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

In a lot of places the snow doesn’t look all that deep, but it’s the drifts that do you in.  Glad you are stocked up on the important things.  Any merlot?  I’ll come help dig you out! 

C, sorry we only have Cabernet and Chardonnay at this time. If you could only get here you could help for sure. It’s the getting to us you would have a problem with.

Hang on - I’ll get my monster truck and be right there! 

Yikes! It’s beautiful, but it must be kind of scary being snowed in and so far off the grid. (Well, you’re not off the grid because you’re online, but you know what I mean. ) Hailey looks happy, anyway—I love that picture!

Hailey looks so cute as a snow dog!  It really suits her.

The snow really doesn’t look that deep, but I wouldn’t want to drive in and get stuck!! Hope you can get out soon.

You have to realize we are skiing over the top of snow that is dense and packed by the wind. It looks level, but the ground underneath is not. In places, we are skiing over snow that is 10”, 12” or deeper. If it was soft and fluffy, we could drive through it. But, what tends to happen is the truck will drive up onto the snow, go for a bit, then fall through to the ground. At that point the entire bottom of the truck is resting on the snow and you can’t go forward or backward. Experience speaking!

So, you have to shovel the snow out from under the truck as well as making a path either forward or backwards. Not, fun!

You can see the snow is up to Bella’s chest in one photo. That is probably about a foot or a bit more. Poor thing kept getting stuck in holes.