Feb 14, 2014 And More Wind!

Before. . .

. . . and after tilting the solar panels.

Wednesday 2/12.  With these "warmer" temperatures it is very easy to get the house too warm, but it's such a relief not to have to set the alarm to get up in the middle of the night to restock the fire.

I often go around the house, and even the sheds, clearing out the cobwebs.  And in the mornings I have to clear them out of my head.  Why is it we always see their webs, but never the spider?  Has anyone ever actually seen a cob spider?  And how in the world do they get inside my head?!

The snow is starting to get slushy, especially where the sun hits it.  Sure don't want to get back into the melt-&-freeze cycle where so much of the ground is covered in ice.

JB's nephew is bringing his six-year-old son up to visit Rose Camp on the 19th and we want to be able to get them and their gear Up Here on MAX with no problems.  So JB drove MAX down our road again today to groom it.  When he returned, we went up to the solar panels to tilt them up halfway.  We tilt them four times a year, two up and two down.  We are about a week late this time, and now they will have to be cleaned more often, as the snow will not just slide off of them.

The wind blew all day, decreasing incrementally as the day wore on.  By late afternoon it was just a strong breeze and after sunset it completely died out.  Our high for the day was 37.

The sun is now far enough north so that we can see it as it sets.  It is no longer setting behind the trees to the southwest of the house.  This means that daylight lasts until we are finished with our 5:30 pm dinner and no longer eating when it is dark out.  Yes!!

I keep in touch with my Mom's two best friends, even though she has been gone for more than 18 years.  One of them, Pat, called me this afternoon and it was so good to talk with her.  We spoke of her other friend, Hazel, who will be 98 years old on the 20th.  Pat reads my blog and seems to really enjoy it.  Hazel doesn't have a computer, but I keep her updated throughout the year.

I started another book that JB had given me for Christmas, The Fifth Witness, by Michael Connelly.  One of my favorite authors.  I also had to cook up a pot of chicken broth for the dogs, but I got started too late, so they ended up having some canned chicken with their dry food, much to their delight.

The sky was a clear palette for the almost-full moon and it shone brightly on the snow.  The stars were shining crisply in the cold night.  Don't know if it's my imagination or they really do shine more brightly on cold nights.  They just seem softer in the summer.

Thursday 2/13. We had a short snow flurry at about 7:00 am, then the sky quickly cleared.  It was a normal 25 degrees out, but there was definitely a wind-chill factor.  Once again the wind blew all day, disappearing shortly after sunset, and our high was 31.  Yesterday's slush is today's ice.

Before I got up JB noticed two deer walking up our road.  The dogs were inside and didn't see them, so JB was able to watch the deer saunter up the east slope, nibbling on branches and rose hips along the way.

The avalanche control canon was booming away on Mission ridge this morning.  I took a late morning nap and Jesse slept on the bed with me, using it as a good excuse not to go on the morning walk with JB and Dinga.  He does not like that canon, even though it is obviously far away.

After lunch I gave JB a long-overdue hair cut and beard trim.  It turned out to be a bloodless affair, but I think he is going to be chilly for a while.  Then he baked some french bread which he used for a french toast dinner.

Weather permitting, we will ride MAX down to Larry and Elsie's Saturday evening for some marble competition.

Friday 2/14.  Happy Valentine's Day!  At Rose Camp it is 21 and snowing lightly with another 2-1/2" of new snow on the ground.  JB had to clean that full amount off the tilted panels this morning.  And the avalanche canons are booming again at Mission Ridge.

Thought for the day: Fearlessness may be a gift, but perhaps most precious is courage from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one's actions.  Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner