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| Tilting the solar panels down for the winter sun. |
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| Our winter landscape |
Then: November 2010
November 1 and we are ready for winter, with more than an extra cord of wood just in case the rumors of a long, cold one are true. And it is JB's 68th birthday. Just as the last two years, he says he is celebrating it in the best place on earth. I agree.
On the 3rd JB had to go Down There for an AARP insurance seminar. Seems that the government's great Health Insurance Plan has caused his medicare supplement insurance to cancel here in eastern Washington, so now he has to choose another one. Don't get me started. . .
We have discovered that there is pack rat in the wood pile in back of the house. He has made a wonderful little nest by shredding part of one of our tarps covering the wood back there. He has also begun to put in stores for the winter - lots of grass and dry balsam root seed pods. I finally saw him. Just a little thing that looks like a big hamster. Larry asked me why I didn't shoot it! Several reasons - I'd probably miss such a small target. I don't want bullets or buck shot in my fire wood. And the most important reason of all is that I could never shoot something as cute as a hamster. Okay, there's still a bit of my City Mind left. . .
I think I've told this story before, but after a few weeks of tearing the nest apart and it getting rebuilt each time, I took a couple pictures of the pack rat and then we put poison out on the wood stack. If I lived Down There, I probably would have caught him and kept him in a cage as a pet.
During the first couple weeks of the month, we saw a bald eagle soaring above the house with two other smaller birds (young eagles?). We could see the eagle's white tail feathers glistening in the sun. They are so regal. And so deadly. I keep thinking they are eyeing the dogs, but that's why we have ones who weigh more than 35 pounds.
Winter is on it's way. On the 8th our high of the day was 28 with a cold breeze. And that was the day to tilt our solar panels all the way down for the winter sun. We tilt them four times a year so they will be at the right angle to most efficiently catch the sun's rays. In the Spring we will start tilting them up again. Twice down, twice back up. And, thank goodness, they are tilted down for the winter, because we now have a new winter chore - brushing the snow off the panels. It sticks badly enough with them straight up and down. Can't imagine what it would be like if they were tilted up at any angle.
On the 9th we once again filled the trailer with bark and wood chips and drove down to fill the last of the pot holes. It started snowing shortly after we started shoveling the chips. Within ten minutes everything was white. It only took us a little over an hour to do the job as it continued to snow. By the time we took our 4:00 pm walk, we had 2-1/2". We changed the time of our daily walk in mid-October from after dinner to at 4:00 because it was already starting to get dark when it was time to eat.
RJ finally made it up for his last time this year. He came up for dinner on the 11th but had to drive the long way as the short cut was too muddy. Has been cold and foggy the second week of the month, but not long enough to freeze the mud.
We celebrated Thanksgiving with a traditional dinner and long walks. The first snow that did not melt was on the 20th, so white is the color of our landscape for the next several months. I think we were very wise to put in extra fire wood. And I am ready for winter. I love the way the seasons melt into one another up here. There are four distinct ones, and I am always ready for them when they arrive.
Now: August 7, 2011
We found the pack rat in the Spring, all curled up in his nest and mummified. Even the City Girl part of me was sad, but resigned. That's just part of life Up Here. And another part of being Up Here, as I mentioned in "Then", is tilting the panels, which it is time to do again. We will get that done on Monday.
JB was feeling so much better yesterday, that he did the mowing while I did the trimming and weeding. We got the porch re-arranged for the Third Annual Rose Camp Potluck and BBQ which is scheduled for today. I cleaned up the tipi and the outhouse (at least the Flatlander side. The Mountain Folk side is still being used for storage.) Put a sign on the Mountain Folk door that says: "Out of Order. Won't flush."
This morning I will clean house and bake a blueberry coffee cake, and JB will prep the food after he cooks our Sunday breakfast. The BBQ begins at 1:00 pm, so we have plenty of time to get ready, although I'm sure once we get going it will seem like we don't have any time at all. Our "206'er" neighbors have come up to their place for the weekend. RJ and Mike arrived last night. Everyone else is local.
It is very interesting that most of the people we have met who live or own property Up Here are on the same wave length. Real people, living real, practical lives, with no facades or pretense. Independent people with a propensity for the simple life. People who feel an attachment to the natural world and all its wonders.
November 1 and we are ready for winter, with more than an extra cord of wood just in case the rumors of a long, cold one are true. And it is JB's 68th birthday. Just as the last two years, he says he is celebrating it in the best place on earth. I agree.
On the 3rd JB had to go Down There for an AARP insurance seminar. Seems that the government's great Health Insurance Plan has caused his medicare supplement insurance to cancel here in eastern Washington, so now he has to choose another one. Don't get me started. . .
We have discovered that there is pack rat in the wood pile in back of the house. He has made a wonderful little nest by shredding part of one of our tarps covering the wood back there. He has also begun to put in stores for the winter - lots of grass and dry balsam root seed pods. I finally saw him. Just a little thing that looks like a big hamster. Larry asked me why I didn't shoot it! Several reasons - I'd probably miss such a small target. I don't want bullets or buck shot in my fire wood. And the most important reason of all is that I could never shoot something as cute as a hamster. Okay, there's still a bit of my City Mind left. . .
I think I've told this story before, but after a few weeks of tearing the nest apart and it getting rebuilt each time, I took a couple pictures of the pack rat and then we put poison out on the wood stack. If I lived Down There, I probably would have caught him and kept him in a cage as a pet.
During the first couple weeks of the month, we saw a bald eagle soaring above the house with two other smaller birds (young eagles?). We could see the eagle's white tail feathers glistening in the sun. They are so regal. And so deadly. I keep thinking they are eyeing the dogs, but that's why we have ones who weigh more than 35 pounds.
Winter is on it's way. On the 8th our high of the day was 28 with a cold breeze. And that was the day to tilt our solar panels all the way down for the winter sun. We tilt them four times a year so they will be at the right angle to most efficiently catch the sun's rays. In the Spring we will start tilting them up again. Twice down, twice back up. And, thank goodness, they are tilted down for the winter, because we now have a new winter chore - brushing the snow off the panels. It sticks badly enough with them straight up and down. Can't imagine what it would be like if they were tilted up at any angle.
On the 9th we once again filled the trailer with bark and wood chips and drove down to fill the last of the pot holes. It started snowing shortly after we started shoveling the chips. Within ten minutes everything was white. It only took us a little over an hour to do the job as it continued to snow. By the time we took our 4:00 pm walk, we had 2-1/2". We changed the time of our daily walk in mid-October from after dinner to at 4:00 because it was already starting to get dark when it was time to eat.
RJ finally made it up for his last time this year. He came up for dinner on the 11th but had to drive the long way as the short cut was too muddy. Has been cold and foggy the second week of the month, but not long enough to freeze the mud.
We celebrated Thanksgiving with a traditional dinner and long walks. The first snow that did not melt was on the 20th, so white is the color of our landscape for the next several months. I think we were very wise to put in extra fire wood. And I am ready for winter. I love the way the seasons melt into one another up here. There are four distinct ones, and I am always ready for them when they arrive.
Now: August 7, 2011
We found the pack rat in the Spring, all curled up in his nest and mummified. Even the City Girl part of me was sad, but resigned. That's just part of life Up Here. And another part of being Up Here, as I mentioned in "Then", is tilting the panels, which it is time to do again. We will get that done on Monday.
JB was feeling so much better yesterday, that he did the mowing while I did the trimming and weeding. We got the porch re-arranged for the Third Annual Rose Camp Potluck and BBQ which is scheduled for today. I cleaned up the tipi and the outhouse (at least the Flatlander side. The Mountain Folk side is still being used for storage.) Put a sign on the Mountain Folk door that says: "Out of Order. Won't flush."
This morning I will clean house and bake a blueberry coffee cake, and JB will prep the food after he cooks our Sunday breakfast. The BBQ begins at 1:00 pm, so we have plenty of time to get ready, although I'm sure once we get going it will seem like we don't have any time at all. Our "206'er" neighbors have come up to their place for the weekend. RJ and Mike arrived last night. Everyone else is local.
It is very interesting that most of the people we have met who live or own property Up Here are on the same wave length. Real people, living real, practical lives, with no facades or pretense. Independent people with a propensity for the simple life. People who feel an attachment to the natural world and all its wonders.
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