Yesterday was supposed to be rainy but instead it turned into a fairly nice day so I decided to take a walk at Long Pond Ironworks. Like I've said before, the color this year is very blah and not nearly as vibrant as it usually is. I'm not sure what the problem is because this summer was pretty normal with no real rainy or dry spots. I was also interested to see if the burning bushes were turning yet. So were, some weren't. There are so many of them along this trail that it can be quite spectacular. Seventy percent of them were still green. Huh.

I did come across a family of swans. When I first saw them they were on the other side of the lake from me, but eventually glided closer.

They were not bothered by my crashing around in the brush on shore. I could hear them "talking" to each other in low murmurs. I can't describe the sound they were making, kind of like a refined cluck.

The youngsters were curious though. At one point I was focusing through rushes, hence the soft effect in this photo.

I woke to the sound of a dog barking outside. It wasn't a coyote. I stirred from my sleepy state enough to recognize my surroundings. Ah, I was home. It feels strange to be here. Normally it feels good to get "home," but this time I'm ready to go back. I'm not sure what was different this year than past years. 

Yesterday I wandered our house aimlessly, unsure of any routine or what I was doing. It was all off. I didn't sit with my morning cup of coffee watching the sun light up the side of Bull Mountain. I didn't start a fire in the wood stove to take the chill off. No stellar jays squawking and asking for their morning feeding. No walk to the bottom with the girls. 

No. Instead we had the television tuned to Good Morning America. I was appalled at the amount of depressing, unnecessary news they spew out. Rapes, murders, accidents and lots of other horrible things that don't have any bearing on my daily life. Sure, some news you need to hear, but we really don't need the level of detail they report. I've decided it's not part of my morning anymore. I lived just fine without it for three weeks and I felt all the better for it. 

The trees have really changed here, and a few are even done so we have a lot of leaves on the ground already. When we left it was still summer, but we came home to fall. It's chilly and gray and we had to turn the heat on for the first time. It's hard to believe we were swimming right before we left.

I'm sure all the old rhythms of life will soon find their way back into our routines and life will go on as before.

 

 

 

Yesterday

We are getting a taste of what it would be like to live here at the cabin during the winter months. We are snowed in! Our neighbors called this morning saying they were going to try and see if it was possible to make it out or not and asked if we were planning to leave, and if so, could we all caravan together for safety.

We said well ... we weren’t really planning on trying to leave until Sunday and as yet had made no move to get things packed up. But, if they were going out and not coming back in until Sunday afternoon then there would not be anybody around to help us in an emergency. They said they would call when they got back from their scouting trip.

In the meantime, Rick and I started to gather things and begin our task of packing up just in case they found it was possible to leave. We are a pretty good team when it comes to who does what in the whole process.

We were pretty much packed except for the fridge and Rick was starting the chore of putting on our newly-made shutters on the windows when we got a phone call from the neighbors. Getting out was not possible. They had only gotten just so far, passed a few pickup trucks stuck in a ditch, and found that the main county road we would need to travel from the Wyoming/Colorado state line in to Laramie had not been plowed. Not only was it not plowed, but they had no intention of plowing it until they were certain they could keep the road open because the wind which was drifting it continually. (A very common occurrence up here.)


Hailey says phooey! I didn’t want to go home yet anyway.

So, Rick took down shutters he had already put up, brought in things that were already packed in the truck that might freeze, I unpacked a few things on the inside and we settled in once again. We left the suitcase packed and things are sitting around in bags and boxes, just waiting for the inevitable all-clear call.

There is one slight hitch though. We decided to strap on our x-country skis and ski up to the neighbors to see what condition the road was in to their place and see what drifting had taken place. It’s not a pretty picture. Well, it is a pretty picture if you have no where to go and don’t care if you get out. Here is the road in one direction. The turn on the left that you can see is the road that leads to our driveway. I stood in one position to take both of these photos. The second photo shows the road that goes past our neighbors’ property and you can just make out there gate posts in the distance.





If you can’t tell by looking at the photos, it doesn’t look good. We could maybe get up off the road and go cross-country where there is less snow, but even that poses it’s problems. Here Rick tries out a possible path.





The wind is pretty much relentless today, carving and shaping the fresh snow. I just wish Mother Nature would practice her art only on the hills and not on the roads.


Right now I am thinking that Pioneer Woman has nothin’ on me.

P.S. I should have added that we have enough food for about three more days or so, plus (very important) wine. We are fine except that Rick really does need to get back to work!

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

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

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