Missing the First Snow

Last year I missed the first snow at the cabin because I was stuck in Longmont after the Sears Automotive Center there, since closed, ruined my car then threw up their hands and said they had no idea why, after they installed a brand new thermostat, that my car blew up in the canyon on the way back up to the cabin at 9:30 at night, or why, after they installed a new radiator because the previous one ruptured when the car exploded, the car started boiling almost immediately after leaving their premises.  They couldn't run diagnostics and the diagnostic center they recommended couldn't take me until the next day so I had to cripple my way to a motel.  In the night, while this huge snow blew in from the plains, I decided I'd have my car towed back to Peak-to-Peak Motors in Nederland for the necessary repairs to the Sears repairs.  Here's a photo bringing back that entire debacle...

This was about October 26.

Here is a photo I took through the tow truck window while the driver had stopped part way up the canyon to put on chains...

And here's what the cabin looked like when I finally got home...

Well, here it is only October 5 and this is what I saw to my surprise when I opened the drapes this morning here at the apartment in Boulder...

Just the lightest dusting of snow.  My friend Olive didn't feel like walking this morning so I took Kooky the Pomeranian out for a quick walk and could tell from the cars coming down from the mountains on Canyon Boulevard that they'd had a lot more snow up there.  I thought I could almost pick out the vehicles from Eldora because some of them had as much as one to two inches of snow on the roofs and hoods and we always got more than Nederland.

So, I've missed the first snow again this year.  This web cam photo from the Eldora Mountain Resort (ski area) is as close as I'm going to get, I guess...

 

...or this NOAA on-line forecast...

I feel as if I'm missing baby's first steps.

I had planned to post some fall photos so, even though it looks as if winter is upon us, I guess I'll proceed.  Perhaps we'll have some Indian Summer after this cold snap.  That Columbus Day forecast of Sunny with a high of 55F degrees sounds likely.  

 

A chrysanthemum my sister purchased when she was visiting what, three weeks ago?  Loaded with buds that just won't flower...

I've brought this inside and will move it out on the balcony again when the night temps get above freezing to see if it will do anything else.

 

Here are some fall touches I've added to the balcony...

 

I've also been working on some Halloween crafts.  This "wreath with a story"...

I'm not exactly sure what that story is...It's up to the viewer...but I bought this skeleton arm and hand at Michael's last weekend when all their Halloween products were 40% off and I had a 25% off, including sale items, coupon....

I dug into my jewelry box and added the ring, made a sort of Victorian looking cuff out of some wonderful trim I'd bought at a Goodwill when I was still living in Phoenix, painted some cheesecloth black and made a rotting sleeve and wired in the little bell, which I'd bought at a thrift shop sometime over the past two years, reminiscent of those "grave bells" that were sometimes used to give those buried alive the ability to signal their reawakening to those above ground.  

I had one crow and purchased another at Michael's when I bought the skeleton hand.  I had the Victorian door knocker and just included it to the mix for atmosphere.  I added the cottonwood twigs because I'd thought, since I found them in a shopping cart outside the Boulder Savers last year, that they looked like finger bones, and the sueded brown leaves I'd saved from some fall stems last year.  I believe I'd found the white bleeding heart at the Golden Community Garage Sale.  The white pheasant feathers were another Michael's find when their stems were 50% off a couple of weeks ago. 

The nest was something I'd purchased back in 2010 at a shop in Blue Springs, Missouri.  Have forgotten the name.  The nest looked empty, so I decided, knowing crows have a proclivity for collecting treasures, to add this little ceramic heart box that I'd bought last year at the Golden Community Garage Sale.

After I added it, I decided to print off an on-line photo of a Victorian woman and insert it into the "locket."  

Is it the deceased?  Perhaps...

I plan on hanging this on the outside of my apartment door closer to Halloween and hope it won't be too disturbing to my neighbors.

Perhaps the crazy print below will offer some comic relief...

I had purchased, at a Goodwill in Phoenix several years ago, this already rather weird print of an oil painting of these two men in Victorian evening dress...I had been referring to them as The Twins.  Ironically, it was one of the framed prints my sister selected, sight unseen from my storage, since all were wrapped in bubble wrap, to bring out when she visited a few weeks back. In addition to sticking on the googly eyes, I painted the frame black and draped it with "mourning crepe," some black spider-web-pattern fabric, and another piece of the trim identical to that used for the cuff on the skeleton arm.  It will take its place outside on the wall next to the wreath.  Did these creepy men have something to do with the deceased's demise?  You decide! 


More later, Teddee

Well, That Was Neat

When Dixie and I got back from our outing today, the fox was relaxing in the front yard waiting for our return just like a domestic pet.  Of course, I was so taken aback that I forgot to take any photos.  I drove about halfway in toward the cabin and she wasn't even afraid of the car.  I kept Dixie shut in the car and fed the fox, but the dog Apollo from across the road east came over after a bit, scared her away and ate one of the chicken drumsticks I'd put out for her.  She'd eaten one and I salvaged the other before he ate it.  I'll put it out later tonight after people have taken their dogs in.

I've found that raw eggs in the shell work great because the dogs don't know what to do with them. The fox carries them off, so I guess she's breaking into them and sucking the egg out just like she would if she got into a chicken house. 

I did get some photos earlier in the day.  We had this much snow overnight and although it was over 40F degrees this morning, the wind was really blowing and it was cold...

After I'd done my stint on the computer and Dixie and I had our breakfast...

...I'm calling this photo "My Skillet!"  I let her clean the scrambled eggs out of this pan or try to.  I'd run out of Pam so they really stuck and she'd finally given up and was just enjoying the heat from the stove...we piled in the car and went to Boulder and Lafayette.

I hadn't planned to go down because I didn't think Goodwill was having a 50% off sale today--I hadn't received my usual e-mail--and I had promised myself no more thrifting this month, but I wasn't in the mood to be kept prisoner in the cabin because of the winds, so put Dixie in the car and headed down. 

Rock climbing is a big sport here and anytime the weather permits, there will be climbers all over the rocks in the canyon.  Today I pulled over and took some photos.

I couldn't see anything in my viewfinder, so was interested to see what I'd managed to capture.  I played around with the contrast and color on the computer and can't get anything better than this.  Next time I'll spend more time and make better use of my 5x magnification.

I first went to Savers in Boulder because I have another filled punch card for 30% off, but found absolutely nothing.  I didn't even stop at the Boulder Goodwill, thinking there wasn't a sale, and drove east, not really knowing what my destination was, but ended up turning south to Lafayette and the Goodwill there.  I discovered just as I was leaving, having only found one top, that everything was 50% off.  No big signs in the windows of any of their stores, just little signs on top of the racks.  I wonder what has prompted the change?  At any rate, since I'm having so much trouble finding a market for my small decor items, I'm now in the market for furniture with doors and drawers for the cabin to replace some of the things that are here now.  I can't fit anything very big in my car.  I had seen and rejected this piece because it was $30. 

After I realized things were half off, I returned to the back of the store and got it.  I haven't decided exactly where it will go--since it has a place for a rod, probably replace the shelf over the wash stand-- but wherever it ends up, those drawers will come in handy.

Now I need a really skinny chest with fairly deep drawers for sheets and towels to go between the end of the bunk and the hide-a-bed I'm keeping.

Do you have storage challenges?  Teddee

Happy Easter!

This is probably it for me.  I had one of these for breakfast...

...now I can see that would have been cheerier if I hadn't already eaten the yolk.  What is it with eggs and Easter?  A holdover from pagan days?  Fertility?  Oh, no.  Let's not have any of that again.  I was aghast not too many weeks ago to read a blog on which everyone was congratulating the blogger because her sister had just had her tenth....I repeat, tenth...child!  Whatever happened to Zero Population Growth?

I digress.  I did not find any sander at Walmart yesterday to compare to the one I'd seen at Ace and by the time I returned to Nederland, Ace had been closed several hours so I'm not spending Easter Sunday sanding.  Of course I had had to stop at Savers and Goodwill in Boulder even before I headed out to the Longmont Walmart.  My friend Paula had alerted me a new Goodwill would be opening in Longmont, but that isn't until next Saturday.  That's going to be a crazy day if I allow myself to get caught up in it because it is also, finally, a 50% off Saturday at all Goodwills.  They haven't had one for some reason for several weeks.

I had a filled punch card at Savers, so used the 30% off on some fabric and tie-backs I may eventually use to curtain off the bunk area.  The tie-backs were $4.99 each less 30%.  One of them still had an original shop tag on it of $8.50.  They are both luscious and well made.  I think the one created from ribbons is the most interesting.

The orbs are apparently Christmas ornaments or were used as such--they have monofilament loops on the tops (color coordinating again!).  They are really heavy but I can't determine of what the core, around which the wire is wrapped, is made.  I got the pair for $2.99 less 30%.

I love the colors in the fabric, which is a drapery panel ($6.99 less 30%), but think both the fabric and colors might be a heavy for summer.  It can actually get hot in the afternoons here even at this altitude and when that occurs it takes a while for the temperatures to cool off after the sun goes down and you're opening all of the windows and praying for a breeze.  I think if I get the rods in place, I can use something lighter and paler for summer and switch over to this for fall and winter...or I may just forget doing anything this summer.  We'll see how it goes.  I did purchase an off-white king-sized flat sheet the other day for possible use this summer, but it doesn't have much character.

I also nabbed these little fake wooden books to use as risers to bring things up to the proper height in tablescapes and shelf vignettes.  They are individual pieces so can be used separately or stacked in whatever combination needed.  If you enjoy arranging your "finds" on table tops and in bookshelves then you can't have too many plate holders, small easels and pedestals and other items you can use to change the height of items. Grab them whenever you see them, especially if, as in this case, they're only $1.99 less the everyday Colorado Goodwill senior discount of, what?, 10%?  I think it's 15% on Mondays.

My "big find" was this case of 60 watt standard light bulbs or bombillas if you prefer. 

These will no longer be made after January of next year I understand and I am going to be quite sad and frustrated as I detest the light the "new" energy saver bulbs emit...and no one can tell me it is more "natural" than that produced by incandescent bulbs.  I kept trying them when they first came out and not only is the illumination reduced, but there's something just plain weird about the color of the light.  But I'm going out in real sunshine right now and take a walk.  It is truly a gorgeous day.

Is the weather cooperating where you are?  Teddee

Our Middle Name Is Nail

I've just spent about an hour Spackling again today.  I am sore from my chiropractic treatment yesterday, but my back muscles aren't in rigor, so it was effective and it has been more pleasant to work. 

I think I probably have done all the Spackling I intend to.  If I proceed with my plan to close off the door on the west and put a door in the south instead of the existing window, much of what I'm doing will get destroyed anyway.  I'm not sure I'll do that at all--I won't if my name comes up on the senior housing list for an apartment in Boulder--but if I do, I may not get it done before my sister and her husband come out for vacation in July.  I think I'm going to proceed as if I'm not going to move the door and go ahead and paint so things look nice when they arrive.  Since this is a family vacation home, I've felt obligated to vacate it when they want to vacation here.  I did so last year...left it absolutely spotless and empty of all my belongings and drove three days to my brother's in Tacoma...only to find out the day of my arrival that my brother-in-law was going to have to have a heart valve transplant and they weren't coming after all.  Well, I came back to a very tidy cabin.

This one section of wall has always been the only place to hang clothes. 

The abundance of my clothing--most of which is not even here-- is embarrassing when I realize how few clothes my folks probably had during the Great Depression when they were living here.  Of course, I started university with two homemade dresses,  two skirts and two sweaters so...

There were three of these hooks screwed into the wall...

 and, of course....nails. 

 
I think my family's middle name is Nail.  Need someplace to hang another towel?  Drive in a nail.  The entire family is here and you need a place to hang all those wet wash cloths?  Drive in some more nails.  I think some of these nails I pulled out today probably have been in place since 1939.

I'm planning to substitute this...

I've had this for probably a couple of years.  It appears from the tag that I purchased it at Savers for $4.99.  It's expandable and had sixteen hooks.  I may need to spray it with a clear fixative to prevent rust transfer.

I've run out of Spackle anyway and I'm not ready to start sanding.  I've had my eye on a little electric sander that has a container to hold the dust.  Sounds like just the ticket.  So I may let this Spackle continue drying and go out in search of the sander.  I had seen one at Ace, but I want to do some comparison shopping.


It's about 42F degrees at 2:15 p.m. and it has struggled to get that high.  I don't know if there is any way our high is going to reach the predicted 47F degrees.  It had been quite windy....we had gusts as high as 55 mph last night according to NOAA....but it has just grown absolutely still in the last few minutes...so maybe.  It is sunny,  and Easter Sunday should be beautiful with a high of 54F degrees, winds only gusting to 17 mph and sunny.

Are you doing projects this weekend or just celebrating?  Teddee

My Lucky Day

I didn't post a blog yesterday.  Instead, I met my friend Paula for lunch at the Olive Garden in Boulder.  The restaurant was my choice.  I'd been craving that all-you-can-eat green salad.  The food was great and we had a good visit, but when our waiter brought our checks, things got confusing.  Our orders only differed in that I had iced tea, but he had initially just split the ticket when we asked for separate checks, then realized this was inaccurate and recalculated.  We received a shower of receipts, along with an explanation, but he assured us we would only be charged for the check we signed.  Of course, when I checked my bank account this morning, I had been charged for both amounts.  I called the restaurant and the manager said this often happens with debit cards and she was pretty sure the wrong amount would "fall off" within five days, but I should call her if that didn't occur.  In the meantime she was sending me a gift card.  Thank you Neptune!  (The local astrologer Karen Anderson told me recently that after 144 years, my ruling planet Neptune has entered my sign or whatever and this is like having an ally). 

After lunch I had to pick up my 2010 income tax documents from H&R Block which had been reviewed for free and found accurate. By the way,  after Thursday's rant about the IRS, Uncle Sam was satisfied with deducting the rest of the 2010 taxes I'd been paying on a monthly basis from my 2011 refund and did not take out the monthly payment as well, so I take it all back and I'm a free woman! (Neptune again?).

Then I stopped in Savers which is just next door.  I got a couple of cardigan sweaters with part of the $20 my friend Cindy sent me for my birthday.  Thank you Cindy! (Neptune was on duty.  Cindy actually sent $20 in cash, silly girl, and the post office equipment had tried to eat the card, but the $20 bill was unscathed).

Here are the sweaters.  Identical, but one black and one brown.  They are a little large under the arms but these pleats flatter my "figger," as one of my grandmothers used to say.  No discount (Savers is a notoriously stingy thrift store), but the sweaters were only $6.99 each and I filled a punch card which translates into 30% off my next purchase.



There may be need for those sweaters by tomorrow.  Our unseasonably warm weather which, I believe, is setting records, is ending.  Today it was supposed to be 59F degrees here in the mountains (my thermometer says 60F degrees at 5:30 p.m., so I think it was warmer than that).  NOAA predicted  77F degrees in Boulder.  The Eldora forecast is 30% chance of rain/snow tomorrow with 38 mph winds, 60% chance of snow tomorrow night, 50% chance of snow Monday and a 40% chance of snow Monday night with a low of 17F degrees.  I'm not sure we'll be able to adjust. 

Goodwill was having a 50% off Saturday today, but I decided to forgo the pleasure.  I needed to tote some wood from that pileout by the car in preparation for the return of cold weather...

 
...and I'm saving myself for the Beautiful Junk Sale next Saturday in Golden, Colorado. 

I think this is my third visit.  The subtitle is "Jefferson County's largest bargain sale with 10,500 square feet of discount treasures."  It's held inside at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds' Exhibit Hall.  Admission is $3 and they deduct $1 if you bring two cans of food.  I didn't think the last sale was as much fun as the two previous events, but it's always fun to see what they have and there's never a bad community garage sale.

After Savers I finally got out to the Walmart in Erie where I needed to purchase a gift card for my great niece.  I've given my great nieces and nephews (or is it grand nieces and nephews?) these gift cards for their birthdays and at Christmas for years and they really seem to enjoy them.  I also needed ink cartridges for my printer and those aren't cheap even at Walmart ($32.97 for a Kodak color/black and white combo).  My shopping list had grown considerably waiting for the second Wednesday of March to arrive.  Those of us who receive our Social Security checks on the second Wednesday of the month had one of those months in which that was not until the 14th.  The second Wednesday in February was the 8th.  Those extra days can really make a difference.  Paula and I agreed yesterday that having the government issue these checks on a specific Wednesday each month instead of a specific date really causes hardship.  Why don't they just always issue them on the 10th?  Maybe I'll start a campaign. 

My grand total at Walmart added considerably to their bottom line.  Walmart's owners are among the richest of the rich who just get richer as pointed out in that book I just finished and blogged about, Winner-Take-All Politics:  How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class.  (I'm still waiting to hear back from the authors).

According to a December 14, 2011, on-line Forbes article, the "six members of the Walton Family...have more wealth than the bottom 30% of Americans."  "...they are collectively worth about $93 billion."   According to an MSN on-line article dated 8/12/2009, they were worth only $23 billion when founder Sam Walton died in 1992.  In the intervening nineteen years, their wealth had increased by $70 billion!

In a way, it's too bad their prices can make such a big difference in how far a Social Security check goes, let alone the convenience of finding almost everything one needs in one store--I had been wondering where I could find a cobbler (do they even exist anymore?) for some of those sticky traction things you can put on the soles of shoes and boots to keep them from slipping and, lo and behold, there they were among the shoe polishes.  My shopping list went from toothpaste to needles, cat food for the foxes to drill bits, the gift card to the ink cartridges, rubber gloves to poster mount (which I hope I can use like Quake Hold to keep things from vibrating off these shelves next to the cabin door) and I found it all as well as a few groceries. 

I didn't get back until dark.  I have a porch light, but had forgotten to leave it on, so had to leave the car door open for the bit of light the overhead interior light provided, pick my way across the meadow to the cabin, turn on the porch light, grab the flashlight and make numerous trips to unload the car.  My neighbor across the road drove up the canyon behind me and, I think, deliberately left his multiple very bright back porch lights on until I got my car unloaded.  I've only chatted briefly with him once.  Maybe it was coincidence.  If so, it was nice coincidence.

So that's my good luck story.  What's yours?  Teddee

Disappointment and Disaster

I had forgotten that Savers does not put its household and decorative items on sale during its sales, so was extremely disappointed yesterday, after spending more than an hour browsing and filling my cart with some interesting and delightful items, to find that only the clothing (a pair of slacks, a tee and a robe), a pair of boots and a throw were on sale.  Among the interesting and delightful found items, believe it or not, was the pink and gold chamber pot that I was quite sure I had seen at Goodwill several weeks ago, had not purchased and thought I had lost.  So, here it was at Savers.  Was I mistaken?  Had I seen it at Savers, not Goodwill?  But if that were the case, where was it when I visited Savers following that?  If someone had purchased it at Goodwill why had they donated it to Savers almost immediately?  I know.  It was cursed.  An accursed chamber pot.  What would be the results of the curse?  Now that would be the basis for at least a short story....or not.

At first I thought all these delightful items were not on sale simply because the special card that Savers issued last year, that was supposed to get me 50% off a day early, didn't apply to those items yesterday, but the manager confirmed these items would not be on sale today either.  I voiced my disappointment, indicating this was not a true sale and was, in fact, a come-on, and the manager, eyeing my over-loaded card and realizing someone was going to have to re-shelf everything, gave me a 20% off coupon, but I was so disgruntled by that time that I just bade all the decorative items, including the pink and gold chamber pot, a fond farewell and left with my discounted clothing and linen items.  I'll have to remember this the next time Savers has a non-sale sale.

The other day when I was continuing work on the slowly, very slowly progressing pantry project, I got so engrossed that I created a disaster.  For background, you must understand that when you put a pan of dishwater on a wood stove to heat, the water gets hotter, not colder as it would if you had drawn a sink full of hot water and then gone off and left it.  So, I had put a pan of water on the range to heat, put in some dish washing soap and tossed in a few things that needed washing, including a cute little silver plated loving cup I had purchased at a thrift shop many weeks ago.  I forgot that the previous owner of the loving cup had used it as a candle holder and that the loving cup had about a quarter cup of red wax in the bottom.   The day wore on, I was hanging porcelain plates and deciding where, among all of my pretties, I was actually going to situate the necessities.  Here's a sneak preview just to prove the pantry project is real.

Evening finally came and I decided to wash the items waiting in the dishwater...very hot dishwater...almost boiling dishwater, but dim light, very dim light.   I dumped the "water" out of the loving cup and filled the pan with hot liquid red wax.  Realizing what I'd done, I quickly plucked some soup bowls out of the mess, but was left with this:

I had always had success getting melted wax out of candle holders by freezing them, so put the dishpan and its contents in the snow.  This was ineffective.  I had to scrape the wax off everything, ended up with a very sore thumbnail and finally got the last residue off with Goo Gone.  I think there's still some red wax inside the can opener handle that I just couldn't access, so will have to be careful washing anything else with it in the future for fear the wax will melt off in the hot dishwater and onto whatever else is in the water.

To cap it off, the cute little engraved loving cup got so hot that the material used to solder the base to the cup liquified, ran out onto the base and melted a hole in it.

Would I have bought this with this hole in the base?  Probably not, but since I rescued it, now I'm responsible for it.  I wonder if there is a silver "putty" a person could use to fill this hole?  Teddee

The Great Conundrum

I'm becoming like an old farmer, checking the weather first thing.  Here are NOAA's predictions for the next three days.  They won't go out on a limb about the winds more than three days out:

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 41. Windy, with a west wind 20 to 23 mph increasing to between 29 and 32 mph. Winds could gust as high as 50 mph.

Tonight: Areas of blowing snow and a chance of snow after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 15. Wind chill values as low as -5. Windy, with a west wind between 23 and 33 mph, with gusts as high as 55 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

M.L.King Day: Snow likely and areas of blowing snow before 11am, then snow and areas of blowing snow after 11am. High near 22. Wind chill values as low as -5. Windy, with a west wind 27 to 30 mph decreasing to between 18 and 21 mph. Winds could gust as high as 48 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.

Monday Night: Snow likely and areas of blowing snow before 11pm, then a slight chance of snow after 11pm. Cloudy during the early evening, then gradual clearing, with a low around 0. Wind chill values as low as -22. Breezy, with a west wind between 21 and 24 mph, with gusts as high as 39 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 20. Windy, with a west wind between 24 and 32 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph.

The temperatures had been a little higher yesterday and there was one brief period during which the winds calmed down enough that I raced out and brought in wood.  But it looks as if temps are heading down again and combining with really high winds...or breezes in NOAA speak.  Monday night looks like a real challenge with a wind chill of -22.

High winds cause white-out conditions outside because of blowing snow and white-out conditions inside because of blow-back smoke.

The big conundrum when the temperatures are low and the winds are high is the wood fire.  The wood stove, as I may have mentioned, suffers severe blow-back in high winds, filling the cabin with smoke.  (I've tried to capture this phenomenon on camera with little success).  But the cold temperatures and high winds make it impossible to open the doors and windows to let the smoke escape.  I had so much smoke in here last night that visiting dog Dixie--and yes, her name is Dixie, not Daisy, if you read yesterday's post throughout which, prior to editing this morning, I referred to her by both names interchangeably, which I do in actuality--who I think has had fire safety training, left her warm spot on the bunk and hunkered down on the floor.  Smart dog.  I was up walking around, leaning over the smoking flames, poking at the wood trying to get the updraft stronger than the downdraft, eyes streaming and nose burning.  Woke up this morning with eyes swollen and nasal passages so congested it took an hour to get back to some semblance of normal.

Then, there's the question of whether to stay here, keep the smoking fire going and the cabin warm or head down to Boulder, escape the wind and cold and smoke but return to an icy cabin and spend the rest of the evening trying to get the cabin warm while inhaling smoke.  Neighbors suggest propane.  It's tempting.

But today, I'm heading down.  Savers is giving card holders a day's start on tomorrow's Martin Luther King half off sale.  Their prices are so high, these few 50%-off days are about the only time I can shop there.  Wish me luck!  Teddee