January 23, 2019 Moonset & More Snow

. . .Monday morning.

Monday 1/21. While I was writing my blog this morning, I had to stop in order to get photos of the moonset that I could see from the loft window.  I pulled on my coat, grabbed my camera and slipped into my boots.  Then dashed outside and took almost thirty pictures.  Got back up to the loft as the moon was actually setting and had to dash out again to take more.  See photos above.

What I put into the girls' morning oatmeal certainly wouldn't seem very appetizing to me, but they love it.  This morning they had bits of zucchini left over from vegetti I made the other night, along with raisins and a little bit of banana.

While bringing in the firewood this morning, I also brought our last bag of needles for fire starter to fill the little garbage can I have on the porch.  We have used much more of them this winter because of the warmer weather.  We don't have the fire constantly going, so we have to use more needles to start it up again.  Fortunately I still have several bags of chips and blows from splitting the wood.  I can light a long, slender piece and put it in to light the others.  Works just fine.

We all went on the morning walk on this magnificent winter day.  The clouds had moved on.  The sun was shining brilliantly in the bluest of blue skies.  And the snow was sparkling.  Wow!

The sun stayed out most of the day and our high was 32.  When talking to Elsie this evening, I asked if she could please pick up our mail and just put it in JB's Jeep that is parked at their place.  She said, "Of course," as she always does in times when we can't get down for weeks at a time.

Tuesday 1/22. It is 28 and overcast this morning.  There were deer on the east slope, but the snow is just too deep for the dogs to chase them.  They belly-pan in most places and in many others have to use their chests to plow.  So Dinga  sits in the drive and barks.  Jesse just watches them.

JB and I were out after lunch to dig out my Jeep so I could move it a bit closer to the tractor in order to hook up the air compressor and fill the tractor's back tires with air.  Those tires will definitely have to be replaced this year, but for now they hold the air in enough for us to use it.  JB wanted to use the bucket to dig out the snow around the Jeep and Miss Kitty, and where the tractor is parked.  We could see the wall of snow coming in from the southwest, and when it arrived at 1:30 pm we stopped our project and covered everything up again.  The forecast calls for snow today and tonight, then high winds tomorrow.  So looking forward to that. . .

Back inside, JB took a nap then baked hamburger buns and foccacia bread, splitting the dough in half.  They turned out great!

I don't think I fully explained why we left MAX where he was when the axle broke.  We can usually limp along with a broken axle enough to get him home, but this time the tire was at an angle and not able to keep the track on.

The temperature was 34 when the snow began falling, so it waffled back and forth from snow to frozen rain.  It didn't stick until about 5:00 pm, when it had cooled off to about 30.  Then it was coming down in big, fluffy flakes.

When we sit down to dinner, JB reads the daily info from the Farmer's Almanac.  Today it said the if the sun shines on January 22, the wind will blow on the 23rd.  It did shine today and we have a forecast for high winds tomorrow. . .

Wednesday 1/23. It is 30 and overcast this morning with high valley fog.  The wind that woke us up at 4:00 am has died down to a light breeze.

Thought for the day: Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.  Thomas Carlyle