February Snow

These are some pictures I took along our driveway and county road, on my way to and from work today. It's been snowing all day, but not much is sticking to the roads, yet, which is a good thing. In the morning, all the mud will be ice and that's actually easier to get through sometimes than simply mud. We'll see tomorrow morning.

(Uncle Larry, if you're reading this, copy the pictures onto your computer (laptop?) or a CD if you can, and show them to MawMaw and PawPaw)

Driveway, just past the gate, going in:

The old schoolhouse where my neighbor's parents went to school:

Felkins Creek:

The bluff line by the big valley (Walton's property) on the way in:

My jeep after digging it out from under the snow:

The driveway where the creek crosses:

And by the way, if you haven't already heard, Zack is going to be a daddy. He and Loretta are expecting their baby in October 2010. I need to get a picture of Loretta, too. For now, here's one of Zack and his first 'baby', Chester.

Favorite Pictures

Gabrielle is going to be graduating this May and I was going through all the photos I have on disk. We're trying to pull some to use in the senior yearbook. Gary scanned and put everything we had on CD's before he moved and today I was very thankful for that effort.

Here's my favorite picture I found of Gabrielle. I like it because of the black night and white snow:

NAIS News - Good news!

From the headlines of the Business section of NYTimes online edition:


U.S.D.A. Plans to Drop Program to Trace Livestock

This is excellent news, but we need to stay alert for the 'new' plan they devise. Keep talking to your representatives.

Fun in the Snow

A little fun in the snow today.

This is not me, by the way - that's Garrison.

Garrison pulled out the old sled and talked me into trying it. That was a blast, but very exhausting! We'd be in much better physical shape if it snowed much around here because just the effort of walking on level ground is a workout. Walking uphill is a ramped up workout. See, that's the thing about sledding downhill. Going down is so easy, but coming back up is not.

The horses watched Garrison go by. They think we're nuts.

Forgot my favorite picture

Comanche's eye, with icicles. They don't seem to be bothering him at all. He and Shasta both have them all down their backs too. They can stay under the stall if they wanted, but they prefer to go outside.

4 o'clock and still snowing

Here's some more from this afternoon. I'm not going back out today if I can help it; my feet are frozen! The horses needed more water in their stall, so I did get to test out my freeze preparations for the faucet down there. It worked great. The faucet is on the ground, because that's where I cut it off when it froze during the last freeze. So I covered the end with a bundle of hay, then with a plastic layer, then with an old curtain and weighed it down with rocks. The whole assembly came off in one big frozen piece, but the water was not frozen. I had hung the hose so that no water would stay in it to freeze and become plugged, because in the past, even if I had water down there, the hose would be frozen and useless. That worked well, too. Here's a short video I took. I am not sure how to load this, but we'll see if it works. If it doesn't work, you'll just have to see how hard it's snowing by looking at the pictures ;) It was deep enough to go over the top of my shoes now. That's pretty deep for us! I'd guess about 5 or 6 inches now.

Blizzard

It's really snowing hard now, but soooo cold outside it's hard to stay out for long. I don't know if it's actually cold in degrees, but the snow is moist and the humidity is high, which makes it more uncomfortable. It's pretty, though. The horses have icicles on them, even.

Snow

It's snowing pretty hard now, a blizzard, even.

Ice and Sleet, and a little Snow too

The great winter storm of 2010 hasn't been too bad so far. The rain started freezing as it fell yesterday afternoon, resulting in the icicles in the pictures, but soon after it turned to sleet and that's mainly what precipitation we've gotten all night.

It is cold and windy, though! My fingers were freezing when I tried to take these pictures and my lense adjuster wouldn't work, so I didn't take very many. I'll go back outside later when I've thawed some to take more.

Since I was able to walk down the hill and back up again to feed the horses, I turned them out. I'd penned them up in case the ice was too slippery, but with the layer of sleet over the ice, its better footing.

We left the faucets running last night, and all is well on the water front. At work, I caught up on all of my samples, so although I might be able to make it in this morning, I'm going to take this opportunity to be home instead.

Seed Swap

For those of you in the area who might be interested, I just got this press release from Jennifer Held and promised to spread the word:

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Dr. Brian Campbell brianc@uca.edu (501) 450-3178 M-F,

Organization: Conserving Arkansas’s Agricultural Heritage (CAAH!)

Date: For immediate distribution

Headline: CAAH! Will co-sponsor Seed Swaps in Seven Arkansas Communities

Got Whippoorwills? Razorbacks? Red Rippers? Pencil Cob? Hickory King? Greasebacks? Turkey Craws? Want some? Come to an Old-Timey Ozark Seed Swap!

Grow Your Own Revolution:

CAAH! will Co-sponsor Seed Swaps in Seven Arkansas Communities

CAAH! Conserving Arkansas’s Agricultural Heritage

“One for the cut worm, one for the crow, one to share, and one to grow”

www.arkansasagro.wordpress.com

Spring is just around the corner and so are our seed swaps! In addition to the 3^rd Annual Ozark Seed Swap at the Ozark Folk Center State Park and the 2^nd Annual Faulkner County Seed Swap at the Faulkner County Library, CAAH! has collaborated with organizations all over the state to establish new Seed Swaps in five additional communities: El Dorado, Fayetteville, Jasper, Russellville, and Searcy. Arkansas farmers and gardeners have a legacy of heirloom seeds that are in danger of being lost, and the sharing of these heirloom seeds will encourage their production for posterity. Last year’s swaps were a huge success with hundreds of gardeners in attendance and a remarkable number of heirloom varieties exchanging hands. We invite you to bring some seeds and stories to swap with other Ozark seed savers and yarn spinners. If you do not have any seeds to swap but want to get started, attend a swap or two and mingle with gardeners and farmers who can help; if you would like, you may bring envelopes, plant cuttings or garden implements to share... We can conserve the heritage of Arkansas while we share good stories, beautify our yards, and of course, get free seeds. Refreshments and music (a pickin’-please bring an instrument if you would like to join in!) will be provided. No charge for admission.

Seed Swaps will be held at the following locations and times:

Mountain View

February 13^th 12-3pm

Ozark Folk Center, Administration Building

1032 Park Ave Mountain View, AR 72560

Contact: Tina Marie Wilcox 870-269-3851

Fayetteville

February 14^th

Fayetteville Public Library
401 W. Mountain St., Fayetteville AR 72701

Contact: Katy Deaton, katyd@ncat.org

El Dorado

February 20^th 1-4 pm

Barton (El Dorado) Public Library
200 East 5^th St., El Dorado AR

Contact: Nancy Arn 870-863-5447

Searcy

February 27^th 10 am-1pm

ASU- Beebe, Farms Classrooms
1000 West Iowa St., Beebe AR
Contact: Sherri Sanders 501-268-5394 SSanders@uaex.edu

Jasper
March 6^th 10am-5pm
Newton County Library, Community Room
Contact: D’Coda dcoda@ozarkseedexchange.com or Jennifer (870)446-2983

Conway

March 13^th 1pm-4pm

Faulkner County Library
1900 Tyler St., Conway AR 72032
Contact: Amy Campbell 706-248-2597 or awheeler1975@hotnail.com

Russellville

March 27^th 10 am-1 pm

Pope County Fair Grounds, old Entertainment Building

1602 SR 124 Russellville AR 72802
Contact: Crystal Bowne 479-567-5707 or cbowne@atu.edu

Now in its third year CAAH! Seed Swaps are sponsored by CAAH!, The University of Central Arkansas Department of Sociology, and the Ozark Folk Center State Park along with interested farmers and gardeners across Arkansas. The seed swaps would not be possible without the donation of facilities in each city and the hard work of our student and AmeriCorps volunteers. CAAH! is a project dedicated to preserving agricultural folkways. Through this project agricultural tradition is spread by saving seeds in a central seed bank and giving them to gardeners throughout Arkansas along with the stories and meaning that have become a part of their essence. The results of the this project are the collection of information on endangered seeds, promotion of a seed sharing resource, and the rejuvenation of traditional Ozark seed swaps and passing on of seeds (as is being encouraged by the University of Georgia's Southern Seed Legacy). For more information on the CAAH! project, our website address is: http://www.arkansasagro.wordpress.com

Country Life and Boys

It was a good clue when I saw the pile of clothes by the back door. If eldest hadn't already called me I would have noticed it anyway.

Youngest was skunked while I was out. It seems he caught a skunk in his trap and there was no other way to get it out other than up close. And in the end, even that didn't work, so the skunk had to be shot, unfortunately. Zack said he thought Garrison's eyes were watering because he was sad over having to kill the skunk, when he came back to the house on the 4-wheeler, but he quickly realized it was more from overwhelming stink than tears.

We've had dogs get skunked but this was the first one of the kids to be on the recieving end. He showered in tomato sauce. That helped, but not completely. He sprayed so much cologne on himself and the house that I can't tell which odor is assaulting my sinuses more. This is funny and I thought I'd share it after the laughter subsided enough to type coherently. It's the same kid who wanted to see why the paint cans have instructions not to puncture... the smell is easier to deal with than the head and face full of yellow spray paint was.

Glaciers are almost gone.

The jeep does great going over the ice. Zack's truck does okay, too. but the car still can't hop onto the iceberg or risk going into the ruts. It's melting finally, though, so maybe tomorrow.

Bobbie Sue better watch out or she might float off on a chunk like a polar bear.

The ice is melting underneath and the water is flowing past. These ruts are so deep the car would get stuck if it went in.

Nuts.

For those of you who know me, I thought I'd post this pictures of my new hair color. Ordinarily, if I've ever colored my hair, it's so close to the original color no one could tell. Well. This is different. I don't think I'll be able to sneak in without it being noticed at work Monday morning. I am bracing myself for that, but at least I've got a full day to get used to it. Poor picture quality, sorry, but the battery died right after and I couldn't get a better one. If you can't tell, it's dark chestnut brown with some of the blonde still coming through near the top. The ends are very dark.

There's still a little ice on the driveway, too. Got some pictures of the ruts today. Its the ruts that are giving the car trouble, since they're so deep. Those pics are in the next post.

Glaciers in the Driveway

We still have Glacier #1 and #2 in our driveway. The first one, coming from the house, is a thick bed of ice caused by a small tributary to the creek which parallels the driveway. It still flows in the attempt to reach the creek, but just keeps building layers of ice once it reaches the driveway. Coming off of it is easier than getting onto it to go up the hill. Just have to be careful not to hit the brakes if you’re not happy about your speed at the point of contact. The second is a large flat sheet of ice that makes for fun slipping and sliding. This one is caused by the spring overflowing the tank on top of that hill. The water seeps out at the base of the hill and spreads out, freezing layer upon layer. 4-wheelers and the 4WD jeep do just fine getting us across our glaciers, but we have left the other 2WD vehicles parked on the other side until it melts. Hopefully, it will be gone by the weekend :)

Upstairs seems to be all dried now with no evidence of water anywhere. Whew.

Frozen Drains

Today the upstairs water lines finally defrosted. I've had the taps open so that once the flow started, it wouldn't freeze back up if I weren't around to notice. I had to go to work today so I was gone most of the day. It was a good plan, but one with other scenarios not completely thought out. The drain lines did not defrost. So I came home to water dripping down the front wall of the kitchen. Ran upstairs to find the entire bedroom and bathroom flooded.

Whoo-hoo! Home at last

The mechanic called this morning to say that he had the jeep done enough for me to use it until I can get it back to the shop after this icy/snowy weather is done. It still needs a bracket to hold the headlights more secure (right now it's rigged with zip-ties), tie rods, and some other things, but it will get me in and out my county road and I am thrilled. Next week, I'll take it back to get the rest of the work done.

It feels good to be home after camping out at work all week. Good to see my kids!

Right now it's 7*F and getting colder by the hour. Will likely be at or below 0*F tomorrow morning. Brrrr!

Camping at Work

The parts for my jeep came in today, so I brought them over to the mechanic in Huntsville. We talked a little about how long it might take. I said, no pressure or anything, but if you can get it done by Friday, I might get to go home this weekend. He laughed. We both know that if it gets as cold as it's predicted to on Thursday, he won't be in the shop. But he did say he'd try to have it done.

I've been camping at work. The road is still too snowy/packed for my truck to get out if I did make it up Snotgrass hill (there's debate over whether the name is 'snotgrass' or 'snodgrass' no one really seems to know). But if the jeep isn't done, I will get home this weekend anyway. I'll just park at the bottom of the hill and get someone on the other end to come pick me up - either one of the neighbors or Garrison on the 4-wheeler. If we do the 4-wheeler, though, we'll be popsicles by the time we get back to the house unless he remembers to bring a big blanket to wrap in on the way there and back. That might work.

Nature Humor

I was supposed to return to work this morning, after a long New Year's break. However, Nature had other ideas. First, yesterday she had me attempt to get the truck up the road unsuccessfully, causing me to learn how to slide backwards downhill in a truck with no rear view (because the camper blocks rear vision). That was exciting. The kids were with me and they made the event even more exciting with all that noise. So the truck was turned around and pointing back the way we came. Good. Onward to the house. That was exciting, too, since there are fairly good hills to climb. They were easy enough to navigate down, so I was hopeful. Nature had the idea to teach me how to climb hills in a rear-wheel drive truck while sliding precariously close to the edge of the drop-off, as kids hooted and hollered beside me. That was even more fun than the first uphill we attempted, out on the county road. We did make it back up to the house, where I promptly parked the truck and declared us snow-bound.

Tried the car this morning. Driving it was not as exciting in the snow as the truck was, so I was hopeful that with the car I'd be able to get to work this morning. Just to be safe, I parked downhill from the house, in the event Nature wanted me to learn sailing over the ravine in small car on the way down said hill this morning. Made it down to the car on foot this morning without busting my chops once. I was proud of that, since yesterday's hike up to the house after parking it there was a little more eventful. It gave me hope for more success. Car made it out the driveway just fine. Also made it halfway up the original problem hill just fine. But did you know, that lightweight front-wheel drive cars can slide bacwards even faster downhill than heavy rear-wheel trucks? Almost like skiing, in fact.

Turned car around, almost on purpose. Pointed back toward house. Made it to first hill right past the gate and lovely car would not make it up. Parked car and proceeded to walk the half mile back to the house. It was a beautiful morning this morning, and if I weren't so miffed at being thwarted at every turn and hill, I would have enjoyed it a little more.

More Pics

Bobbie Sue:
Badger:

Badger and Bobbie Sue

Greenery on ice:

Old White oak:

Homestead Bell:

Across to the valley:

Snow pile on post:

Wood, metal and stone:

Another picture

First Snow

First 'real' snow of 2010. So far, about an inch, but it's steadily coming down and it looks like at this pace we might have a few inches by tomorrow if it doesn't stop.

I love the snow. Even the cold doesn't feel so cold when it's snowing. But it is only 19*F, and hands do have a tendency to freeze. The dogs love it, though. They are much more playful when it's cold out. Maybe they do that to stay warm, but they appear to like it.

My camera battery is charging right now, but I'll take more pics later on today when it is ready.

Snares

Tues. night:

Something very creepy just happened. I got home at 7. It was dark. The dogs both came out to greet me and I went inside. Two hours later. Went outside to put up the horses and my great pyr was whining down the gully and wouldn't come. So i thought he was hurt and got a flashlight, woke Zack up to come help me get him. It's very steep and rocky there. Found him tied to a sapling with a haystring, a slip knot on his neck and hard knot on the tree. It did not look like an accidental tangle. So it looks like someone came here within the past 2 hours, took the most difficult route possible to get away, and tied my dog up on their way out. it's very dark outside, no moonlight.

For the first time since I've lived here i am scared.

until.

Zack thought of what it was. Garrison had set a snare with haystrings, trying to catch a rabbit. OMG. it was one of his walk-through snares. I was getting really freaked out and had put the dog in the house in the hopes that he would do better at alerting me from in here than he did out there.

Good thing we didn't have to wait this long to catch something to eat, though! how funny now, but i was truly sweating for a little while there. Our imaginations were running wild. Even bigfoot and ghosts were getting into the mix, haha.

Brrrrrr!

It was 11*F when I checked the temp at 6 a.m. Feels pretty darn cold. Poor duckie can't swim in his pond, but it was funny watching him walk all over it quacking his discontent.

Did it Again

I'm getting better at this, so practice must help. Another deer down - a doe and on Hwy. 74, again. This time, though, I managed to slow down enough so that it hit on the corner of the front bumper and only busted one fog light and cracked the headlight. I rarely get over 50 on that stretch of highway, anyway, but I was going slower than that this time because I'd already slowed for a few deer before this one a mile or so before. It helped that I was driving the full size truck and not a small car or the jeep full of plastic grill. The deer flew over a steep embankment and I couldn't retrieve it. So, there's a new set of burnt rubber on the pavement.

Gab's deer

It's a little lopsided in the antlers, and had a gimpy leg - a good one to cull. She did good!

Gab's Hunt

Ha! This morning Gab bagged an 8- point. You'd have to know the history of the conflict between my daughter and my sons to understand just how incredibly strange this is. When she was little, she hated the idea of hunting and would always chase whatever my son was stalking away, starting with blackbirds and his bb gun. So this season she decides she wants to kill a deer and none of us seriously believed she would follow through. Guess she proved us wrong. I'm waiting on pictures and then I'll upload.

Opening Day

Modern gun season opened today and my boys were ready. Even my daughter went hunting for the first time. Apparently, she'd gone through their closets last night pilfering camo. When they got up this morning to get dressed, they were hopping mad because they were missing some of the things they planned to wear.

Zack (human), Chester (dog), and Rachel (cat)

Ducky

Badger and Garrison. Badger wants to go hunting, too. They never let him go.

Zack successfully procured some dinner.

Horses

We didn't see any deer this morning. It was so windy that they probably just stayed bedded down. When I got back to the house, I decided to ride Snippy. He's been recovering from a severe white line, or separation, in all but one hoof. This was a result of his visit to a corn feeder over the mountain in late spring. His hooves are looking much better now, but we haven't been riding him. His trimmer, Dell Watkins (who, by the way is an excellent barefoot trimmer), loaned me some Boa Boots to use on him. You can see them in the picture; they're on his back feet. We rode around a little bit, and then I came back to the house and swapped the saddle and bridle over to Comanche. He's a lot taller than Snippy, but skinnier. Snippy is a quarter horse, Comanche is half Missouri Fox Trotter/half Spotted Saddle Horse. Comanche will never be as chunky as Snippy, just because of the difference in breed traits. He's not trained yet, but he saddles, cinches and takes the bit just fine. Except that he chews on the bit because he's not accustomed to how it feels. I climbed on and off a few times to give him some experience with me mounting and dismounting. He was unfazed. I turned him around in a circle, but could not get him to go forward. After that, I just let them stand tied to the hitching post while I would be around for the next few hours, working around the yard.

Garrison helped me hang the gate properly on the stall. That took a little while. We had to drill holes in the post and screw in the gate hangers. Then we worked on the fence a little.



You can see that Comanche has a bunch of cockleburs in his forelock again. I couldn't get them out.

Youth Hunt

Tomorrow is youth day for deer hunting with guns. Zack (Garrison's older brother) was planning to bring him out to the stand to sit with him, but now Zack has to work. Guess who gets to go deer hunting tomorrow with Garrison?? Yes, that would be me. I'll worry about what to do with it if we get one, if we get one...one hurdle at a time. Getting out of bed and to the stand before daylight will be the first hurdle, and sitting there quietly for however long it takes is the second hurdle. The odds of making it to the third hurdle is not so great with me as a hunting partner, lol.

Waylaid Again

Best laid plans just don't seem to work out lately. Today I intended to change out the top element of my hot water heater because it keeps tripping the breaker. I changed the bottom one recently, so my dad figured the top one would be the problem. A couple people said that since I was only changing the top one, I wouldn't have to wait for the whole hot water tank to drain; just drain it past the top one. So I said, okay, that will save some time...although I really didn't know how one would tell WHEN the water level is past the top element. So I started draining the water a while ago. I watched the hose and water was coming out. Let it go for a while, figured it was probably good, but for good measure I'd let it drain a bit longer. Okay, NOW it must be at least past the top element, right?

Wrong. I struggled a bit to get the old element loose, using a special tool and a screwdriver. I should have taken the hint then to wait a little longer. But no, I push forward, finally got it loose and a rush of water comes pouring out all over the floor and just keeps on coming.

I'm hollering for Garrison to bring me some towels and he just dumps a few dirty clothes down there for me. No, I want ALL the towels, clean ones dirty ones, it doesn't matter, just bring me some towels. But mom, we just got these folded and put away....Just bring them!

Finally I have enough towels to mop up all the water, that now has quit gushing out the hole where the top element should have stayed for at least 10 more minutes. All the insulation is wet, plus the insulation for the bottom element. So now I will have to get a blowdryer and dry all the contacts in there, and wait for the insulation to dry before I can get it all put back together and turned on. Hot water will be a good bit farther down the road today.

There are a couple lessons here for us homesteading gals on our own. First, this element can be reused. See the picture up there? Daddy said its the rust that is causing it to short out right there at the base. If I clean the rust off, I can use it again. So I'm putting that element away to use later in a pinch. The other lesson is just drain the whole darn tank. It's more time consuming to clean the mess and wait for insulation to dry than it is to wait for the water to finish draining all the way down.

Sunrise

This morning I got up before the sun crept over the mountaintop. I fed the horses and sat down for a spell to enjoy the sunrise. The first finger reached way over the tops of the ridge to the south and west. For a long time the only thing with bright illumination was that mountaintop. Then the next finger crept over the top of the mountain east, brightening the southeast corner of that ridge. In short order the sun's orb showed itself in a blinding splash of light. At that point, I picked out Snippy's hooves and turned them loose. No particular reason for waiting; I just wanted to watch the sunrise. It's always late here because of the close proximity of the mountains. The final show arrived at about 7:40. That's about one hour later than the flat-landers.

With last night's time change, I was able to get up before the sun and feel like an early riser. Tonight, though, I'll take back all the nice things I felt because it will get dark an hour earlier than the night before, and I don't particularly like that. It means that Friday was the last day until March 25 that I'll get home from work before the sun is completely down. So, I'll leave when it's dark and get home when it's dark. I don't like that at all.

Horses and the Best Laid Plans

Comanche: Snippy, with Gab riding, and Comanche coming around the corner with attitude:

These are pictures from summer, not this morning, LOL. It was too chilly this morning for shorts and short sleeves!

But it is a gloriously sunny day today. This morning when I went outside to look for the horses, it was chilly, around 40*F, but not uncomfortable with a jacket. Snippy foundered recently because he gorged himself in early spring on corn in a deer feeder over the mountain next to ours. It was luck that he didn't die right then from colic, but he seemed to be fine.

I waited, knowing how long it takes for incidents like that to show up in their hooves. Right on schedule, about six months later, he foundered. Bad separation in one hoof, and two more started not far behind. Only one hoof was spared. Three out of four were in bad shape; at least he had one good leg to stand on. It was beginning to look like he'd need surgical work from a vet, so I got busy digging herbs.

Between hoof soaks with my herbal germ-killing and cell proliferating formula, taking him off grass and rocky ground, and a good high copper hoof vitamin, he is now almost completely mended. It is almost a miracle that he went from so lame to running over rocks in a little more than one month.

Yesterday, he figured he was good to go and busted out of his stall, taking off for the field on the other side of the creek with his cohort, Comanche. The boys and I think he and Comanche had been planning this bust for a little while. By the light of the moon it was easy to find them, but Snippy had no intention of returning so soon to his confinement. He ran like there was no tomorrow, skimming over rocks and uneven ground as if he were born to the terrain (in actuality, he was born in S. Louisiana where a person has to BUY rocks if they want them, imported from places like here). So I left them out last night.

This morning, they both came running to a bucket shaken with a little feed and again, he acted like there were no rocks in his path. I think he is mended. Called Gab, who stayed the night with a friend and told her that the horse is ready to ride.

Today is a day for re-organizing, cleaning, and getting my plans together for the next phase of cabinets and painting. My bedroom needs to be painted still, and I need to pack up the rest of my things from the old house so we can finish the demolition. There's a lot to do, but I can't get anything accomplished without a plan, so that's the order of the day. Tomorrow I want to work on expanding the winter pen for Snippy. I'll keep him penned during the winter so they won't run away over to the hunting clubs again, looking for deer feeders.

More Rain!

It rained a lot yesterday, apparently. It didn't look like all that much to me, but the ditches and runoff waterfalls on the mountains disagreed. I had planned to go to a writer's meeting in Fayetteville after work, but Zack called to say that the bridges were already flooded down the road and that meant a long trip in the back way. So, I decided to not attend the meeting and just go home instead.

Lucky thing, too. By the time I'd picked Gabrielle up from her friend's house and started toward home, a lot more rain had fallen. We decided to try the first alternate route, where there is only one bridge to cross. That wouldn't work because that creek was swollen and the bridge was already flooded. The only other route is almost an hour of dirt road, but other than opting to stay in town, it was the only choice. So we went that way.

To say there is no bridge is a little deceiving. The reason there is no bridge is because the road just goes through the creek down near the end of our driveway. The water was pretty high in that spot, and I stopped the truck and backed up to the last neighbor's house instead. Made a call to Zack to let him know where we were and decided we'd better walk it first to see just how deep it was.

Gab and I, with flashlights and supervision from our neighbor Don, rolled up our pants and waded in. The water was freezing! I see why people get hypothermia after getting caught in flash floods. We stopped when the water reached our knees and we hadn't made it to the swift part yet. Just a little too scary for me. So Don cranked up the school bus and we drove across it in the bus to get an idea of how deep it would be. The water only came up to the second step for a little while (that's the determining factor). We thought the truck would make it.

And it did. But the water reached the bottom of the headlight at the lowest point, and that's a little out of my comfort zone for crossing creeks and I won't do it again. This morning it was a lot lower and we left after daybreak so we could see. But the kids got to school late and I was really late getting into work.

Hope we get our sunny weather forecasted for the weekend. We need to dry out a bit.

Done

Now it is finished, except for the grabber clip I'll put in the top corner to keep the corner tightly closed. Knobs are on, trim on, all that's left is paint.

Pantry

Almost finished. Ignore the mess around the pantry - when I'm working on a project, all other work seems to get put on hold... so clutter remains, dishes stay dirty, pretty much nothing else but the project gets done. So, you can see that it still needs a handle on the bottom door, and a gripper thingie on the top of the top door, either a magnet or one of those clips that hold a door tight...don't know what they're called. But my drill bit broke while putting the handle on the other door, so I'll have to wait until I can get back to Lowe's for a bit. Also still needs top molding and on both sides at the bottom molding. But the last piece of molding is in the back of the truck - and Gab has the truck. Otherwise, it's done. Well, it needs to be painted, too. But that's a different project.

Probably close to the end

This is the west side of our mountain. The property line is right about halfway and goes over the top. This is the view out the driver side of the vehicle as you travel down the county road.

Just more pretty color. This is down a logging road at the house on Bradshaw mountain where my parents house-sit for a lady who travels to California during winter.

If the wind blows too hard, the rest of the color will blow away. The leaves are falling and it won't be long before the limbs are bare. The title pic is a dogwood with next spring's bloom lying in wait.

More color

Garrison called me to come take a picture of the oak this morning. He was right, the oak was shining in Fall Splendor once the sun made it over the mountain. The title picture is the view to the east from the porch or the balcony. The tree must be over 200 years. It has a partner, a red oak, about 50-100 feet west, but it is struggling to survive an oak borer infection and the carpenter ants have moved in. It is about the same age but not nearly as robust.

Pantry Progress

Okay, I'm feeling pretty good about the pantry now. So far it's coming along better than I expected. The door, though, presents a real challenge. I have no idea how to do it! I'll post the finished pantry hopefully tomorrow. Maybe tonight if I get real lucky.

First Frost

This picture did not capture the color or the image I wanted to share. It is the view from my bedroom balcony and the sun was just popping over the mountain to the east at 8:20 a.m. And then my camera battery went dead again. Something must be wrong with my battery, because I'd just charged it the other day when this happened, so I probably will need to buy a new one soon. Anyway, this morning it was just below freezing and a layer of frost coated all the windshields. It was our first frost. The sun has been up a couple hours, but situated as we are in a valley with mountains close beside, it takes a while for it to get high enough to shine into my window. When it shines on the opposing mountains and valley, it lights up the colors of the western side. The battery is back on the charger again, but the lighting won't be the same by the time it's ready to reload, unfortunately. Maybe tomorrow will give another opportunity. It's been raining and overcast so much lately, that this is the first time I've seen the sun so bright in the morning in a long time. It was a welcome sight!

Blazing Leaves

The maples are almost glowing, a luminous yellow-orange, and my camera battery was dead today. Not to worry, it is on the charger tonight and tomorrow I should be able to get some pretty pictures to post of the fall colors 2009. I'll take the scenic route to work (lol, they're all scenic, but I do have a favorite route during fall).

Fall Colors

This is on the driveway, going toward the house, where the creek comes in on it. This is going toward the house, on the path coming from the garden/deer food plot, looking east.

Some reds are showing on the sourwood. This is facing south, from the garden.

Doesn't seem like much done for the amount of time and effort spent, but here's the roughed in cabinet I've been working on all weekend:

The tall one is the pantry, which will have 2 doors, one 6' long and one above it about 1.5' long. To the right is just a continuation of the sink counter and that's where the coffeepot and can opener will live, with other undecided stuff underneath. Over the short shelf will be a small upper cabinet to hold the microwave on the lowest shelf and an undecided other stuff on a shelf above that to make the top level with the pantry. To the left of the pantry is where the refrigerator normally lives (I have it pulled out to work on the cabinets). I'll try to make another small cabinet to over the fridge to put things I rarely use.

Maybe I didn't get a whole lot done, but I have a much much better idea of what I'm TRYING to do, at least. Since I've not done this sort of thing before, I don't know what sort of materials I'll need until I get doing it. Now I see I'm in need of some 1x3x8 boards to finish the front before putting on a door, and I need some 2x2 for making shelf rails inside. So I won't get it completely done until next weekend. That is irritating! I like to start and finish a project, I hate putting off finishing for a whole week.

Wildlife

Here's Garrison's deer blind that Zack started, and my dad and Garrison built. Zack planted rye grass on the field. In spring, they'll till it in and plant corn and squash and some other garden plants.

This bear enjoys the corn feeder meant for the deer. He is the rotundest, healthiest bear I've seen (only on the game camera, haven't run across him in the woods yet). The pipe (corn feeder) is 6' tall, to give you some perspective on the size of the bear.

Weather and cabinets

The new title picture is the view from the front porch of the old house. Later, when the old house is torn down, it will be the view from the front porch of the new house.

We got a lot of rain overnight Thursday, but not as much as the weather channel predicted. It probably amounted to around 3", but they were calling for a possible 6 to 9 inches, so we lucked out. I was afraid the rain would wash out our driveway, after my dad had put so much work into it, but we got lucky there too and it hardly suffered any erosion at all. Today when I woke up it was 43*, not as chilly as predicted, either. And that was good, too. This is our first winter in the new house. I was worried about how easy it would be to heat, since we don't have central air/heat. I hung thermal curtains in the doorway leading from the living room to the kitchen, and now the kitchen is easy to get warm and it keeps the warmth from spilling over to the living room, which is still under construction. We don't use the living room except as passage to the boy's room and outside, so there's no need to warm it yet.

Plans for today include building another cabinet in the kitchen and finishing the one I started in the utility room. I have one of the old glass windows from the old house that I am planning to use in one of the smaller upper cabinets for the door. Maybe I'll have time to build that one, too. If it works well, and I do a decent job of it, I may use the other windows as doors on the rest of the upper cabinets, too. Since these were once windows, they don't come with knobs, but I'd like to get some of the old multi-facet glass knobs for them. I think that would be pretty and would go nicely with the 'country' theme of the lower cabinets. Wish me luck!

Fall is a good time to reflect and plan. Today I’ve been thinking about my vision of the future and our homestead.

My yard is junky. I am sure I will always have junk; I'm very much a packrat by nature. It’s just that I'd like to get the junk organized. Very little of our homestead is organized yet, but this is how I’d like it to eventually look.

Starting from the gate, there would be a nice welcoming flower/herb garden that I can decorate for the various seasons and holidays (my favorite being fall and Halloween). I'd also like to have a big rock engraved with our farm name, whenever we decide what that will be. There is no shortage of big flat rocks I can use, and I would like to do the engraving myself. With power tools, not by hand. Or maybe with hand tools if it’s not too hard. I’m just not sure what tools that would be. I’ve used dremel on small rocks, so something along those lines, just bigger, I guess.

Second, I’d like the driveway to be a little more tame - not too much, but enough for cars to come through without having to dodge the rose brambles that are reaching out to grab them. A split rail fence would be really nice, but its way down on the list of priorities. Before that would be planting plants and trees that I like to see at the various times of year. A few Echinacea’s that I’d planted a couple years ago actually bloomed this summer and it was a real treat. I want more of that. Redbuds, dogwoods and forsythias are high on the list.

At momma and daddy’s camper, I’d like to put a picket fence around their little yard so the dogs and horses won't harass them while they're trying to sit outside. My horse is almost as bad as a dog for wanting to sit in your lap.

Going on down the driveway some more toward the house (the driveway is almost ½ mile long), I’d like the first thing you notice to be the giant old oak trees in the front. And my quaint little rocked up henhouse. Right now it's not rocked and it’s not quaint, but it will be once I pull the plastic down and put up the rocks, and take down the ragged little fence that I don't use anyway. There will also be the paddock for the horse during winter, and the goats and chickens the rest of the year.

Then I’d like visitors to drive up to the house and notice the beautiful rock steps and landscaping out front. The old house will be gone by then, and when folks come to visit, we'll sit on the front porch and soak in the view. Right now the view only includes the trees, since they're leafed out and blocking the view. But in winter, you can see over to the valley on the other side of the creek. And from the balcony on the loft bedroom, you can see out to a beautiful sunset in the west.
Oh, and I’d like for folks to be able to come visit without needing 4-wheel drive to get to the house. My dad’s been working hard on that one and has it almost taken care of. But I need a sabbatical to take care of the rest the vision, I think. It’s going to come along, but my vision is way ahead of reality ;)