March 14, 2012

Oh, look!  More snow!

It snowed all day Monday and we received about 3.5".  Not powder this time.  It was heavy, wet and cold.  Down into the teens that night and only into the mid-twenties on Tuesday.  Snowing in the mountains, but we had blue sky most of the day except when the edge of a cloud would get blown near us and toss a few snowflakes our way.  It is 16 degrees this morning.  A bit chilly.  NOAA is forecasting 5" to 9" of snow tomorrow afternoon.  Obviously Winter is not about to let go anytime soon.

Into Monday's loaf of bread, JB added two tablespoons of Italian seasoning.  Excellent!

Larry and Elsie drove Up Here about 4:00 pm on Monday with a small bilge pump and 18 eggs!  I crawled down under the house and placed the pump in the "pond" where the pipe comes up and threaded the wire through the hole in the floor where the pipe goes to plug it in.  The guys attached the garden hose and we were in business!  As I lay there watching the water level drop, I noticed our resident frog swimming in the water.  He crawled out and gave me a very disgusted look as his pool disappeared.  I set the pump on a pie plate so it wouldn't get in the mud, and crawled back out.  Right now we have the 100 feet of hose coming out the trap door to the crawl space, which is in the bedroom, and running out the great room through the front door and away from the house. 

We left the pump on til no more water came out, then played a game of Aggravation.  At first it looked like we girls were going to get whipped again, but the dice finally warmed up to us and - despite Larry's ongoing commentary - we beat the guys.  Boy, did that feel good.  Before they left, we turned on the pump again and a few more gallons came out.  We turned it on once more before we went to bed with the same result, then pulled the hose into the house for the night.  In the morning we didn't have much more water, so maybe the flow has tapered off. 

After JB picks up our new pump, I will cut a hole in the metal siding under the porch and bring the hose in that way.  Will be a lot better than having the hose running through the house.  The "pond" is right at the front of the house anyway.

Larry thinks the coyote we caught on the game cam may be a female since it seems to be alone.  Once a female mates she will go off on her own to birth her litter.  I certainly hope she moves on before her pups arrive.

I was thinking about how much we have had to adapt and learn Up Here, and think "outside the box."  Come to think of it, I believe we left "the box" Down There when we moved Up Here.

Gross-out alert for Sande.  This paragraph will rate a 10 on the gross meter.  When JB and the dogs hiked up to the panels Monday morning to clear the snow off the panels, Dinga caught a mole.  I have never seen her actually eat any critter she caught, but this one she did.  Must have learned from Jesse the other day.  She sat right out in the yard and it looked like she just pulled  the innards out so she wouldn't have to eat the skin. . .  Hey, I warned you!  And if you think it's gross reading about it, you should have been up here to see it.

Thought for the day:  In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.  John Churton Collins