November 4, 2011

What we expected but did not receive!

Wednesday was our get-ready-for-winter-now day as the weather forecast was predicting four successive storms with snow and wind beginning Wednesday evening into the next seven to ten days. So we cut the rest of the logs and moved them up to the splitter. We had time to split and stack four wheel barrow loads on the porch, then covered the stack with a tarp. We start stacking on the south end and now have a double row 8ft long by almost 3 ft high. JB put all the tools inside that we had sitting outside. Everything that needs to be in the shop is. Had to keep moving while we were out today as our high didn't even reach 30. However, moving all those rounds as JB cut them kept me really warm and, at one point, I took my hood off. Poor timing as I was standing so that I had sawdust raining down my neck. By the time we were done, it had worked its way down my back, my front and into my bra. Thank goodness my belt was tight enough to keep it out of my pants.


Turns out the snow actually went northwest of us on both Wednesday and Thursday.  The northern Cascades are solid while now, but the peaks west of us have very little snow.  Even Mission Ridge, to the south of us, received quite a dusting.  Actually I was kind of disappointed we didn't get any snow, but it did give us more time to work outside on Thursday. I finished splitting the wood which was four more wheel barrows full. That gave us another two feet on top of one 8ft row. The inside row on the south end comes up to just under the dining room window as I don't want to block our view. When I was done, I helped JB who was, once again, re-arranging his shop. I told him this makes up for all the times he has helped me move furniture. I think he mumbled something like, "Not even!" But in the interest of marital harmony, I chose to ignore it.

I thought for sure I would be seeing a lot more wild life now that I don't have a camera for a while, but I guess not. Dinga has been barking more than usual and both of the dogs have been running down the driveway and/or up the east slope. Occasionally we will hear an animal crashing through the underbrush, but we still haven't actually seen one.

Our wood stove is working better than ever now that it is clean and has a brand new catalytic combuster. It gets hot very quickly with less wood. We still haven't started using any of the split wood yet, although we may have to in the next day or two. Still using the large branch and ugly wood.

A few days ago we witnessed a murder of crows flying over Rose Camp. (I've always wanted to be able to write that sentence.) We don't get many crows Up Here, just ravens. They each make a very distinctive noise, so they are fairly easy to tell apart. But, really, who thinks up these terms? A murder of crows? A skein of geese? No, a skein of yarn. What am I - knitting with feathers? If it birds or sheep, then it's a flock. However, a congress of baboons I can understand. . .

I knew when I entered the grocery store on Tuesday that the holidays are definitely here. There is eggnog in the cooler! Yes!! Bought some for my coffee. Eggnog in my coffee makes me happy. I'm really quite easy to please. (Note to self: do NOT buy low fat eggnog ever again.)

We usually buy newspapers whenever we go Down There and on Tuesday were able to buy the Sunday editions of both the Seattle and Wenatchee papers. In the Seattle Times Pacific Northwest magazine there is an excellent article entitled "The Space Case." It's about living and dealing with the animals on your land. It gives a website where "you can read about how to deal with critters from snakes to cougars: http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/."

JB's thought for the day:  I welcome change, as long as nothing is altered or different. . .