Mar 27, 2013



JB leaving for Down There Tuesday morning


Monday, 3/25.  We hear turkeys gobbling about now every day, so I am sure that is what the dogs have been barking at.  I think they are smart enough not to go chasing after a wolf, like they usually do not go after bears.  Coyotes I think are a different matter.

JB ordered parts for MAX to the tune of $350 as we needed a new sprocket assembly also.  They will be here by next Monday, so now we have a week to get that nut off the bolt.

Meanwhile, we did another load of laundry and the dishes.  There's a light overcast, but the sun is shining through.

On their morning walk, JB actually saw several turkeys down the south slope.  The dogs saw them too, and ran down and flushed them into the trees.

Something upset my stomach, so I spent the afternoon on the couch napping and drinking peppermint/chamomile tea.  Then it was chicken broth for dinner, with a piece of fresh dilly bread that JB had baked after lunch.  He spent some time trying to loosen the nut on MAX, but with no success.

Altogether, it was a beautiful Spring day with a high of 34.

Tuesday, 3/26.  The day began partly cloudy and 26.  JB left at 10:15, pulling the sled with the large empty cooler on it and a shovel.  We figured it would take him about an hour to get to his Jeep.  His doctor's appointment isn't until 3:15, so he should have plenty of time to grocery shop and pick up the mail.  He will only buy groceries if he thinks he can drive the Jeep all the way back up to Rose Camp.  It was already 30 when he left and the clouds had dissolved.  Looked to be another nice day.  And it was, with a high of 41.

On Monday I had started ready one of the books that JB gets free every Friday on his Nook from Barnes and Noble, The Taken, by Vicki Pettersson.  It is about an angel of sorts and is very entertaining.

After lunch the dogs and I went outside for most of the afternoon.  First a walk along the south ridge.  I pulled down some of the large branches we had trimmed from the trees up there to the cutting pile, and brought in firewood.  Then I went down to my bench on the north ridge and sat for a while.  There was a cool breeze with an occasional warm burst coming up from the canyon floor.  So nice that I decided to get my book and read outside, which I did on a stump just below our garden on the west slope.  Didn't even need my coat by then.  Was going to go in after awhile, but decided to see what I could get done in the wood shed to prepare it for stacking the wood in the opposite direction.  We still have a double row of wood about seven feet long, but there is plenty of room to work.  I layed short pieces of scrap dimensional wood across the small frames we had built on which to lay the firewood, so that should do it.  Won't have to completely re-do the "flooring."

Standing on the south ridge is like standing on the border of two different worlds.  The southern slope has been bare of snow for more than a week and was bare before the last 4" we received, so small shoots are very obvious, however the northern slope still has some snow and the ground that is showing is just recently bared, with no green at all.  They touch at the top of the ridge, but are a month apart.

Had a nice chat with our son, and then Aunt Nene.  Her daughter convinced her that she should go see the movie, "Return to Oz", which she did this afternoon.  She said she hadn't been to a movie in years and was appalled that she had to pay more for her small popcorn than her ticket!  She said she gets out every day.  What a gal! 

We are halfway through our last bag of pine needles that we use for starting the fire, so I will have to be sure and gather more bags for next winter.  Now that the walls are finished, the fires often dies down before we need to build another one instead of just adding wood to an ongoing fire.

JB didn't arrive back home until 6:00 pm, but he was able to drive his Jeep all the way up.  In addition to groceries and mail, he had picked up a couple tool attachments that should be able to help him get that bolt off of MAX.

Wednesday, 3/27.  This morning is overcast and 31, with rain predicted for later in the week.  With the way the sky looks, it may not wait until then.

As far as the comment posted on Monday's blog about our pizza, what can I say, I'm from Washington.  JB actually had onions instead of pineapple on his pieces. . .

Thought for the day: Choices are the hinges of destiny.  Edwin Markham