October 9, 2011



Pulling logs up to Rose Camp



Fir cone rosette



Two more crisp, Autumn days.  Two very busy days.  JB left early Friday morning with the big trailer for Down There to buy lumber for his shop door and run errands.  He made it to where the dirt meets the pavement before the trailer sighed its last breath with a big "thunk."  The last two two welds gave way and the back of the tongue was on the ground.  Guess we didn't do such a great job of fixing it after all.  We should have just shot it and put it out of our misery.  At least he wasn't on the paved road and could just leave it where it died.  He managed to get the lumber he needed inside his Jeep, along with just about everything else he went down for.

While he was gone I had a lot of things to take care of inside.  I did the laundry; washed the dishes; vacuumed; found a place for things in the last box; put the three stacking chairs we had on the porch in the outhouse for the winter, and defrosted the refrigerator.  After lunch I was able to get outside and cut the rest of the wood - one load for the woodshed and one load for the splitter.  Then I split and stacked all the wood that was at the splitter, which was three loads.  JB arrived home just as I was starting the third load.  I finished that after helping him unload, then we both took a rest.  Read the mail and relaxed.  About 4:00 pm, JB drove back down to see what he could do about the trailer.  He rigged it up with a few straps and slowly pulled it back up the mountain.  Then it was time for a late dinner and absolutely nothing else except a movie.

We both grew up on Westerns and really enjoy a good one.  Thursday evening we had watched "Monte Walsh" with Tom Selleck.   One of the best ever.  But too heavy to watch more than once a year.  Monte was supposedly the last real cowboy, but I like to think my Grandpa Herb was one of the last latter-day ones.  Friday night we watched "The Bucket List" which is also pretty heavy, but very funny too.  Only Jack Nicholson could play the part of Cole.

Saturday dawned clear and cold with a specific job planned - gather more wood.  First we dragged the last log off the south ridge.  Then we drove down to the bottom of the driveway to gather more logs.  There are still quite a few downed trees there on the slope and we pulled several down to the road.  I climb up the slope and try to puzzle them out so JB can drag them down.  Most of them aren't more than six or seven inches in diameter and all very dry, so not very heavy.  The longest ones I wrap a strap around, then JB attaches the other end of the strap to the Jeep and pulls them down to the road.  The short ones I can just wrestle down by myself.  The really long ones, he just continues on up the driveway with them to the cutting area.  The shorter ones, we bundle several together on the road with the strap and he pulls them all up at once.  We did a couple loads before lunch and a few more after lunch.  Ended up with a good sized pile for me to start cutting today.

My Brother, RJ, is back up for a week and will be coming up for breakfast this morning.  He had several teeth pulled last week, getting ready for dentures, so I'm sure he won't be doing a lot of heavy work this time up.  JB is going to have to have that done next year.  But today he is going to build the door to his shop.  He thinks he can get it all done in one day, or at least two.

As I mentioned, both the past two days have been crisp.  I doubt we will see anything above 50 degrees from now on, unless we are blessed with an Indian Summer.  That would certainly be nice.

I have finally started seeing the fir cone rosettes on the the ground.  (See photo above.)  They are what is left when the squirrels finish eating the seeds from the fir cones.  They are actually very pretty and can be used in crafts, as opposed to the pine cobs they leave.  I suppose you could paint rosettes different colors, but I prefer them natural.  They make very pretty bouquets.

We are coming up on a full moon and it is already out when we take our evening walk.  Really quite awsome above the snow covered Mission Ridge.  The nights are much brighter and the animals are moving about more.  We had a coyote near the house about midnight Friday, but he just yipped a few times and howled once.  Of course the dogs wanted to go out, but that wasn't going to happen.

Thought for the day:  Wine a little.  You'll feel better.