March 12, 2014 Miss Kitty is Home!

The east ridge on March 5 . . 

. . . and on March 11.

Monday 3/10.  I really do detest Daylight Savings Time.  We thought we might just leave our clocks and life on regular time, and just try to remember that everyone else is one hour ahead of us.  But last night we capitulated and reset the clocks.  That's the easy part.  Resetting our internal clocks is another matter.  Spring isn't as bad as Fall though.  I always have a much worse time adjusting to an extra hour.

This morning I washed the dishes and did the laundry while JB drilled a hole near the center vent under the house in which to put the hose through for the water pump.  Then he got the pump and hoses all ready for our project.  After taking the dogs on their morning walk, we had an early lunch and then I got dressed for going down under the house.  And all for naught.  Try as he might, JB simply could not get the pump started.  We will try again tomorrow.  However I did crawl all around under there to see where the water was coming from.  The pit where the pipe comes in is completely dry.  It looks like some water came in from the north end of the porch and on both sides of the back of the house.  I think the earth just got so quickly saturated that it didn't have anywhere else to go.

The one bright spot in all this water is that our cistern is filling by itself.  So last night JB and I both took long, hot showers.  This as opposed to our usual "ship-board" showers.  My, that felt good!

As the snow quickly disappears, I am finally seeing a bit of snow mold in a few places.  But not nearly as much as in past winters.

Larry and Elsie drove up for a visit instead of calling on the radio.  The only difference between their side-by-side Arctic Cat and Miss Kitty is that they have chains on their tires and theirs may be a bit lighter.  Larry said that he didn't have much of a problem at all getting up our road.  But when he got to Miss Kitty, he was afraid he might slide into her trying to drive around her on the road.  So Elsie got out and Larry drove about 30 feet up our east slope and 100 feet around Miss Kitty.  I am sure my jaw was agape as I watched him!  Just plowed right up and around!  Elsie is used to his antics, but I'm not sure I'll be riding with him any time soon. . .

Tuesday 3/11.  We had blue sky and 24 degrees this morning, and most of the slush is ice.  When JB took the dogs on their morning walk, instead of going to the north ridge, he went down to Miss Kitty to start her.  Since the driveway was so frozen, the thought he might be able to drive her all the way up, and, indeed, he did.  So nice to see her sitting right outside.  On his next trip Down There, JB will buy ice chains for her.

After our morning chores and lunch, we got ready to see if we could get the pump started.  But first I checked under the house.  The one puddle right by the trap door had already dried to mud, but the center one needed emptying as a few of the others drain into it.  JB still couldn't get the pump started, so I used a plastic milk bottle with the top cut off to scoop the water into a bucket.  Certainly not the easiest way to do it, but in about 7 or 8 trips and it was done.  Fortunately the largest puddle wasn't far from the trap door.  And even more fortunate than that, I still like to play in the mud.

When we were done, I stripped off my muddy outer garments and went outside into the wonderful sunshine.  Our high was only 39 according to the gauge on our porch, but I am sure it was warmer standing in the sun.  It felt like Spring.  And I am so ready for it.

I started to bring fire wood in off the porch today in an effort to use as much of it as possible.  When I was done with that chore, I took the dogs on a nice leisurely afternoon walk.  There is no snow left on the south side of our south ridge and most of the top of it.  

We listened to a very active woodpecker in the grove most of the day.  The nuthatches were chattering about too.  So nice to hear them again.  The silence of winter is nice, but so is birdsong.

The moon shone brightly this evening, but there is a lot of bare ground now so the night seems darker with less snow to reflect the light.

Wednesday 3/12. Bright blue sky and sunshine greeted us this morning, along with a chilly temperature of 25.  

Thought for the day: To have what we want is riches . . . to be able to do without is power.  G. MacDonald