Last night right after we got into bed, around 9:15 or so, I heard a coyote. I had cracked the window ever so slightly for some fresh air. I jumped out of bed and opened the window wide so I could hear it better. The barks and howls of the coyote split the night air and quickly faded as it got further and further away from the cabin. I could hear wet snowflakes making a plopping noise as they hit the canoe stored under the window.

Rick got up at midnight to look outside and he said we only had a skiff of snow at that point. I woke up several times thinking that if we were going to get the snow they had predicted then the wind should be blowing. All was quiet. I assumed they had blown the forecast.

It was kind of like Christmas morning this morning, lying in bed anticipating opening the curtains instead of presents. We were not disappointed. I was rather shocked to see about six inches of so already on the ground and covering the trees.

The photo above is the view out our main window this morning. Since then it has snowed at least another 3 to 4 inches on top of the six or so that we got overnight.


Here is a before and after view of our driveway looking away from the cabin. The first one was taken yesterday morning, the second one was taken this morning.

It has snowed all day and just now is finally stopping at 4:00 p.m. At times it really came down. We lost our internet satellite connection for a time because of the heavy snowfall and some accumulation of snow on the dish itself.

It’s been between 24 degrees F and 26 degrees F all day. The heat has not come on at all as I’ve kept a modest fire going all day in the wood cookstove. The cabin is nice and toasty. It always amazed me that all that lie between me and the great outdoors is the width of a log.

I had to laugh at the pack rat’s preparedness for the winter weather. This is his collection yesterday afternoon on either side of the front step—this time near the ground and not on the step itself. Can you see what it has collected for insulation? Take a close look at both artful pack rat piles. Do you see the little “something special?”





If you can’t tell, I’ll give you a clue: the dogs helped somewhat.

We could try to get out in the morning, but frankly I am afraid we will get stuck. I think it’s better to wait until it gets above freezing and the sun comes out tomorrow to help with some melting. We have gotten stuck trying to make it out before and thankfully we had neighbor Larry to help us out. He isn’t around to “save” us anymore. So, scheduled departure date is now Sunday. Fingers crossed!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad at the cabin 8,650 feet above sea level

Yesterday as we sat down at the table to eat lunch we noticed this small hawk, a merlin, swooping back and forth in front of the window. He appeared to be trying to scare the steller jays away from the feeders. What we really think was that he was after the chipmunks that scurry around underneath the feeder, and sometimes there are so many of them that the ground looks like it’s in motion.

His antics kept us amused for about 15 minutes, after which he gave up hunting for his lunch and left.






A little later on in the day, the same dead tree was used by a chipmunk as an outpost. Maybe he was looking for the merlin?



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad at the cabin 8,650 feet above sea level

Just as we are nearing the end of our stay we are completely in cabin mode. We don’t really pay attention to any kind of schedule (except for the dogs) and we get up when we feel like it, eat when we feel like it, and go to bed when we feel like it. Last night we turned in around 8:00 p.m. I think. We got up at 5:30 because the heater wasn’t coming on fully. (Rick had replaced the batteries in the thermostat and the cover was not on completely.)

We do shower every day but tend to wear the same clothes for several days. Fashion mavens we are not.

We’ve done really well planning and buying meals this time. We are really getting the most out of the ingredients we bought, such as we had to buy italian sausage for the Lasagna Soup and we used the rest of the sausage for italian sausage with peppers and onions last night.  Thrifty!


Sunset over Bull Mountain on Monday evening.

The weather has not been typical at all for this time of year. We didn’t bring any really warm clothes as we never need them. I am usually running around in shorts with layers on the top, but this year I’ve worn shorts once in two weeks and that was yesterday when the temperature was about 70 degrees F.

We are usually longing for keeping a fire going in the wood stove and this year have pretty much had one every day, although we let it go out in the afternoon.

The wind is something else that is not normal this year. It’s been extremely windy most days. I am not a big fan of the wind but if you live up here you get used to it. September is not usually a windy month—mostly winter and spring is when it blows. The wind also becomes your friend up here. Why? Because Wind=Power! Everyone has a wind generator (our is decommissioned now). We were discussing the wind last week when we had our neighbors over for a drink and they all said they celebrate when the wind blows by staying up late watching movies! Ah, high country life.

The aspens are not behaving as they should either. Some have turned while others’ leaves are still on the tree, but they were touched by the frost and snow last week and instead of turning color they will just fall off.

We took a drive yesterday over Sand Creek Pass and up a BLM road on the back of Bull Mountain. It’s usually a beautiful drive in the fall, but again, the trees this year are pretty much hit and miss. The view of the Rawah Mountain range is always beautiful from the top of the pass.




There are quite a few antelope around and we saw this little group of girls that was being watched over by a big male. He was pretty possessive of his little harem and while I was trying to snap their photo one female broke off from the pack and started to run. We watched him run after her, covering a large amount of ground in a very short period of time, and turned her right around and chased her back to the other females. Very cool.





We are expecting some snow on Thursday night into Friday, the amount of which seems unclear at this point. One prediction is for not much while the other one is for “a substantial snow event.” If that happens we won’t be leaving on Friday as planned, but will have to wait a day. We left the snow chains at home with the thought that surely we wouldn’t need them in September!

Rick has been posting some very interesting and enjoyable blog posts over at his site too all about our days at the cabin. I encourage you to go over and visit him, read a little and learn a lot!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad at the cabin 8,650 feet above sea level

This morning when I opened my eyes I saw a glow behind the closed curtains. I jumped out of bed and threw on my robe knowing that the glow meant a beautiful sunrise was taking place without me.

On the west side of the cabin I saw this gorgeous lenticular cloud,
looking for all the world like the Mother Ship was about to land and take us away.


On the other side, or east side of the cabin, was this cloud, which was not quite as well formed.


We went to town today to get the few groceries that we need to get us by for the rest of the week before we leave. I don’t even want to think about leaving this special place on Earth. But, leave we must.


A nice pronghorn antelope on the way into Laramie.

We also did laundry while in town and that went by quickly given you do three loads of wash all at once. Some of it that didn’t go in the laundromat driers is blowing in the stiff breeze on the clothesline.


The sky coming back from Laramie.

We tried a new recipe last night that came from the latest issue of Food Network Magazine, and I have to say it was absolutely delicious and we both gave it 5 stars! It was this Lasagna Soup. It tasted just like lasagna but with half the fuss. We’ll be making it again soon.

Just so you know, we have to be careful with our internet usage and have exhausted our limit on several days so I try to only use it a few times per day. Therefore I am not really commenting on comments, nor visiting your blogs as often as I usually do. Sorry! I appreciate all your comments!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad at the cabin 8,650 feet above sea level

The only aspen that has changed around the cabin! I love it when they turn orange instead of yellow.

We did indeed get snow yesterday afternoon into early evening. It was a wet snow that came down without any wind so it stuck to everything in sight. It was nice to be inside the cabin with a fire in the wood stove keeping us cozy while looking out on the snow falling outside.


It snowed for quite some time before the temperature dropped to freezing and then it began to stick. The poor aspens were not prepared as you can see their leaves in the photo are still green.





It had started out in the morning as a drizzly rain. It stopped for a while and I was convinced it was not going to do much else. In the lull we took the girls around the bottom of our property for a much needed walk.

The aspens here had changed a great deal from just a few days before.

The snow ended up just coating the ground. During the night the wind kicked up and this morning there was not much left.

Here is Bull Mountain this morning with its dusting of white.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad at the cabin 8,650 feet above sea level