February 13, 2012



Driving the short cut down to RJ's cabin



RJ's cabin in the snow

Sorry to disappoint those of you who were looking forward to game cam photos of wildlife.  These two old people obviously just don't understand about placement of the game cam.  There were no photos so once again we repositioned it on another tree.  If there are no photos this week then its the camera - not us. . .  We did see smaller cat prints on our drive yesterday in the same places as before.  These prints were probably a bobcat.
We drove MAX down to RJ's cabin yesterday to be sure everything is okay there - and it was.  We took the short cut down, then his road back to the main canyon road and back up to our road.  Because there has been no traffic on his road since it snowed, we had a rough time getting out.  On one slope up we had to dig out for about 15 ft. and on a couple others I got out and walked.  Fortunately going out the road is mainly flat or down hill.  We would never make it going up to his cabin on his road.  The dogs had a real work out and each one of them rode with us for about 1/4 mile to rest.  RJ, Mike and a friend of theirs want to come up this weekend for three days.  He should be able to drive his Jeep up to where the lower road turns off to his place and park it there.  JB will drive down in MAX to pick up RJ and Mike,  then drive them up our road to the short cut and they can snow shoe down to the cabin.  Their friend wants to walk all the way in their road to try out his new snow shoes.  On Monday, JB will drive back down the shortcut and bring them out on RJ's road.

Larry and Elsie came up late yesterday afternoon, with Larry mumbling something about kicking butt in "marbles."  And actually they did. . .  Elsie brought us some more eggs and garlic from her garden.

Since we have lived up here we have been keeping track of the weather on a daily basis.  JB has put that information into his computer and come up with some interesting facts.  Our snowfall has been as follows: winter 08-09 we received a total of 104.5 inches; winter 09-10 we received a total of 61 inches; winter 10-11 we received a total of 119.25 inches; this winter so far we have received 47.75 inches.  Of course we didn't have those totals on the ground all at one time with melting, compacting, and such.  Temperature averages are in the mid-twenties.

There is a good article in the current issue of BackWoods Home by Jackie Clay entitled "Homestead Burnout - What it is and How to Avoid It."  I don't really think of us as homesteaders as we are not aiming for complete self-sufficency and don't have any chickens, goats or cows, or a big garden.  I think we're just off-the-grid retired folks who are trying to be a little bit self-sufficient.  I doubt I have the motivation or energy for truly homesteading.  It makes me tired just reading about all the things Jackie does!

Thought for the day:  The statistics on sanity say that one out of every four Americans is suffering from mental illness.  Think of your three best friends.  If they're okay, then it's you.  Rita Mae Brown