November 6, 2011

One of my favorite "Mtn sun/Vally fog" photos
3/5/11

I had forgotten how long it takes to get dressed to go outside on a really cold day!  And these past few days have been really cold.  18 degrees Saturday morning, which is the record so far this season.

On Friday morning while I was doing inside chores, JB was cutting up scrap dimensional wood to burn in his shop wood stove.  After lunch we drove down the road aways to get wood.  I scrambled up the steep slope just above the road and loosened logs so they could just slide down.  JB cut the rounds to size on the road and we filled the trailer.  Took that load back up and stacked most of it by the splitter.  Got one wheel barrow load that didn't need splitting and stacked that to finish the south side of the porch.  Went back down for another load, but after half a log, it was obvious that the chain on the saw was dulled.  So we just threw small pieces of wood in the trailer that we found on the way back home.

Saturday morning we tilted the solar panels all the way down for the winter sun.  Then JB changed the oil in the generator and put the slats back up on the shed in front of the generator to protect it from the winter weather.  After lunch we drove down the road for another load of wood.  It was Saturday morning that I graduated to my winter overalls, coat and boots.  Certainly more of an effort to move around.  I have been stocking up on hand and toe warmers that are sold in big boxes at Costco, and that was the first day this season that I used hand warmers.  Although it turned out that I didn't really need them, as I kept plenty warm moving the logs and rounds.

We managed to fill the trailer again with a lot of dry, hard fir.  Stacked it by the splitter with Friday's loads.  Then I called RJ to see if he had made it back Up Here as he had planned.  Turned out he had arrived on Friday and wanted to know if we could come down to his place and help him unload something from his Jeep.  We drove down and he showed us his new wood stove!  It's a small, oval stove with a glass window at one end so you can see the flames.  It is Dutch made and only weighs 150 lbs.  Seems the Dutch have the attitude that you should have several small stoves where you need them, instead of one large one.  Sure wish I had the space and money to put one in our bathroom. . .

The weather forecast is now predicting snow Monday night and into Tuesday.  At this point, I'll believe it when I see it.

RJ is coming up for breakfast this morning and the guys plan to play a few games of cards.  I plan to split and stack as much of the wood as possible, even though it is Sunday, as I have to go Down There both Monday and Tuesday.  Finally found a new doctor - a woman - and couldn't coordinate my appointments for her and my mamogram on the same day.  That's okay, as there are several things I need to do and with two trips I won't be rushed.  I just hope the snow holds off til Tuesday night.

Thought for the day:  I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I have lived just the length of it.  I want to have lived the width of it as well.

              Diane Ackerman, author and poet