Up at 5:45 a.m. this morning. I opened the front curtains and saw something brown down by the salt lick. At first I thought it was just a tree, but then I saw it licking. Finally – a moose! I tried a few shots through the screen on the front porch but they weren't good, so I snuck up on him outside, sticking close to the side of the cabin. He wasn't bothered by me at all.

I think it might be the young moose we had last year since he's so raggedy. Maybe he has scabies? Or maybe it's an injury.

He was in no hurry to leave and we had just fed the girls and they needed to have their morning pee. We waited. And we waited. Finally I knew Hailey was crossing her legs so we put them on leads and took them out the back of the cabin away from Mr. Moose. 

He's gone now, on to whatever moose do with their days. If he becomes a frequent visitor we might just have to name him.

Today, among other projects, I set up the weather station. You can always access the current weather (and some historical info) by clicking on the Weather link at the top of the OtG site page. It will take you to this page, on WeatherUnderground.

Today, Lynne and I drove separate trucks into Laramie to meet the moving van at 9:00. Our goods were delivered to a storage facility there. We left a little early because it was raining and spitting snow. Here is what the trucks looked like once we (finally) got to town.

All our stuff arrived with only one item damaged. The above photos were taken afterwards, at WalMart where we stopped for a quick shop. We also brought a few items back to the cabin including some kitchen stuff, a bookshelf, a dresser and a cuckoo clock.

It was "relatively" dry on the way back home. We stopped for gas and I did a quick wash on the trucks.

Oh, and we picked up mail both going out (yesterday's) and coming back in (today's)!

PS: To all of you who read my post to the Sand Creek Park Facebook page yesterday about Brubaker Ln and Sand Creek Road being graded and smooth? No longer true.

The furnace rumbles to life and the new day begins. Awake and out of bed by 5:30 a.m. Our internal clocks have not adjusted yet. Hailey and Bella were ready to get up too. Above is the view out our dining room window. (Note those slight blue blurs that you can see are Stellar Jays.) More rain is expected today. I don't mind really, although it feels kind of like New Jersey-colored sky, but if it helps the fire danger I am all for it. It's very wet!

Our first rule of order was to get the snow removed so we could drive the trucks down to the cabin and get them unloaded. My poor plants! Oscar came with his wonderful machine and got the job done in no time.

Without the kindness and helpfulness of neighbors, life up here would not be as pleasant. It's nice that we can all count on each other to lend a hand when needed.

Now the trucks are unloaded and "stuff" is piled everywhere. We need to figure out a place for it before tomorrow because our goods arrive at the storage facility at 9:00 a.m. sharp! We'll have to decide what to bring home first. Somehow it seems like we just did this, only in reverse!

Looks like rain is moving in.

We need to do one more really vital chore today and that is clean up the packrat nest on the screened-in porch. Not a pleasant job, very stinky.

When describing our off-the-grid cabin to people, one of the most common questions is about whether we risk being snowed in. The answer is yes and we will prepare for that in many ways. 

What never came up was whether, when we finally arrived after our cross-country move, we'd be "snowed out". We are.

We arrived just after noon today. It was during a thunderstorm. And, we found that our driveway is still under 2 to 3 feet of snow. This is not really surprising for mid-May, but I was seriously hoping that it would be clear.

Bella doesn't seem to mind.

But, Lynne and I had to make several trips from the top of the drive to the cabin with essential supplies.

We will need to deal with this over the next few days. Maybe we can move it with a neighbor's snow blower. Or, it might require a call to Oscar (who did the excavation for us last summer).

We are "moved in" somewhat. It seems odd that we can't drive down to the cabin, but when I powered up the satellite Internet system it came right up (allowing me to write this post). The heater is running, but should cut off soon at 60 degrees. There is a fire in the wood stove. We have running water--even hot water. The refrigerator is running. And, we've done a quick surface cleaning. Everything is in pretty good shape.

It was nice to see the new solar panels and batteries. And, to see that even through the clouds were were getting some good charge. We are fine on electricity it seems.

Lynne and I have not yet sorted out the process for both of us posting to this site. So, for a while you may see redundant posts and multiple posts on the same day. Bear with us, we'll sort it out and come up with a strategy. (Which may be for us to do redundant posts and multiple posts on the same day.)