August 24, 2011




April clouds

 

July clouds with sun trying to shine through.



It is the heat of August and I am starting to see the kinds of bugs that are in the house during the winter. As I was stacking wood the other day, clouds of tiny moths arose from the stack I was adding to. I also saw some in the garbage/recycle shed. I don't recall seeing them until mid-September. Then there's a hard-shelled little critter, one of which is climbing around on the loft window as I write. A weather site that JB subscribes to (no charge) mentioned that crickets in Oregon have just started singing, which is the latest this particular entomologist has ever heard them begin. Has something to do with a long, hard winter. Just lovely. The name of the site is ovs.com, then Weather Café by Rufus. His predictions are even more accurate than NOAA.


At least we spent yesterday collecting wood. JB hitched up a trailer to MAX and we drove down our road to gather the small trees and branches we had cut in clearing the road prior to our annual BBQ. We took my small chain saw and generator, and filled the trailer with wood. Back at Rose Camp after lunch, I cut one wheel barrow load and then split two loads of wood that had already been cut for splitting. By then it was too hot and too late to do any more. It was a slow, leisurely evening walk for all of us.  I'll finish cutting the wood today.

In one of my early blog postings I mentioned the small, hand washing machine that we bought and used in 2009. I haven't been using it since my electric washer was hooked up, but yesterday morning before we left to gather wood, I used it for my lingerie. I want to do that from now on with any small loads. Too much of a waste of propane to use the big washer when I can quickly do it by hand. It just takes two minutes to wash and two minutes for each rinse.

I may have also mentioned that since living Up Here, I have become entranced with clouds. They give the sky character.  And make it seem so much larger than when it is just plain blue. I think I have taken almost as many pictures of clouds as I have flowers. And speaking of flowers, there seemed to be more fire weed and asters than there were the last time I was down the road. Maybe it's just because we go so much slower in MAX and I have more of a chance to look around. There were also numerous tracks on the road: turkey, grouse, deer, bear.

Something else I am more aware of Up Here is the moon and its phases. Outside there is no other source of light at night except a few little solar lights we have around the yard. No street lights; no head lights; no traffic lights. When we go to bed, sometimes the moon is so bright that it makes us think we left a light on somewhere in the house. Other nights it is almost pitch black outside. And the stars are so brilliant. JB would like to get a telescope at some point for some actual star gazing.

The dogs were fairly quiet this afternoon, after their morning run. But they did have a few barking sessions, and following one of them, the lovely scent of skunks came floating over the west ridge. I read that the only way to get rid of them (other than with a .22) is to trap and relocate them. Although there is one specific place to which I would like to take them, the White House is just too far to drive in this heat.

Wild Rose cutting wood along the road.