14-18 January, 2012 Snow, Snow, Snow! ... Finally!

We finally got some snow!!!!  We may be the minority but we've been wanting a lot more snow than we currently have and we got some.  Of course, not as much as they promised but it's a good start!  Now we just need slightly warmer weather to have some fun in it!

This was taken the first part of the week before we got our first snow storm.  We had a little bit but not enough to do much with.  Note the lack of snow on the U-Haul's roof.  (Susan has just finished turning the solar panels into the sun.)

This was taken at ten PM the same day.  The snow has continued until today.

Here Susan is going up the ladder to brush snow off the skylights to let in a little more light.

I let the dog in and she hasn't even had time for the snow to melt from her fur before the cat attacked her ...  or did she attack the cat?

Susan made cinnamon rolls.  Scott wanted to try mine at which point it became his.  Note that he has a grip on my fingers rather than the roll and he wouldn't let go of either.  We finally got my fingers lose and let him have the roll all to himself.  

   

We need to get to town for more chicken food so I'm filling in with some of the corn that's been hanging on the center support beam.  These have been there for a couple of years and are very, very dry.  To shell them you grip the ear with a hand on each end and twist like you were opening a bottle.  The corn comes loose from the cob pretty easily.  If you're going to do a bunch of it wear gloves.  It's hard on your hands.

Scott wanted to watch and since putting him on a chair wasn't practical (he'd have been into everything!), I put him in the back pack carrier.  We found this one in a thrift store for $3.50 and prefer it over the one we used before.  It's more comfortable for us and for Scott. 

The finished product.  The cobs can be composted, burned or used for toilet paper.  Traditionally you took three (two red and one white) of them to the outhouse.  You used a red one first, then a white one to see if you needed to use another red one.   We'll compost ours!

Scott is walking more and more so we put a barricade around the front of the stove in case he falls that direction.  He's still a bit wobbly.

I transferred my sourdough mix to a wide mouth jar to make it easier to use.  This one is an old mayonnaise jar.  I didn't want to use a real canning jar for sourdough.  You have to prepare a day ahead when using sourdough because you have to add the flour to the sourdough the night before you need it.  When I'm making pancakes I'll add 2/3 cup of flour and 1/3 cup of water to the mix the night before.

Dirty diapers are a fact of life with toddlers and infants.  Susan rinses them before washing. It's nice having the wash tubs and wringer inside now but washing diapers is still a never-ending chore.

Scott would love to help if Susan would just let him.  Until then he's content with supervising.

Our snow came with some wind this time.   That's a bit unusual here.  The snow got into and onto everything including the porch.  Susan went out to get some firewood in her bare feet and we have the evidence to prove it.  (The other tracks were made by someone  - that'd be me - who was wearing shoes.)

Note the amount of snow on the camper now.  This was taken on the 17th at noon.  We have about twice that amount now.

Of course the idea behind having snow is to have fun.  Sledding is fun. Obviously I'm not a very good sled driver.

When the snow is this deep I like to clean it off the outside shed roofs.  If we got rain or some wet snow on top of this it would probably collapse the roof.  I'd just finished scooping the snow off the roof of the shack.  I have to shovel it off.

I broke my snow rake on the first shed.  We'll be going to Eureka tomorrow and I can get parts there so I got the snow blower out and running to clear paths to the car, wood shed and chicken house.  It broke too but it was late and I'll look at it tomorrow or Friday to see what's wrong.

We've been melting snow as fast as we can to fill the water storage barrels we have in the cabin.  They were getting a bit low after the weeks of not having any snow to melt and not going into town often.  You have to watch the mounds of snow because they don't always melt down evenly.  They've been known to topple sideways and that makes a big mess to clean up.

8-13 January, 2012 Cold weather and a trip to Kalispell

Seems like a short week this week and I guess it was in a way.  We had company (three of the seven kids with their spouses) most of Sunday and spent the day talking, eating and watched a movie our youngest daughter brought with her.  Susan had a meeting on Tuesday night (she's on the board for the volunteer fire department) then we spent most of Wednesday and all of Thursday in Kalispell.  In the meantime we had our regular chores and got in one walk in the woods with Scott.  So we only really had two days since the last post that could be considered "normal" for us.

Monday we did some hiking through the woods.  This is an old skidder trail through the woods near our house.  It's my normal trapping route but since they logged it a little farther up the trail and when house sitting it was too far away to keep up with the traps this is the first time we've been up it in awhile.  I brought the machete along and used it to cut through some small stuff blocking the trail.  The machete is a Cold Steel Kukri model.  I don't really like it.  A regular machete does a much better job IMO.  The kukri style puts too much weight too far back on the blade and you lose some of the momentum from your swing and the end also hangs up in any brush behind the object you're cutting.  So, if any one wants to do some trading for a regular type machete or a CS Trail Hawk let me know.

This is the downhill view from where I'm clearing the trail.  The snow is old and crunchy.  It's cold enough to keep it frozen.

We saw both old and new wolf tracks.  These are old, frozen tracks and probably from a single, large, wolf.  I took photos of the other tracks but they didn't come out well.  It was a bright, sunny day and there weren't enough shadows, (even using the flash to create some) to see the tracks clearly.  They were a set of one large and one that was smaller.  I've seen tracks from this pair before and don't know if it's a male, female combo or mother and pup.  In any case, comparing the tracks to those left by my dog the small one is probably around 70 to 80 lbs.  The large one is probably over 100 lbs.

Monday, when we took our hike, was a beautiful day.  It clouded up and began snowing on Tuesday so we didn't venture out into the woods.  Susan had the fire department meeting in the evening so I took the tire chains off the Cherokee.  She didn't want to mess with taking them off at the pavement and after the snow the road was driveable without chains so it was best to just remove them.

On Wednesday we headed for Kalispell in the afternoon.  We stopped at the library in Whitefish and checked out some books there.  They also had some for sale and we bought a few to add to our collection.  When we got to Kal. we checked prices in a couple of places then spent the night at our oldest son's place. We then spent most of the day with Scott's mom.  We headed home in the evening. 

The problem with leaving the cabin unattended in the winter is that it gets cold inside and takes awhile to heat back up.  We'd been gone about 36 hours and the temperature outside when we got home again was 13 degrees (F).  The temperature inside the cabin was 35 degrees.  Wood heat is not like forced air heat.  It takes about 15 minutes just to get the stove warm then the heat radiates outward from there.  We closed off all downstairs rooms and the upstairs in order to heat the downstairs.  We watched a movie while the living/dining/kitchen heated up and by the time the movie was over it was bearable inside.  Susan and Scott still slept near the wood stove.  We're getting the rest of the cabin warmed up today. 

Sourdough/huckleberry pancakes with huckleberry syrup.  I used home canned huckleberries and there was about a cup of juice left over in the jar so Susan used the leftover juice to make syrup.  She dumped the juice in a pan then added corn starch and sugar to it, heated it and stirred it until it got thick.  You can do the same thing with leftover pineapple juice, or any other fruit juice.  It was very good!  (So were the pancakes!)

Scott discovered the weights in my room and had to give it a shot.  He could roll them but that was about it.  Considering the dumbbell weighs twenty pounds and he weighs about 25 lbs. he's doing all right just to move it.

This is the newest addition to the homestead.  His name is "stud"  (or maybe that's his job!) and we got him from a neighbor.  They said take which one we wanted of the two they had.  I waited until they roosted early in the evening then grabbed him off the roost.  You carry them by the legs upside down.  They struggle briefly then just relax.  He was fairly tame to begin with so getting him in the cage for transport home was easy.  He quickly asserted his authority over the hen who used to be the boss.  That was a good deal since she was kind of vicious toward the other chickens.  He was her last chance to mellow out.  If she had stayed mean she'd have been transformed into the main ingredient for Chicken and Dumplings.

6-7 January, 2012 Sourdough Pancakes, Door knobs, Aches and Pains...

I have a few minutes this morning before things get rolling so I thought I'd post a few pictures even though it's only been a couple of days since my last update. 

Since we've gotten Scott we've noticed a few more aches and pains.  Obviously we aren't as young as we used to be and after all my years of holding impact guns overhead as a mechanic my shoulders and elbows have had a hard life.  At this age he gets held a lot which is very important to a child's development.  At his size (25 lbs. plus) he gets a little heavy!  It's kind of hard on muscles and joints!  Electric heat pads are not practical in our case so we put some dry beans in a sock, tie it off and set it on the kettle lid.  We put another lid on top to help hold the heat and hang a blanket next to the stove.

When the blanket and bean-socks get hot we wrap them around whatever needs help.  For me it's usually elbow joints.  For Susan it's the muscles and tendons on the inside of her elbows.  It works well. The hot blanket keeps the heat in place longer.  We don't do this often but when it's needed it sure feels good.

The hot blanket trick also works well if you get chilled.  I used to use a dryer when we lived in town and heat up the blanket and wrap it around whoever was chilled.  Now we use the stove.

Our daughter (Barbara) has been experimenting with sourdough.  I used sourdough many years ago and asked her for some to start my own batch.  It makes great pancakes, rolls, etc.  Pancakes are the easiest so this is my first batch of sourdough pancakes in quite a few years.  They were the best pancakes we've had in a long time.

Scot likes the new clothes washing set-up.  It gives him more room for his toys.  We have to be in the room with him though because he likes to get out on his own. 

He loves playing in the water so his favorite way to "help" is when we are washing dishes.  He always cries when we're done and he has to get down.

We still have lots of ice and have been hoping for snow. If we get some snow it will bond somewhat with the ice and make travel a little easier. We had hope for some last night but we only got a little tiny bit ... not enough to do any good!  In the meantime I modified our outside slip-on boots.  These are some we keep by the door for quick trips outside.  They're kind of the outdoor version of a house slipper.  The sole was too thin for screws so I just put them in the heel.  It's great improvement on the ice.

We've tried a lot of different ice cleats over the years and these are the best we've found.  This pair is probably five years old now and has had a lot of use.  We keep it on a pair of mud boots by the back door and slip them on when leaving that direction.

There are reasons many farms and homesteads had piles of salvaged materials, old cars, etc.  They make great parts stores.  It's a 45 minute drive to town when something breaks plus the added expense of buying whatever you need to get.  We have different piles of everything from tires, roofing and scrap steel to the kitchen sink and bathroom tub.  They make life much easier when you live in a remote location and/or are short on cash. 

In this case one of the door knobs/latch broke in an interior door.  It's kind of nice to just go out and get the parts and replace it rather than get in the car and travel to town.  We saved about $8.00 in gasoline and $10.00 for the new knob/latch and about two hours of time.

Speaking of time ... it's time to go for a walk in the woods.  When Susan gets the snowsuit out, Scott lays on it and very IM-patiently waits to get suited up.  Have we mentioned that he likes being outdoors?

We went a little farther today, going through the woods to the place we shot our deer.  We've been taking things slow while we evaluate how well Scott does riding in the backpack in the cold. 

We found lots of tracks.  These might be wolf but they are old and the snow may have melted back making them larger.  Even then they're too big for coyote and I don't know anyone with a dog big enough to make them so I'm thinking they are most likely wolf tracks.

He's certainly comfortable!  We were almost back home and he couldn't hold out anymore!!!

So we gave him a bottle and put him down for his nap in the living room.  He slept for a couple of hours then was up for the rest of the evening. 

1-5 January, 2012 Ice, Tire Chains, Indoor Washing

It seems more like April than January.  The weather's been unseasonably warm this January.  We've had some rain but we're way short on snow.  Most reports put us around 40 percent of normal.  What little snow we have left at home has been rained on so much that it's turned to ice.  It makes for treacherous walking.  The chickens however seem to be enjoying it.  We've been getting an egg now and then.

We are fortunate that Scott thoroughly enjoys being outdoors.  Whenever the door is opened that's where he heads.  He was so disappointed to be brought in a couple of days ago that Susan put his boots on him and took him for a couple of laps around the car.  He's cutting more teeth and drooling like a Saint Bernard.  It makes him miserable at times during the day and interrupts his sleep at night.

Now that I'm home it's time to get some things done.  This is part of the framework for the wash tubs and wringer ...

This is the rest of it. (Some assembly required!)

I got it put together and in the cabin.  I had to do a little fitting for the wash tubs but it's solid and works great.  In normal winters we have a few days of nice, sunshiny weather now and then making it possible to do laundry outdoors.  This winter that's been a problem.  With everything inside it'll be easier to keep up with the laundry.  

We try to get out and walk a bit every day.  These were taken on an old logging road east of the place.  Odie is a bundle of energy on the walks.  I'm working on keeping her close but she still needs reminding at times.  I carry my 357 magnum in the winter time when the bears are hibernating.  The rest of the year I carry my 44 magnum.

One of our favorite views looking east at the mountains.

The cat came along on this walk.  Once he begins with us he stays with us because he's afraid being alone so far from the cabin.

Susan, Scott and Odie.  Scott loves being outside whether in the back pack or on his sled.

Scott is helping me do some writing.  I was doing some proofreading on an article and some chapters of my book when he came in.  He likes sitting on my lap and taking inventory of everything on my desk.  As long as I'm not typing it works okay.  I need one hand to hold onto him.

When I'm writing however, we put up the gate. 

We were watching a movie on the little computer when Scott decided to join us.  He actually stayed in place when Susan got up to get her camera and snap this photo.

He's old enough to stand on the chair and "help" us now.  His favorite is helping do the dishes.  Just before this picture was taken he was on his chair helping me make the venison meatloaf.  

Susan was rotating supplies and found this can that had literally popped it's top on the shelf. I've never seen a can come apart like this.

I got the snowmobiles out and running this week.  Usually after taking the tarps off I'll take the spark plugs out and put about a tablespoon of gasoline down each cylinder then start the engine.  It saves a lot of pulling on the starter rope by priming the engine first.  This is mine.  It doesn't have a windshield on it.  The one next to it is Susan's.  It has a little bigger motor, deeper paddles, handlebar heaters and a windshield.  They both move right along.  The only time we open them up all the way is when we're on the lake.  Now we just need some snow!!!!!!

Emily and Stephen were over during the week.  Stephen helped me get the snow mobiles limbered up but we weren't out long due to poor snow conditions.  We spent the evening playing board games.  

Odie and the cat decided to add a chapter in their love/hate relationship.

We drove out to the post office this afternoon to send back a couple of article contracts and mail a completed manuscript.  The road was solid ice.  We made it to the neighbor's place and I decided to stop and put the chains on.  We have studded tires and they wouldn't grip hard enough to keep us from sliding sideways.

To put them on I drape the chains over the tires then drive forward until the fasteners are in the right place.  After that I hook the inside then finish with the outside hook.  Usually I can get them tight enough I don't need rubber chain tighteners.  I keep an old feed sack in the Cherokee with the chains, a pair of rubber gloves and another feed sack that's been split open to use for laying or kneeling on.

On the way out we passed another neighbor who had also stopped on the road to install his tire chains.   It's about as slick as I've ever seen it.

The problem with tire chains is that we take them off on the pavement and have to re-install them when we get back to our road.  It's still better than being in the ditch or going over an embankment though!