On the way up.

Destin has been known for his death-defying feats since he was just a wee pup. He loves the challenge of climbing UP. Our big drift is developing on Avalanche Slope and Destin couldn't leave it alone. What follows is a photographic journey of what goes up, must come down.

Look Mom & Dad, I made it to the top!

King of the Drift!

Gosh, it's kind of steep here ...

Okay, here I go ... time to come down!

Just a few little trees, nothing I can't handle.

See? Easy-Peasy!

Gosh, that was fun, even if I did give Mom & Dad heart failure. 

Given the number of evergreen trees that have been killed by beetles over the past 10 years, we always find it very difficult to cut down a living evergreen tree. But, it is a Christmas tradition (for those Christmases we've spent here), to cut a tree on our property and decorate it in the cabin. We seek out a tree that is somehow "disadvantaged". It might be up against another tree so it only has one full side. Or, it might be growing in a cluster of trees and not getting adequate light.

Lynne standing by our freshly cut tree that we are about to haul up the hill to the cabin.

So, about 10 days ago we drove the Ranger down to the bottom of our valley along Avalanche Hill and ventured off into what we call the "Deep, Dark Woods" to find a tree. And, after 30 minutes or so, Lynne spotted the perfect candidate. I lugged the chain saw through 18" of snow to cut it, and we pulled it back out to the Ranger. We drove up the road to the top of the hill, and to the cabin.

We cut about 4 feet off the bottom, giving us a nice 8 foot tree. Lynne used the cut off part for boughs on the mantle of the fireplace. The tree is a perfect shape and size to fit the small place we have for it.

Hailey say's "Merry Christmas, Everyone!".

We had some pretty high winds on Thursday and Thursday night. Sometime overnight two large (dead) trees fell in the meadow. These are trees that were killed by beetles several years ago. Eventually, all the dead trees will fall.

The bad news is that each time a tree falls, we lose some of the buffer we have against the prevailing west winds. The good news is we get a cord or two of fire wood for the next year.

Here is a closer view:

You can see that the larger tree just fell over with its root ball intact and has two trunks.

The smaller tree got caught in another tree and ended up in a strange position.

A closer view of that.

It had snowed and blown enough that we had to use snowshoes to take the short hike through the meadow. Destin was oblivious to anything other than playing in the snow.

We decided to wash the bed sheets yesterday. We rotate through a couple of sets, and needed some clean sheets. In summer, we just hang our laundry on the outside line to dry. But, when it is 21° outside and snowing, we use some wooden drying racks that we place in front of the wood stove. We have a fan on the stove that is powered by the heat of the stove and it provides just enough air circulation to make quick work of drying any clothes hung on the rack.

You can see the blur of the fan in this photo.

Smaller items can be laid across the many wooden bars on the racks. For the sheets, we just drape them across.

We did two loads: the sheets and the duvet cover. 

It was great sleeping in clean sheets last night! The dogs and cat really enjoyed it too.

Well, as I had suspected it makes little sense to try to keep Wapiti Way clear with the new plow. The road runs N-S along some open sagebrush prairie and any wind from the southwest or west will fill it with snow. The other day, I plowed it and it looked like this:

This morning, we needed to get into town for a vet appointment, it it looked more like this:

Actually, this photo is taken after attempting to get up the hill with the Expedition. We got stuck right away. The snow on the road was about 12" to 14" deep. It didn't look that deep, but it was. The problem driving through it is not so much the tires not grabbing, but rather the undercarriage of the truck getting "high centered" on the snow. I was able to back us out of the drift. I walked back to the cabin to get the Ranger and try to plow enough snow from the road to get over it. There was too much snow to get in one go with the plow, so I set it midway so I'd cut 5" to 6" off the top. My plan was to make another pass to get it down to the ground. However, I failed to tell Lynne my plan and she decided to drive the truck up after me, following my tracks. The problem is, the Ranger with tracks on it rides pretty much on top of the snow. So, after a few feet of following me, the truck was stuck again. And, this time I could not back it out. 

I got the shovel (we always throw a shovel in the truck when we go out) and began clearing the snow from around the tires while Lynne took off walking to the top of the hill where our neighbors were waiting for us in their truck. We had agreed to follow each other into town knowing the buddy system is safer.

Our neighbor, David, drove his truck over the sagebrush hill to get on the road behind the Expedition. We then used a tow rope to pull the Expedition clear of the snow drift. 

Lesson learned: don't even try to drive on the road. Instead, go cross country on the hill (we own that property). This works for a couple of reasons. First, there is simply less snow there after a big blow. Second, the gravel hill and sagebrush gives us more traction. 

So, rather than try to keep Wapiti Way "open" by plowing it, we'll just drive cross country to the top of the hill. I think I'll ask if we can park the Suburban there because once we are at the top of the hill, we have the same trek as our neighbors and we can work together to get into town and back. We will always try to coordinate trips so neither of us tries to go it alone.

The good news is that our Christmas cards are mailed. Hailey kept her vet appointment and we have meds for everyone for at least 2 months. We bought our Christmas ham and some wine. So, we are ready to sit here through Christmas if necessary. That does mean we may not get our mail.