Springing Forward

I recognized Daylight Savings Time today not only by "springing forward," but by taking my first walk since last fall.  I was amazed I wasn't gasping for breath the way I was when I arrived back in 2010 when I couldn't even make it to Tenth Street without resting.

I guess just living at this altitude going on two years instead of almost at sea level as I had in Phoenix for seventeen years makes a difference.  I don't think the sporadic snow shoveling probably had anything to do with it.

Of course I  had Dixie and she doesn't make very good time on three legs and I was stopping to take photos.  There was still a lot of snow back in this lot and I thought this cabin looked enticing through the trees.

I've always thought it would be interesting to publish a little book of cabin names...

I love these old "elephant leg" aspen trunks...

And I thought I had icicle issues!  I wonder what this is coming from...

I didn't walk very far.  When I got to the trail that leads over to the bridge and the creek, the snow was so deep I thought I might twist a knee...

...and Dixie had gone into a yard through an open gate and couldn't find her way back out.  I wonder if she's getting senile.  She was just keening and sounded so frustrated and forlorn so I walked back the half a block or so where she was and, of course, as she walked inside the fence along with me she finally found the gate she'd gone through.  You would have thought we hadn't seen each other for months.  I think she really was afraid, and afraid I'd gone off and left her.

When we got back to the cabin, I decided it was just too nice to go back inside and Dixie loves to ride in the car so I put her in the back seat, returned a couple of books to the library and took some recyclables to the dump and then we just drove on north to a little burg called Allenspark, stopping along the way to take photos.

A pretty good shot, below, of the Sleeping Giant...

...you can see his forehead, eyes, nose, mouth and hands resting on his chest.

God's country.

We just made a U-turn at Allenspark and came back.  I dropped Dixie off at her owner's store in Nederland, The Blue Owl, which stocks an interesting mix of used books, coffee, ice cream and luncheon fare and some clothing and jewelry.  She was unpacking some absolutely luscious summer scarves and didn't even have the price tags on them yet.  I think I might have to have just one.

How did you spend your day?  Teddee

85 mph Winds

It has been deceptively mild so far today and right now it is almost too quiet.  It had been windy this morning, but not intolerable because the temperature is almost 40F degrees (64F degrees in Denver).  But when I pulled up the NOAA forecast at about 8:30 a.m., I stopped everything--didn't even have my coffee--and immediately set about doing my outside chores.  We are supposed to get winds as high as 70 mph later today and 85 mph tonight.  If you hadn't had access to the forecast, the western sky might have been an indication:

 
Something happening up there on the Divide.

Tomorrow the temperature is forecast to drop precipitously (NOAA always slips in that little down arrow as a clue) from a high of 20 F degrees, which is supposed to be the overnight low tonight, to a low of 9F degrees with a wind chill Thursday night of -13. 

So I bundled up and got out and filled the wood box, emptied the slop bucket, the stale dishwater, some vegetable peels and the pot (You can see I'm using binder clips to keep the lid from blowing away)...

...and this is why you need a pot de chambre:

Brrrr!

After I'd cleaned up a bit, I got my sister's hiking ski pole and made my way out to the car through the snow drifts with the water jugs, three library books I had finished and an envelope containing a letter and some clippings for my brother. 

Stopped at the post office, where I think it was actually windier than it was here and the parking lot was an ice rink.  Waited behind a man who was picking up what must have been a pair of skis and a pair of boots based on the shape of the boxes and the REI logo.  Mailed the envelope to my brother, picked up my mail, skated back out to the car, made my way to the library, returned the three books I'd read and picked up three more. 

Drove from there up Caribou Canyon to the spring, another skating rink, and filled my water jugs...

...then stopped back by the supermarket where I bought a few things including a container of light sour cream to mix with some chipotle blue cheese dip I had purchased last week that is so hot I had to mix it half and half with something in order to eat it. 

I unloaded the car, four trips using the ski pole each trip, and put the meat in the cooler in the wood house, along with a very large piece of icicle...

...even though with these temperatures I probably don't need to worry.  Some country style pork ribs I'd had stored out there for at least two weeks are like a rock.

Fed this neighborhood dog, which I am having a lot of trouble befriending.

After all these months, he still will not allow me to touch him.  I think he is having a bad tail life.


So, I've got the fire going again and am finally having my coffee with some veggie chips and diluted chipotle blue cheese dip for lunch...[Those hot peppers sure are making the coffee taste odd]...and I'm just waiting for the winds.  The western sky is getting more and more menacing:

What are you waiting for?  Teddee

1320 Steps

The wind had died down this morning and I had to do outside chores.  I will use any excuse not to go out in that wind, so spent about six hours on the computer yesterday and the rest of the day and evening reading.  But, the wood box was empty; the pot, the used dishwater and slop bucket needed to be emptied; and my wet garbage container was becoming a health hazard.  My boots and socks were warm, so no more excuses.

Some hot water and a lot of Clorox later, the health hazards had been addressed and it was on to the wood.

Despite having lows as low as 11F degrees and highs in the high 20s or lower 30s (my icicles have icicles),

that wood stack I made before the great snow had started to emerge so I decided to bring all that wood inside, sweep the snow off the pallet and carry some of the new wood from the pile dumped out behind my car and stack it here.

First, I had to dig my way out again because the winds had drifted my path in.  I think this is the fourth time and sweeping is no longer an option.  You could easily build an igloo out of these snow chunks.  

Before I started carrying wood, I decided to dig out around the right front tire of my car.  The drifts are high enough on either side of my drive that backing through them is like threading a needle and I hadn't done a very good job of threading the needle the evening I got back from Denver. 

After I dug out, got my wheels straightened out and made sure I could get back out onto the road, I addressed the new, snow-covered wood. 

Had to kick some of it out of the snow.  You do this with your heel, or another piece of wood, not  your toe.  Latter hurts.  Made 12 round trips of 110 steps and this is all I have to show for it.

Short arms and not much upper body strength.  Also didn't want to be carrying so much with the treacherous footing that I wouldn't be able to catch myself if I slipped.  It would help to have someone to load me up.  When we were children, my sister and I had the chore of bringing in firewood after school each day.  We'd take turns loading each other up.  You can carry about twice as much.  I'd like to claim that red splotch is a result of blood, sweat and tears, but I believe this is the way Forest Service marks beetle-kill trees.

There's a 50% chance of snow tonight and 60% chance on Sunday night.  Hopefully I'll be able to get some more wood moved before that.  How did you get your exercise today?  Teddee

Ice Curtain

Did I mention the cabin is uninsulated? 

Beautiful isn't it?  What's beautiful in your world?  Teddee