Snow is better than ice.

Remember how I said how beautiful it was that first day and how much people were commenting on how nice it was?

Well, that's all over with now.

The temperature rose to just above freezing, the sun is permanently hidden behind clouds and because of that all the snow is melting. It's good weather for making a snowman, but it's also atrocious weather for driving in. Or walking out of the front of your cabin on. Or cross-country skiing, which we were going to try. Oh well.

I also forgot to mention that even though the pipes inside our cabin are all winterized, the pipes leading from the main line to the house froze, since they're apparently not buried deep enough. This means my family has no running water. Yeah. Flushing the toilet before consulting everyone else has become a federal offense. Brushing teeth with a glass of water has become a luxury. It's like a Christmas in the JU dorms, really. The side benefit is it gives me an excuse to log onto to the Win98 megamachine to check mail and such. This is not much comfort.

The rest of my cousins make it up here today. This is the part I'm looking forward to the most, seeing everyone at Christmas, exchanging gifts, all of that good stuff. It helps that there will be a veritable feast here. It hurts that the only physical activity I can engage in is pushups and crunches (of which I've done more than I care to count so far.) I get the feeling it's all downhill after tonight, since the only thing left to look forward to is getting back home. I love my family, but man, a full week with them without the comforts modern humans enjoy is starting to be a bit much.

I haven't even had a drink since I got here. I was on a full-on pace to give myself diabetes and throw my name on the liver transplant list now, but that all seems to have come to a screeching halt. Yet, somehow I have lots of cash in my wallet. Strange how that works, isn't it? I'm sure I can make a causal connection between the two eventually. Just not today.

That's enough rambling from me for today. Hope everyone has a safe Christmas. Stay warm.