Archive for the ‘Wintervale Ranch’ Category
Rescue Effort
It is just a little cold here this morning. Minus 21°F on the thermometer, don’t know what the wind chill is. It actually looks pretty calm outside, compared to yesterday afternoon when we were experiencing some intense gusts and a heavy, steady wind. It created frequent mini-tornadoes of snow.
We stayed up later than usual last night to take in the Grammy Awards broadcast. For some reason, Delilah decided to wake us up earlier than usual. Nothing like a bad night’s sleep to make you feel less than your best self in the morning. On top of that, I spent the afternoon clearing snow –which felt like a bit of a doomed task with the wind beginning to blow and fill in everything I had just plowed– and once again I got the ATV stuck, which required extra shoveling effort to dig out, so most of the muscles and joints of my body are in ‘complain mode.’
Growing old is not for sissies. If it’s this tough for me now, what’s it going to be like when I get old?
At one point yesterday, when we were lounging around the warmth of the fireplace before I ventured outside to work, from my perch on the couch I spotted Delilah fix her gaze on some prize up the spiral staircase. It must be a cat, I thought, and off she went, seeking closer inspection. She seems to desperately want to make contact, probably as much as the cats would fervently prefer to have her not. As she headed up, I tried alerting Cyndie, who had disappeared into the basement in search of a cookbook, and I pondered aloud whether it was Pequenita or Mozyr up in the loft.
As the scrambling and hissing commenced up there, I spotted Pequenita emerge from the safe zone of our bedroom and start up the stairs. That meant it was Mozyr who Delilah was engaged with and had cornered up there.
Mozyr has been behaving more and more like his old self recently. On days last week when I was working, and Delilah would be out in the kennel, both cats were taking advantage of the dog’s absence when I got home, wandering around the house and snitching some dog food from her bowl. Mozyr has become our bathroom pal again, hopping up by the sink, and sitting on the edge of the bathtub when I shower. I take it as a good sign that he chose to venture out from the confines of the bedroom and climb the stairs to the loft when Delilah was around. It gave him a chance to act out toward her and express how he feels about having a dog sibling forced upon his world.
When the commotion settled down and we were able to bring Delilah back down the stairs, it occurred to me that Pequenita’s behavior could be interpreted as coming to Mozyr’s rescue. When she heard the confrontation, she came running and put herself in harms way by diverting Delilah’s attention, smartly doing so with a convenient escape route back to safety. In fact, that helped our effort to convince Delilah to leave Mozyr alone and come back down with us, as Pequenita sprinted her way down and to the other side of the gate.
The brave cat to the rescue, once again, and Moz seems no worse for the wear.
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Making Room
When the weather is nasty cold outside, and hours of daylight are short, one way to deal with it is to work on indoor projects. We have a project waiting for us in our basement that is finally seeing some progress. Interestingly, that progress came as a result of the fracturing of the triangular window beside our stone chimney.
In order to raise the level of interest for a builder to travel to our home to replace the broken window, we tossed in the construction of a storage room in our basement as added incentive. It worked. The replacement window is now on order and when it comes, the builder expects to be available to work on creating a walk-in storage room with built-in shelves in the space where the entertainment center once was.
When we moved in, I did some initial demolition in that corner, taking out the shelving to open up the angled space as much as possible for temporary storage. The only parts left were studs with drywall attached to them. Cyndie masterfully stowed a roomful of stuff into the small space of that corner and then hung curtains across the front to cover the cut-out spaces once filled by a television and speakers.
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In preparation of the builder taking down the studs and putting up new walls to make a more functional storage space, I pulled off the drywall and removed all the screws from the studs. Friday night, Cyndie and I removed all the stuff that was stacked behind that wall and piled it up around the basement. It is a real optical illusion of space to see that little corner empty, but the contents now appearing to consume the entire rest of the room.
We need to rearrange things now to create a clear working space for the builder, with a path for him to bring in materials, and then we will be ready when that window shows up and our project reaches the top in his queue of work.
That done, I guess it’s time to go back outside and play in the snow! How nasty can it really be out there?
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Good Timing
The almost whimsical decision we made to commit a large percentage of our limited cash reserves toward a geothermal furnace after our first winter has turned out to be an extra blessing this year. The extreme cold this winter, combined with the current multi-state shortage of propane has driven the fuel price up dramatically.
Last year at this time it seemed as though the old furnace was gulping down the propane. The co-op came by to fill our tank several times last winter. When they showed up a few weeks ago, we didn’t really need any, but I suppose the driver decided to top it off anyway. Now I don’t think we will need another delivery until next year.
Factoring in the inflated price of propane that we would have had to pay this year, our estimated payback time on the new geothermal system is now even shorter than we first calculated. Even though the up-front costs are substantial, the comfort of mind and reduced fuel costs are immediate. Knowing we will have accomplished savings that offset the expense after just a short number of years provides its own dose of warm feelings.
Every year that you wait to make energy-saving improvements is time you lose toward accumulating the benefits. I am extremely grateful that we were able to find a way to take the plunge for a new geothermal heating and cooling system soon after we moved here. The subsequent propane shortage this winter has made that decision all the sweeter. Definitely, good timing for us.
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Double Whammy
I have been warned, multiple times, that the horses would try to chew the bark off the trees that are in their paddock. Yesterday, when I arrived to feed the horses in the afternoon, I spotted a breach in the “metal fabric” we had wrapped around the trunk of the big willow tree. I could see a piece of it hanging out, so I walked over for a closer look.
Even though there is still some material over the trunk, one or more of the horses have succeeded in scraping off the outer bark over a large area. I was never really sure whether that last metal protection I selected would ultimately work, but I got lulled into thinking it was sufficient because they were leaving it alone for the most part, up until now.
It is possible that the metal fabric could still be a viable option, if I can devise a better way of securing it. I’m not sure. My other thought would be to try some heavier woven-wire fence around the whole mess, but I’m still stuck trying to secure the joint where it would meet in such a way that the horses can’t just peel it open again.
As if that wasn’t distressing enough, as I walked around the tree to survey the damage, I discovered a gaping split from a frost crack that started near the ground and rose up over my head on the main trunk, on the side opposite from where the horse(s) damage is occurring. It looks devastating, but from what I have read about this affliction, it doesn’t necessarily doom a tree.
That willow is a glorious sight as you come upon it in the summer. It would be a real shame to lose it. I won’t give up without trying to do something to save it, but right now the horses are at the advantage. We could try locking them out of that paddock until I can get to it over the weekend, but then the system we have been using to give them their twice-a-day feed would need to be altered, since that would make only half of the barn overhang accessible.
Actually, the solution I wish for would be to have them just understand to leave the tree alone, that it’s for their own good. It would sure alleviate a lot of hassle for me. Then I would only have the frost crack threatening the tree, and that problem is pretty much out of my control.
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Happy Faces
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Here are two happy faces that just dowsed their thirst after we cleaned their water station on Sunday. Our animals can be a lot of work, but gosh darn, they’re worth it.
Say hello to Cayenne and Legacy.
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Is It?
Yesterday at work, I was describing the effort that was required over the weekend to clear snow from the entirety of our driveways, walk ways, and deck at Wintervale.
“Is it worth it?” the employee asked.
It didn’t take any time at all for me to switch from whining about all the work our enterprise demands of us, to the immediate acknowledgement, “Yes, it is absolutely worth it.”
Don’t get me wrong, I definitely have moments of wondering how we got ourselves into this situation. More often than not, we are in over our heads with issues that exceed our knowledge and abilities. But hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained. If we would have waited until we knew how to do everything we have accomplished thus far, we’d still be sitting in the suburbs, staring out the window at the side of our neighbor’s garage wall.
On Sunday, Cyndie took this picture of me enjoying one of the views we have earned from our move to the country.
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Taking Steps
The weather gives, and the weather takes away. After a couple of days with high winds, limited visibility, and repeated doses of accumulating snow, we received a gift on Sunday of blue sky and warm temperatures. We headed down to the labyrinth to reclaim it from days of blowing snow.
I had just walked the labyrinth wearing snowshoes last week, to clearly define the route, but now it was filled in to the point of being difficult to discern. It looked like it had been neglected for most of the winter. I made it most of the way through before finally getting fooled and taking a misstep. Actually, I just went a step too far before making one of the u-turns.
When we started into the effort yesterday, the snow was powdery, but in a very short time it became very sticky. That made our work a bit more taxing, and soon we were shedding layers in the heat of our second January thaw.
I hope that doesn’t sound like a complaint. It was magnificent.
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Practicing Exhaustion
I am plum beat. Late blog post this a.m. because I went out to feed the horses in a spectacularly beautiful snowstorm and ended up wrestling with gutter and ice problems that I had let accumulate on the drain side of the barn. I was able to easily knock down the drifts and ice buildup on the edge overhanging the gutter that runs across the shelter area for the horses, but the tub we had placed under the downspout on that melty day last week had turned into a pending disaster. Oops, I forgot about it.
There went a couple good hours, donated to draining my strength at a time when there is about two days of plowing and snow clearing facing me. Then it will be back to work full-time next week to cover for my vacationing assistant. It would be a fine time to practice living in the moment, but I am finding myself repeatedly working on mentally psyching myself up for the coming effort.
Sad, because I know better. Alas, I put myself through double the work by focusing on it before it gets here, and then also when I am actually involved in it. Funny how that works.
I think it is related to already being drained by the day I spent getting Cyndie to her surgery and back, and then mentally trying to stay ahead of her trying to do things while she is supposed to lay down and rest. I failed to get the vacuuming done in time and she was ensconced in that chore plus some laundry by the time I got back to the house this morning.
No wonder I’m tired.
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Driving Day
In the early morning darkness yesterday, with the wind blowing fiercely, mixing ground snow with the on-and-off cloudbursts of new flakes, I set off in the car with Cyndie by my side. I had taken the day off from work to transport her to a day surgery appointment tending to a minor issue with the middle finger of her right hand. I suspect I will be seeing a lot of that finger from her in the days ahead.
Since this day was all about her, I figured that most of the time would consist of restful idleness for me. I hadn’t thoroughly considered what effort it would take to set off in the pre-dawn darkness, through a fresh coating of snow on the roads, down a totally unfamiliar route, to a destination that was over an hour away from us. That drive alone turned out to be pretty exhausting. It didn’t help that we needed to get up so early that I only logged a fraction of my full night’s sleep, waking at the point of deepest slumber.
Since her appointment was early, we were one of the first patients arriving, even getting there before her nurse. As one of the first appointments of the day, they were able to get her ready for the doctor in no time and I wandered off to the family lounge. I leisurely made my way through the newspaper, hoping the reading would lull me to sleep. Before I got through the last section, the doctor arrived to provide a report of what he found. So much for a nap.
I re-joined Cyndie in the prep/recovery station. There had been a chance that they would want to take skin from her arm for a graft on the knuckle, so the anesthesiologist made sure Cyndie’s entire arm had no feeling or function. It turned out they did not need the graft, which was great, but the arm was done for the day. She couldn’t get a finger to even twitch. They supported her sleeping arm in a sling and off we went, in search of some breakfast.
All too soon, I was driving again, this time with Cyndie sound asleep beside me. At least now there was daylight so that I could see where we were going. Travel was still treacherous, with snow blowing across the road in many places. At one point, when the road turned, it was obvious that someone’s car didn’t, and it sat buried in the snow straight ahead. That could easily have been us if it had still been dark.
We arrived home safe and sound, and both fell right to sleep for a nap. When I awoke, it was time again to venture out for a drive to pick up her pain medication at our usual pharmacy which was in the opposite direction from where we had been in the morning. More wind, more snow over the road, and more driving than I have done in one day for a long time.
Just to make a fatiguing day of doing pretty much nothing even more exhausting, there were complications with the prescription I was hoping to pick up. Our usual pharmacy just happened to be having technical difficulties this day. They suggested I try a different pharmacy. Had I known this in advance, we could have chosen one closer to home. I turned around and headed back toward our place and pulled up to the drive-thru window of the second pharmacy.
How many of you can see this coming? They were having difficulty filling the prescription because it looked like the first pharmacy already took care of it. Lovely. It was a tangled mess, but pharmacy #2 made many phone calls and found a way to help us out. My little errand to pick up her prescription took twice as long as it needed to.
Finally, I was driving home again, now into the dark of night, navigating drifted roadways, and already mentally preparing for this morning’s pre-dawn hour-long commute to the day job. I wish I had driverless car technology so I could do it with my eyes closed.
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Winter Installation
They showed up! The gutter installers surprised me at the house yesterday morning. I guess the snow didn’t intimidate them one bit. I was just about to head out the door, wishing that Delilah wasn’t barking from her kennel so soon after I put her in there, when I heard a roof rake pulling down snow. That’s what she was barking about.
I opened the front door and told the guys they must be gluttons for punishment, trying to un-winter winter.
“You should have seen how bad the home we just finished was,” the foreman replied.
He claimed my house would be easy by comparison. After allowing him to up-sell me on improvements to the soffits for increased ventilation to help mitigate our ice buildup, I left them to their task and headed to work in the cities.
When I returned home in the afternoon, it appeared to me as though he over-sold the ease with which he was going to clean off the roof so they could commence with the work. It’s a good thing they pre-bid the job, because if I was paying by the hour, this ‘working in the winter’ thing would really chafe me. However, the advantage I see in doing it now is that the growing icicles are dead giveaways to areas where the old gutters are poorly installed and creating (or covering) more problems than they are solving.
One problem is just outside our bathroom window, and I’ve been suffering an uneasy feeling every time I looked out when it is dripping wet outside. It always seemed as though more water dripped over the side than washed out the downspout, and too often that drip was coming off the roof-side of the gutter! They definitely weren’t doing the job for which they were installed.
I asked the guy if he could tell if these were very old, because they seemed pretty new to me. He guessed 4 or 5 years and claimed to know who was marketing the gutter cover system these employ. He says they didn’t stay in business. I didn’t do any fact checking, because I want his version to be true, since I am now paying him to replace them!
I just hope the plan to do this work in the winter doesn’t compromise the integrity of the outcome. At least I’ll have plenty of chance to see if icicles form anyplace they shouldn’t, soon after they finish. My favorite local weather blog is making boasts about this winter having the potential of making quite an impact:
Winter is halfway over according to the calendar, but just kicking into high gear on the weather maps. In fact those weather maps look downright brutal at times the next 10 days in the Upper Midwest.
From the sound of our house creaking against the wind gusts outside overnight, combined with everything we have already experienced thus far, I think this winter may have already achieved its notoriety.
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Relative Something 