October 7, 2011



First snow of the season
 on Mission Ridge



Mule deer buck



The pouring rain on Wednesday didn't stop til mid-day.  Then the fog moved in, and it was a foggy mind day for both of us.  Fortunately I had cleaned out and widened the drainage "ditch" outside the house on Tuesday.  It was a river on Wednesday.  The water pours off our steeply pitched metal roof and I am sure that is why we have a wet crawl space.  I am working on ideas on how to temporarily (this Fall) and permanently (next year) fix that.

We worked inside on Wednesday and spent a lot of time wiping off muddy dogs' feet.  I did the wash and hung it inside, then made birthday cards, since I had completely run out.  JB read a book and puttered around.  We did Tuesday's dishes in the morning while we had the generator on for the laundry.  The sun peaked out just after we finished dinner, so we thought we could turn the water on and quickly get the dishes done.  Then we went for a muddy walk.   But by 7:30 pm the inverter was letting us know that our battery power was getting very low,  so we ran the generator for half an hour to re-charge the batteries.  We shouldn't have turned on the water to wash the dishes.  Last winter the big windstorm rotated our solar panels a little to the east and now they don't capture the sun's rays like they should at the end of the day.  We only have to rotate them back west about an inch or so, but it would take five men and a boy to do without completely taking the panels off the pole.  Maybe we can use a strap and the Jeep.

Just after lunch the dogs started barking and trying frantically to get out.  Looking outside we saw a huge muledeer buck up on the east slope.  He was staring at the house, probably waiting so see if we were going to let the dogs out.  We didn't, so he just meandered up the slope, nibbling grass and leaves along the way.  (See photo above.)

Thursday we woke up to blue sky, wind and 36 degrees.  Once we got outside, we were treated to a view of the first snow of the season on the Cascades and Mission Ridge (which, technically, is part of the Cascade mountain range).  Getting our priorities straight, we quickly fixed the large trailer and put the sides on so I could go get more wood to cut.  I got a nice, big load from one of the piles just down the driveway, while JB worked on finishing up the little trailer.  After lunch I cut four wheel barrow loads of wood - two for the wood shed and two for the splitter.  A lot of it is really hard mountain maple which will burn nice and slow.  However, it does tend to dull a chain saw blade rather quickly.  

I realized that the leather work gloves I was wearing have lasted me a couple months now, which is really unusual as I normally go through a pair every three or four weeks.  I think these have lasted so long because the fingers are black with pitch.  Hmmm.  Maybe I'll just rub pitch on all my new gloves.

I was going to go Down There today, but JB decided he wanted to get the wood for his shop door so he could get that built as soon as possible.  OK, he can run the errands, which includes dropping off our winter coats and overalls at the laundromat.  They will do your wash for you and with what it would cost for us to wash and dry that load there, it's worth it to have them do it.  ( Whew!  Got out of going Down There again.)  I will have to go Down There next Tuesday or so for grocery shopping and to pick up the laundry and sharpened chains.

With the holidays getting closer, I am starting to receive a lot of extra catalogues.  I love catalogues and enjoy going through them and marking all the items I would like to buy - in an alternate universe.  When I have marked everything I want, I toss the catalogue in the recycle box.  But I especially like the ones with t-shirts and clever gifts.  One of the crafts I love is making magnets with sassy sayings, quotes, and thoughts worth remembering.  These catalogues are where I get a lot of my magnet ideas.  I may have mentioned this before, but on our first annual Rose Camp Potluck and BBQ, I gave Larry a magnet for his birthday that said "My Indian Name is Runs With Beer."  I have such a long list of them that I thought I would start ending each of my blogs with one or a favorite quote.  So here is my first thought of the day: 

Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but she did it backwards and in high heels.    Faith Whittlesey