2-7 November 2011 - Winter is here ...

Winter has finally arrived.  The highs are just above freezing and the lows in the 20's at night.  The ground is frozen and the leaves have fallen from the trees.  The meager amount of snow we have is sticking now.  We've been through the time change and the shorter daylight hours are making it difficult for the solar panels to keep the battery bank fully charged so we're in energy conservation mode.  All of that together means winter is here to stay ... I think!

I believe it was the last post in which we caught one pack rat and suspected another one was still around.  Well, we caught the other one the next day.  He got in the trap early in the morning.  I was up around 3:30 am and the trap was empty. Susan was up at 4:30 and saw the pack rat in it.  (We both went back to bed!)  Susan set the trap off the porch because the pack rat was messing all over the porch.  I didn't know she'd moved the trap when I let the dog out.  The dog found the trap with the pack rat in it and proceeded to dismantle the trap.  Fortunately we stopped her before she finished but I'll still have to get some retainer clips to put things back together.  I dispatched the pack rat with a 22 rim fire shot shell and gave it to the dog.  We think this is the last one hanging around. 

While hunting I found where a couple of green trees had blown over during the fall so I took the truck back up and cut them up for firewood.  They still have a high moisture content so I'll have to stack them in the pile for next year.  The truck holds six rows of wood and I have three-and-a-half rows.  Even at half a load the truck is still sitting pretty low because of the weight of the wood. 

This is my stack of wood to burn next year.  It was all green wood from trees that had blown down and it will need a few months to dry out.  If I need it next spring it'll be ready by then but I shouldn't need it.  The wood shed is almost full and we're already into the second week of November.  November, December and January are the real cold months then it usually begins to warm up again so our wood use goes down. 

Scott loves it outside but he's bad about kicking off his shoes and socks so Susan pinned his shoes to the bottom of his snow suit.

Susan and Scott raking leaves in the yard.  Some of them are frozen to the ground already.  She hit the thickest places and I loaded the piles of leaves into the wheel barrow and dumped them in a pile in the garden.

Sometimes if Susan wants to get things done she'll put Scott in the carrier and he'll ride around like a little emperor.  He loves it and is always anxious to see what she's doing.

We drove into Fortine on Sunday to meet with Tristan and his wife at the pool hall.  Scott had a lot of fun at his table while we took turns playing pool at the other table.  While we were in town we checked the mail and filled water jugs.

Bath time for Scott.  We bring the deep sink in and set it in front of the stove and let him have his fun. He throws so many toys in that there's hardly room for him.

Susan dumped all the rain water collection barrels this week.  She'd dumped all but one last week then set this one up again when we got rain early in the week.  Now the rain is finished and everything is frozen so she dumped the last two barrels and routed the drain spout away from the cabin.  I emptied out the water pumps a few weeks ago so we're ready for winter. 

Not being able to collect rain water puts us in a bit of a bind for water.  With Scott here and using/washing cloth diapers we're going through more water than we normally do.  Susan moved a 55 gallon barrel in the house to store water there but at the moment we're filling it slowly with water from our jugs.  Any time we go into town we dump whatever is left in the small jugs into the big barrel then refill the small ones in town.  We'll slowly fill the barrel this way.  It's just difficult to make the adjustment from having lots of rain water for washing people, clothes and dishes, etc. to having to be more conservative again.  It shouldn't be long before we have enough snow to melt then the water situation should ease up a bit.

In case you're wondering we have two seven gallon jugs and two five gallon jugs. 

We also have three or four one gallon bottles.  We try to get into Fortine once a week to get our mail and fill water jugs.  That's about 30 gallons of water per week for washing dishes, clothes, people and drinking/cooking.   We can get by on less than that if we have to.

We killed the goat today.  We'd originally planned on using him for a pack goat but when he was banded they missed the family jewels so we ended up with a foul smelling, bad tempered billy goat.  I finally got my revenge for all the times he's head butted me and the other troubles he caused.  Victor did the shooting.  I gave the lesson on field dressing him.

Victor has never killed an animal this size so I showed him how to field dress the goat and skin it.  I like skinning them as soon after killing as possible because the skin comes off easier.  The temperatures are ideal to let it hang for a day or so before cutting up the meat.  The meat shouldn't be frozen but if it's cold it's much easier to cut up than when it's warm and flabby.

Susan canned some salmon along with the mixed vegetables we'd bought at the last case lot sale awhile back.  The veggies and salmon have been in the freezer but we're about to shut it off for the winter so she needed to get them canned.  If you can veggies and meat in the same load you have to use the time and pressure required for meat to be sure everything is safe to store and eat.

Susan made homemade bread and buns yesterday so I had Texas Toast for breakfast using home-made bread and home-made apricot jam, and we had buffalo burgers with home-made buns for dinner today.  The buffalo meat is frozen so we're using it us as well.

27 Oct - 1 Nov, 2011 Trick-or-treat, Packrats, and Rug Rats

The nights and days are getting colder and there's a definite feel of winter in the air which kind of motivates us to get the outside things done ASAP!  On the cloudy days we try to get caught up on the indoor things as well.
 

We're trying to get a more rustic feel to our cabin so as the opportunity presents itself we make changes.  Susan used a couple of slabs to build a shelf in the living room.  This is one of the slabs left after we cut the timbers for Barbara and Victor's cabin.  Susan put it where we used to store our DVDs.  There's another one over a window where she'll put some of our books.

I gave Victor our old monster maul for splitting firewood.  What I never liked about it (besides it's weight) was the round handle which made it difficult to grip so that the head came down vertically.  We fixed that problem by welding a piece of 1/4 inch steel rod on the handle.  Now the handle has an oval shape so you can tell if the head is vertical by the feel of the handle.

We use cloth diapers most of the time at home for several reasons.  First, we don't like the smelly powders used in disposables.  Second is cost.  Third is we avoid disposable anythings.  They're a waste of resources.  They do present some challenges when you haul all of your water since they'll need laundering after use.  Susan typically uses a bucket and water and washes them in the shower or in front of the wood stove (depends on the temperature!).  We hang them inside to dry.  We still use disposables when away from home. 

These are diaper wipes.  The one on the right is new and those on the left have been used and washed for re-use.  Susan found out how well they wash out when a couple got in the laundry by accident.  They came out in such good shape that she does it on purpose now. 

It's the time of year for pack rat problems and we are not exempt.  We've had one that's avoided the live trap so I found an old rat trap and decided to put it to use.  Pack rats will carry them off if you don't anchor them down so I'm screwing this one down on a sawmill slab.  It's usually easier to drill one or two holes with the hand drill than start the generator or run extension cords from the house for the electric drill.  My cordless drill is in the cabin but I decided to not use it.  We're trying to keep our dependence on modern technology down and this is one of the ways we do so.

Almost finished.  The slab is heavy enough a pack rat can't carry it off but I put a wire on it as well.  I've seen those little buggers do some extraordinary things and I don't want one running off with a trap.  I tied the wire to an old 20 lb. propane bottle just in case!

I couldn't get the slab in where I wanted it because it was too thick so I used my hatchet to thin it down a bit.

One dead pack rat.  However I caught this one in the live trap.  The dog was trying to tear my trap apart to get to the pack rat so I tied her up.  After I dispatched the pack rat (one shot with a .22 shot shell) I gave it to her.

The rat trap on the slab didn't work.  It's been sprung several times but doesn't have enough grip and the rat frees itself.  Some people drive nails up through the wood to impale the pack rats but I can't do that with the cats around.  I just hope he has lots of bruises! 

We aren't sure this pack rat is the one that's been causing all the trouble.  Susan heard one on the roof last night and so we're thinking the one we caught was a new arrival.   I'm going to have to use some of my connibear traps I think.  We'll have to make sure the cat is inside when I do 'cause these will kill whatever they catch.

Susan harvesting mullein leaves.  She picked the plants and has them drying on the porch.  Now the leaves will be taken indoors for further processing.

In the winter we bring one of our water barrels inside.  We won't be getting any rain water so we'll melt snow and use it to fill the barrel.  We like having the extra on hand for baths and washing clothes.  ti takes awhile to fill a 55 gallon barrel with melted snow.

I decided to try modifying one of the old butcher knives I have on hand.  I marked this one off to be a skinning type blade.  It will be five inches long when I'm finished.  The original length was seven inches.

I used a dremel tool to cut the blade off then files and a stone to put the bevels on the blade.  Next I'll need to make a sheath.  I may modify the curve a bit more after using it.  We'll see.  It has good steel and takes a keen edge.

We're having difficulty finding a child carrier we like.  The new ones don't have frames on them.  Becky (our daughter) gave us this one but the bar used as a brace and foot rest was too high.  I drilled out the rivets holding it and re-installed it lower on the frame which seems to work better.  We're keeping our eyes on eBay to find one we like better but this will do for now.  Scott loves being outside and if he's going to be spending time here he'll have to get used to it!

Becky was down for a couple of days with her two (Hannah and Logan).  Those who read about our time in Nevada last spring will recognize these two!

Scott, being the typical American child has tons of toys to play with but the biggest hits are a metal waterproof matchbox/tube I put some steel BB's in for a rattle, an Altoid tin with nails in it for a rattle, and Susan's large can of canning jar rings. 

We took Scott trick-or-treating on Halloween night in Eureka.  Here he is with Uncle Tristan raking in some of the loot.  He's wearing a bee costume.  He didn't quite know what to do with the candy but his Uncle Tristan did.

23-26 October, 2011 First Snow, Hunting Blinds, Firewood, Pizza and Projects.

This began as one of those "day in the life of ..." posts but I just didn't get it finished in one day.  So it's more like "four days in the life of ..."!

This is about 1/4 mile from the cabin looking over the top at Marl Lake.  It's overcast  (common for this time of year!) so you can't see the mountains in the distance.  I was out looking for some innocent buck minding his own business so I could shoot him, skin him, butcher him and eat him.

This is how our day usually begins.  We get the wood stove going nice and hot then lounge around it talking or reading (Susan) or doing Sudoku (me) while drinking our morning brew of French Vanilla coffee and hot cocoa mix. 

The cups are waiting patiently for the water on the wood stove to get hot!

We usually get an hour or so to ourselves before Scott wakes up.  The great thing is that he's almost always cheerful and very affectionate when he gets up.

I often spend some time on the computer writing on my book, an article or the blog in the mornings while it's still too cold or dark to get anything done outside.

We got our first snow of the season this week!!!  This is just the warning shot to get people prepared for what's yet to come!  About this time next week we won't care how much it snows because we'll have our wood cut (at least enough to get us through the winter) and wouldn't care if we get snowed in until spring.  We have a warm cabin, food, water (melted snow), snowmobiles, skis, snowshoes, sleds and warm clothes.  Let it snow!!!!

This is wood in that's been stored outside under a tarp since last summer.  The wind knocked down a couple of live Larch and Fir trees so we cut them up and let them cure over the last year.  The big rounds are Fir and the smaller stuff is Larch.  Both are excellent firewood for around here.

The Fir is stringy and when it's this size I need wedges to split it.

Once I have it down to a manageable size I can use a maul to finish the job.  This batch has a lot of resin in it.  It ignites easy and burns long and hot.  It's the best firewood I've ever had!  It's kind of a pain to split.  If that had been Larch it would have practically exploded if I hit it with a maul as hard as I did this chunk.

My sledge hammer handle broke.  I bought this one with the fiberglass handle and it's had some hard use.  The problem is that the eye is oversize due to the plastic sleeve so I'll have to modify a pick handle to re-handle it.  Otherwise I'd just epoxy the handle back in the head. 

Scott wants to play with the kitty but the cat's heading for the door.

"No, really, I've never pulled the kitty's tail!  I don't know why he doesn't want to play."

Victor and I took my truck out to cut another load of firewood.  He paid for the gas so we could use my truck.  It holds about three times the amount we can get in his.  This is the mountainside we're cutting on.  There's a dead Larch at the right side of the picture that we're going after.

The fog moved in and out the first hour we were cutting.  We were pretty high up and when our fog was gone we were still above the clouds below us.   We're only about three miles from the cabin but the low-lying fog never lifted up from the valley floor until mid-afternoon.

Fueling up the saws before we start up the mountain.  I take my tailgate off when cutting and loading the truck because I don't like bent tailgates (very common around here!) from people dropping log rounds on them.

We got back late in the evening so this is the next morning when Victor is unloading the truck.  This is very good firewood and should split easily.

We decided to build a ground blind near B&V's cabin.  It'll give him a place to hunt without having to travel far.  It's his first time hunting big game and he's anxious to get his first deer.

It's set up nicely.  The chair is comfortable, the visibility good and the cover excellent.  It will also provide some protection from the wind.  The deer like this meadow.

Susan made pizza yesterday.  She used a rising crust with cheese, pineapple, and ham for the topping.  It's every bit as good as it looks.

I'm going to modify one of my butcher knives into a shorter, skinning type blade.  I just drew it out last night so I'll keep you posted on it's progress.  I've got enough metal left to change it later if I don't like the first model.  The blade is five inches long at the top of the mark I made.  It'll have a rather blunt point so I don't have to worry so much about poking holes in the hides.

15-22 October, 2011 - Hunting Season, wood cutting, preparing for winter.

We're still trying to get caught up with outside tasks before the snow arrives. Susan's been busy outside whenever she gets a chance. She's put away the mowers and a bunch of other things that needed to be done before winter. The garden is almost ready for winter and we've been adding hot water to the wash and rinse water when we do the laundry outside. She's still found time to prepare meals and take care of the other domestic duties that need done.

Rifle season for big game opened on Saturday. I've been out several times and seen lots of deer but they've all been does and fawns. I'll eventually connect with a buck though. We have a five week gun season and there are lots of deer this year.

Scott loves being outdoors, especially when he's strapped to our back in his carrier. Baby backpacks are extremely hard to find around here for some reason. We took this one back because we didn't like it. Scott didn't seem to mind it but the way it's designed he's held very tightly against our back and we worry that he'll have difficulty breathing if he falls asleep in it. Becky (another daughter) loaned us one of hers (she had two) while we try to find one we like on ebay. I took Scott for a walk around the place to mark dead trees with orange tape (so we can tell which are dead and cut them during the winter if we run short of firewood). Susan was cleaning out the garage tent and it was easy for me to find and mark the trees with Scott along.

If there's one thing this boy adores it's water. If you look close you can see water drops in the air around him as he splashes around in his "tub." He's more comfortable taking a bath in the kettle than in a tub. He seems to feel more secure.

We spent a Saturday afternoon at Becky's in-law's home for a birthday party for Becky and Hannah. If you ever got their clan and ours all together we'd have a big batch of people and kids! There were rug rats all over the place. This is Becky and her husband, Justin and Hannah (on Becky's lap).

Susan with Scott and Logan. Logan is Becky's second child. He's a couple of months younger than Scott. Becky's expecting her third one this spring.

Hannah helping me eat less. She loved all the fruit. The dip is strawberry flavored and tasted great!

Scott introducing himself to the baby chicken. We brought him in the house for the night because he got soaked by rain while we were gone to Kalispell. He's been moved to the garden until he gets big enough to defend himself. The big chickens still pick on him. Chickens are not nice animals. If they weighed 500 pounds we'd be an endangered species. Most animals are not nice. They function more like gangs, utterly ruthlessness and established, inviolate pecking orders. It would be great if more people realized that and quit trying to apply human traits like compassion and love to them.

This was a dump find (not Scott ... the toy farm!). Around here when people have something (toys, clothes, tools, furniture, etc.) that's in good shape they set it beside the dumpsters for others to take and use. The county, of course, tries to discourage it but it's been an established practice for years. When we have clothes or other items we no longer need yet they are still in good shape we do the same thing. It's kind of like a free yard sale with first come-first served! This area has a lot of poverty and it's one way the locals share with others. Someone packaged this up in a plastic bag and left it beside the dumpster. Scot has been thoroughly enthralled with it.

We ordered a new pump for our carpet shampooer awhile back. Barbara and Victor needed it to clean their carpet after they put it in the loft so Scott and I are replacing the parts. Scott likes my orange handled screwdriver and claimed it as his as soon as he spotted it. I take the steel parts out and let him play with the plastic handle portion. Susan gave me her screwdriver to use to fix the cleaner. It has a black handle.

I replaced the black part with the hoses going to it. It's a pump for the furniture attachment. This is the second time I've had to fix it. We think it doesn't drain properly after use then the water inside freezes during the winter and breaks it. I couldn't fix it with JB Weld this time so we had to get a new part. All I really needed was a valve attached to the pump. It's very easy to remove but of course the only way to get the valve is to buy the pump.



Wood cutting time again. Susan took this in the mirror of the Cherokee as our convoy headed out to the woods. We took two vehicles because we didn't know how long Scott would last and Susan needed to be home by 5:00 because one of our sons was coming to visit. The dog seemed to think she needed to sit on my lap.

We're in the process of carrying chunks of firewood down the mountainside to load them in the truck. Barbara is at the left edge of the photo. Victor is wearing the red shirt in the center, I'm walking over to Scott who is in the "walker" near my chainsaws and helmet. (Susan took the picture.) This is an old burn site, and most of the easy-to-get trees are gone.

If you look close near the bottom right side of the picture you'll see Victor (in the red shirt) standing near the tree I'm dropping. He's over six feet tall which will give you some idea of the size of the tree. I'm on the other side of the tree running the saw. We dropped two trees and got a little over two cords of wood. This is dead standing larch. The best firewood you can get around these parts. It burns hot and long and splits easy. I split and stacked about 1 1/3 cords the next morning in about four hours. I miss having Tristan around to split wood with. One time we got into a spitting contest and split about four cords in under four hours using mauls and wedges. I can split a little more than him but it's a close call. He has youth (21) on his side. I have experience (57) on mine. It's a good way to work up a sweat! (And when you get my age it's a good idea to have some aspirin on hand.)

The general rifle season for big game opened Saturday. Scott came in to wish me luck before I took off on opening morning. We (Victor and I) saw lots of does but no bucks during the day. We hunted a clear cut in the morning then did some walking in the afternoon. It was raining by then and we were soaked when we got back. We stopped to build a fire just for practice while we were out in the afternoon. Everything was soaked so it was a good test. A hand full of birch bark and small tinder and we had a roaring fire going in minutes. The paper-like pieces of birch bark will light instantly even when wet and burn with enough intensity to dry out the small tinder. Just keep adding tinder until you get it hot enough to dry out the larger wood you need to get a longer lasting fire. It try to build a fire every time I go out. The nastier the weather the better the test. Event though I have emergency supplies but I use natural materials found in the woods and save the home made "accelerants" for a real emergency. It's good practice and a hot fire is kind 'a nice on a cold snowy or rainy day.

This is some fresh bear scat we found. The knife is 4 5/8 inches long for size comparison. I've also found some large rotten logs and stumps torn apart as a bear looks for food. Last week I found some if this guy's tracks and he's a big bear for around here. Thankfully it's a black bear and not a grizzly (no little bells and the scat didn't smell like pepper spray!). Okay, seriously, it's easy to tell black bear a grizzly tracks apart if you know what to look for.