January 16, 2012

Sunrise over the Cascades
(More enticement for Laramie)

We received a little more snow on Sunday, but nothing major.  The forecast is predicting a significant amount on Tuesday and Wednesday, with 90% to 100% possibility on both days.  Finally!  It costs us more to use JB's Jeep to go down the mountain than it does to use MAX as we usually take his Jeep off all but the basic insurance for at least four months.  Oh well, as Larry says, every year is different.  It is just that I am much more aware of the weather Up Here than I ever was Down There.  This morning it is 7 degrees and we received less than 1/2 inch of snow last night.

JB made sourdough biscuits again for breakfast on Sunday with our bacon and cheese/tomato/onion omelette.  This time he substituted one cup of sorghum flour for all purpose gf flour, and doubled the amounts of baking soda and powder.  They turned out much lighter and were delicious, with less of a sour "bite" to them.

It occured to me as I was cleaning the ashes out of the wood stove, that this is quite an art.  One must shovel the ashes out from below, without taking all the hot coals.  It can be quite tricky, but I have learned to do it very successfully.  We have an ash "bucket" that fits right under the door to the stove and can hold two loads.  When the second one has cooled, we dump the ashes into a small metal garbage can that stays outside by the stairs to the porch.  When that is full, JB empties it where we plan to put our garden, as our ground has a high clay content.  (Actually more often than not, we forget to empty the bucket and can. . .)

We checked the game cam on Sunday and had several videos of deer.  The doe and two young ones that JB saw on the ridge a few days ago seem to be staying in the area.  It looks like one might be a yearling while the other one was probably born last Spring.  Very cool to capture them on the camera in motion.  I was going to say "capture them on film", but since the cameras do not use film any more, how does one express that?!  Capture them on the card?  Capture them on the camera?

It would be so easy to just let the days slip away Up Here reading, writing, hiking, doing Sudoku and crossword puzzles, doing basic daily chores.  Being retired takes even more self discipline than being employed.  I guess, in a way, we are self-employed.  It is now up to us to set our own schedule, and it would be so easy not to have one.  We were really busy the first year finishing so many necessary projects, but the second year I would often find myself thinking, "Well, what do I do now?"  That rarely happens any more, as I have so many things I want and like to do.  This blog being one of the main ones.

Thought for the day:  The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly and lie about your age.   Lucille Ball