September 30, 2011



No room for Rose!



Evening walk - taken from North ridge



The dogs usually wake me up between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. I let them out and then go up to the loft to post on my blog. I write most of it the evening before and then just tweak it in the morning. The dogs are in by the time I'm done and we all go back to bed til about 8:00 a.m. However, on Wednesday when I thought I would go back to bed, I found both dogs asleep on my side of the bed. (See photo above.) Jesse is often sleeping on the foot of the bed, but Dinga rarely gets up on it any more. But there she was, cuddled into JB with her head almost on my pillow. I knew if I moved her, she would jump down. So I just grabbed my pillow and headed for the couch. Started to snuggle in when I realized how chilly it was on the main floor. I checked the temperature outside and it was 36! Time for a fire in the wood stove. Finally got settled on the couch for a short snooze.


We spent Wednesday Down There running errands, one of which was buying the hardware for the sliding door JB is going to build for the shop. It's a good thing we had the trailer because the 12 foot rail would not have fit in or on the Jeep. After errands we went to our storage unit to finally clean it out. Tied it all down and we were on our way back home. Woo Hoo!!

It was a long day for all of us. We unloaded the trailer and stacked most of the items on the porch. After dinner and our walk, JB returned the trailer to Larry and Elsie. Turns out they had been robbed the night before and the dogs slept right through it. Apples, blueberries and other fruit were missing, but there were some very happy, sated bears in the area. . . JB came back with two dozen fresh eggs and we all went to bed early.

Thursday was another beautiful Fall day, although much cooler Up Here than Down There. This time of year there can be a 15 to 20 degree difference, but in the winter we are actually warmer at times as the cold air sinks into the valleys. The propane truck arrived mid morning and now we are set for another year. JB worked on getting the sides on the trailer. I unpacked some boxes and put the genealogy binders in the cabinet in the loft.  After lunch I split three wheel barrow loads of wood. JB split all the really large pieces of wood into quarters so they wouldn't be so heavy for me, and he also moved the wheel barrow to the wood shed each time I filled it. Then I stacked the wood. That's five loads from the wood he brought back from Seattle and we still have another two or three to go.

Today I'll probably rake up the rest of the bags of pine needles we'll need. When starting a fire in the stove with the needles, they flare up very quickly. It's scary to think of all the careless, smoking drivers and campers out there who just don't have a clue as to how dry all that fire fodder gets in the Summer and Fall, and how rapidly one spark can turn into a raging forest fire.

And speaking of water, I am amazed at how much we don't need to use. When I give the dogs clean water each evening, I keep what they haven't drunk to help water my outside plants. When I am waiting for hot water, I fill up the tea kettle or our water containers until it arrives. (It doesn't take long) And as far as flushing the toilet goes, we use the guidelines given when we lived in California through one of their many droughts - Poo do. Pee don't. Or as our nephew says - If it's yellow, let it mellow.

We are also stingy on the use of paper towels. I use them more than I probably should, but I only use the size I need. I really like the ones that have large and small options, but the regular towels are less expensive at Costco. We just tear off what we need, not necessarily where the perforation is.  I'm not a fanatic about it, but I do try not to waste anything.

One thing I am not stingy on is chocolate. I read a quote once that said - I heard that chocolate helps to slow down the aging process, and I am not willing to take the chance that it doesn't. Works for me. . .