September 30, 2015 Living Life on the Mountain Again

Randy's root cellar under his garage.
It's huge!

A squirrel at Nene's back door,
wondering where the peanuts are.

Our helper on the
tractor.

Monday 9/28. Today was mainly used for getting re-settled.  I unpacked; did laundry; read newspapers.  Just got used to life on the mountain again.  Twelve days away and my fingernails were finally clean, long and unbroken.  That lasted until I gathered two more bags of pine needles for fire starter.  Broke one and got them all dirty.

Sandy called just as I was finishing my blog for today, which took much longer than usual.  We had a nice talk and I told her to be sure to check out the photo of Nene in her birthday hat.

The quiet of Rose Camp.  So different from the hustle and bustle of Down There.  Only one person and two dogs to talk to.  So different from the groups of friends and family on our trip.  I am pretty sure that I talked more in that twelve days than I have all year since our last trip.  And that's a good thing.  I really did need the social connections.  They completely revitalized me, so now I figure I'm good to go for another year.  My world tends to shrink Up Here.  It is so easy to get into hermit mode.  Even just driving back up our road, I could feel the social layers begin to slough off and I had to grab onto them.

One thing that really stood out on my trip was the pale eggs!  The yolks in store-bought ones simply cannot compete with the bright orange ones in the eggs that the girls give us.

Today was such a beautiful reflection of Autumn.  Our high was 60 and the sky remain blue.  JB had to drive Down There this afternoon to pick up our order from Emergency Essentials at the UPS office.  While he was gone, I put my summer clothes away and got out my winter ones.  I even remembered to go on our afternoon walk, and feed the chickens and dogs. . .

Tuesday 9/29. It was 50 with blue sky this morning.  Was still reading newspapers and magazines with my breakfast.  I called Randy and his Mom, and had a nice chat with them both.  It seems odd not to have talked to Nene since Sunday.

After washing the dishes, we went outside and I split 3-1/2 of the 4-1/2 large rounds that were left.  Turned out to be four tractor-bucket loads, and I got it all stacked in the wood shed.  One smaller round to split tomorrow and that will probably fill the shed, leaving the huge stack of branch wood to be stacked on the porch once it is all cut up.  We will be getting all the supplies to build the wood cradle within a week.

We unpacked all our go-bags and boxes.  Getting ready for the change of season and weather.

It was another beautiful but warmer day, with a high of 64.  Actually quite hot in the sun, especially while splitting the wood.

I noticed that my tastes have changed since being gone for almost two weeks and eating so differently (and so much more) than we do Up Here.  I had hardly eaten any chocolate during the trip and when I had a few M&M's yesterday, they did not taste very good at all!  However, I loved the dark chocolate bars that are 79% cocoa.  I guess that's a good thing.

I plan to go Down There for groceries and a few other items on Thursday.  Not sure when we will get the supplies for the wood cradle, but it will be soon.

Couldn't go another day without talking to Nene, so I gave her a call after dinner.  Had such a nice chat.

Wednesday 9/30. This morning is 54 with clear skies.  The last day of September.  Our main project for October will be building the wood cradle, cutting all the branch wood and getting it stacked on the porch.

Thought for the day: I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house.  So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air. Nathaniel Hawthorne