Total Slop

Without a doubt this has been the most awful slop of weather I have seen since moving to this monsoon prone mountain top. And I have seen a lot of weathers since moving here. This is no tropical desert where 320 days of the year there are partly cloudy skies with trade winds between 15 and 20 mph, high of 84, low of 72.

The internet disappeared last night right before bed and I correctly guessed the dish was covered in ice. I woke to two inches of new snow and a melting rain. The trees and most upright facing items with an eastern exposure were covered in a quarter inch of ice. The whole scene was melting rapidly into an oozing slush.

If that wasn't enough the wind was blowing fierce and shards of ice were flying through the air and pelting the ground with the sideways falling rain.



After a cup of coffee and a bit of time to let the melt get a good start, the remaining ice on the satellite dish was swept off and the internet was restored.

Tree branches of course littered the ground combined with all kinds of tiny bits of tree flesh. I am never going to get all these sticks picked up if this keeps happening.

The top of one of the dying Hemlocks down by the cabin, center right, landed just behind the stack of Black Cherry logs, lower left. These Hemlocks do not stand long once they are dead. A large branch of the Sassafras tree at the end of the resident gardeners drive had snapped off and by the time I came back from a little primer painting, two thirds of the Sassafras tree was no more. I will have to move it out of the way before I can leave this place again.



I feel lucky. The power has remained on despite all the potential for destruction. The wind storm hit Asheville hard it seems. There are a lot of twitpics of fallen trees and crushed houses on this twitter stream #avlsnomg. I am not twitter savvy in the least so I hope that link is the way to do it.

A second coat of primer was put on the two loft walls that adjoin the ceiling.



I thought it best to paint them before I finished the tongue and groove ceiling. Besides there was no way I was going to be able to comfortably cut the planks and put a V joint on the butt ends on the front porch out in that slop. The covered porch is nice, but when it is raining sideways its effectiveness is some what diminished.



I saw too that the little eyeball windows in the main loft still have small leaks in a strong Kona storm. They are going to need another layer of caulking or window glaze to keep the water from slipping between the glass and the frame in such a fierce wind blowing right at them.



Once that nice wood ceiling is done all that space is going to look so much like a room that is lacking a floor. I just may be tempted once the inspector man is done and gone to add me another sleeping loft for company. The drawback is that it could also hold more stuff and I do not want stuff to accumulate.



Even in the midst of sideways slop, beneath the cozy cabin offers a great deal of protection. It will be nice down there one day.



The freezing rain is scheduled to return with the loss of the sun that was no where to be seen today. That will be followed by more sleet and snow. What will it be like when I wake up in the morning?



At least the wind has calmed down and the power is still on. The internet may freeze up solid again later tonight and I will have to wait for the dish to melt to reopen my window out to the rest of the world.