took of the sidewalk in front of the Fetzer Center and the back patio.

A Post-Birthday Post for a Silly Salamander

Once there was a little boy,
Steve would be his name,
Quiet and subtle though he be,
Sneaky was his game!

Before you knew it, he was gone!
"Where did Steve go now?"
Just wandered off to who knows where...
He was often on the prowl.



But in his highchair, there to eat,
Not getting lost, lands sake!
Tough it was to finish all,
Yet keeping him awake!



And then there were the cigarettes,
He tried taking up one day,
Thought they were a thing to eat,
When he saw them on display!

But what can top the experiment,
In Terre Haute he tried,
When juice he poured with both eyes closed,
Oh, the thought of it makes me sigh!

Both eyes closed, he poured the juice,
To see if he would know,
Just when to stop the pouring,
Before it would overflow!

Ah... such an inquisitive little boy,
And willing partner was he,
To big brother Ben's escapades,
Buddies they'll always be!



And now he has three little ones,
Flesh of flesh, bone of bone,
With wonderfully sweet inquisitive minds,
And "sneakies" of their own!

We celebrate your special day,
Though afterward it be,
And thank our God for you to be,
In our Barnhart family!

Snowbird Practice (now with an update!)

While all of you are laboring through partly cloudy and mid-20s (Muskegon), mostly cloudy and 20% chance of snow (Hancock), and mostly cloudy with 2 mph winds coming out of the SE (Chicago), I'm practicing becoming a snowbird with my friends in sunny Phoenix, Arizona.


We climbed Piestewa Peak (formerly known as Squaw Peak), and here's a view from halfway up the hike. This overlooks downtown Phoenix.


Loren, Kevin, Jesse, and me relaxing on the top of Piestewa Peak.


And, a cactus! They're everywhere. Sadly, we haven't yet seen a rattlesnake or a scorpion. Both were promised.

Update:

I'm back in snowy Minneapolis now. From sunny and 68 to snowy and 25 in one day. It's good to be home.

Here are a few more pictures from a hike we took on Sunday in the McDowell Mountains, just east of Phoenix. Dad, this hike looked out over the Superstition Mountains, which is where the Weaver's Needle is. We were looking for it on our hike, but I didn't know what I was looking for until I saw a picture of it later.