it's snow o'clock somewhere!

The important part is that I can see snow from my house.



Snow in the Catalinas.

 So it's cold today, but we're making it through.  Luckily, our archaeologist friend Jen prepared some flotation samples for us for Christmas this year, although it wasn't exactly a score for altruism.  Many years ago, Jen, Raphael, and I worked together doing contract archaeology for the same Tucson firm. One day, Raphael came in from the field and presented Jen with a plastic bag innocently full of what appeared to be powdered cocoa. 

Christmas flot samples.

"It's instant hot chocolate," he assured her, smiling sincerely.  Jen, who apparently hadn't paid a lick of attention over the past few years and therefore still didn't understand what Raphael was capable of, stuck her finger in the bag, tasted the contents, immediately gagged, and has yet to forgive or forget.   

It was, of course, a bag of brown silt collected from the field.  

Well, I'm happy to report that Jen's flot samples really contain powdered cocoa.  I'm having some now and it's keeping me warm as I watch the snow in the distance.