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

I saw on the weather channel that it looked like you guys were going to get maybe 3-5 inches of snow, but central and northern Wyoming was supposed to get 12-18 inches of snow!  Was wondering if you were going to try to leave before the snow flies, but obviously not.  Hope you don’t get too much1 Stay safe and warm.

Don’t think you’re going to be able to leave on Friday - still snow and 50 mph winds predicted for southern WY and NB panhandle with severe weather warnings for IA for Friday day!  Now predictions of 6-10 inches of snow for Livermore on Friday.  You might be able to go across CO on 14 and hit 76 through Sterling and meet up with 80 that way and avoid the worst of the storm.

If you head out of the high country tonight and head south, you could take 70 for a ways instead of 80 and avoid the snow altogether and leave Friday as planned.  If you get THAT much snow, you might not be able to leave Saturday either!

C, thanks for being concerned for us but we are staying here and riding out the storm. The weather ahead of us looks just as nasty with severe weather and tornadoes along the path that we would take. It’s safer just to stay here and see what happens. Maybe the storm will track differently and miss us, you just never know!

I know - I’m a big worry wort!    Hunker down and stay safe!

The aspens from the BLM road look pretty impressive! I guess some years are naturally more colorful than others, though of course there could be some climate change issues involved, too.

Hope you have a safe trip back!