Just Think

How beautiful this Nootka Cypress will be when it is 20 - 30 feet tall



In all the winters to come.



Joined by growing pines
Needles poking through the fresh snow.



This was the snow left after a day's melting when I returned home.
As suspected there was not a flake to be seen down in town.



Up top I live in another world where winter has much more to say.

How Quickly Things Change

It went from pouring rain to a blizzard in under ten minutes. The temperature dropped 10 degrees in about the same amount of time. I'll be going from trapped inside to encased in short order.



Good thing I got to town to turn in my dung boxes and back before the snow came. I hope turkeys don't eat grass too. This poor horse pasture is not looking so good. All this wet makes horse hooves that much more destructive too.

That was my adventure for the day, along with driving to town and back while mice were scurrying around inside the truck and on the dash board. Damn varmints! This is war. I bought glue traps for inside my truck. I caught one yesterday and know that there are at least two more still living in there. I tried to catch them by hand and only managed to pull off the tip of a tail. I have been tempted to feed them special candy bars made just for mice and live with the stench that is bound to occur.

Damn varmints! Maybe this is a sign I sealed up the cozy cabin so well they have been forced into plan B for winter accommodations.



The Creation gets an instant makeover in under ten minutes. Winter is its time to stand out. I will have something to gaze upon while practicing nothingness.



How much snow will fall in the night? The diagnosis says between one and three inches. The diagnosis also said it would change at 4pm and the change happened at 3pm instead. The weathers much like gardening is very location specific. It's probably not even snowing in town.

Practice in Nothingness

It has rained all day and I have been trapped inside. The diagnosis calls for rain all day tomorrow. That will be followed by another bout of snow. It is rather pleasant to have a slow leisurely morning knowing I don't have anything pressing to get to. Then I start to get antsy. I should be doing something.



My physical body luxuriates in the lack of motion, the still nothingness. It seizes the opportunity to pursue nothing. That is no surprise. My mind rebels. There is a list of projects I should be attending to. Odds and ends do get done in between long bouts of nothing at least.

The first day or two the body, deservedly, wins this contest of wills. At least I hope that is how it pans out.



There is a list of projects I should be attending to. They're just hard to attend to in the rain and/or snow. I have piles of rubbish to burn, downed trees to process, walls to build. There are inside items on this list as well. I just haven't been in the mood to start another construction process.



Just before dark the rain paused. I wandered outside to fetch dinner. That would be something. Can you believe it? The roadside vegetable garden is like a big refrigerator keeping food fresh for me until I am ready to harvest it. I wandered outside on December 6th to fetch dinner from the garden. I got potatoes, a carrot, radishes, lots of spinach and some mache. This roadside vegetable garden has real potential. There is still plenty more food out there hiding in the ground.



I like the harvesting part more than the cooking part, but I managed. It actually turned out quite tasty.

Damn Wires

You can't even bounce a tree off of them without the power going out.

My wood burning neighbor was creeping around in the forest when I woke up late this morning. I stayed to help .... or make things more difficult as the case may be. You see I wanted the two Black Locust trees right at the bottom of the stairs down to the basement patio and real close to the back of the cozy cabin cut ten feet off the ground. The kitties use them for scratching posts.



It was a delicate operation involving chains and winches. There was a very narrow area to fall between the electric wires and the other large trees. We certainly didn't want them to bounce off of the cabin. Only missed the target by a hair. Good job!

The first tree set the wires to bouncing. They didn't break. Didn't hear any explosions or sparks. I thought all was well until we were done and I went back inside to discover I was powerless. Oops! At least they didn't bounce off of the cozy cabin.

Nice scratching posts, eh.



Actually the real reason I wanted them cut ten feet off the ground is because I intend to use the trunks as the frame for a gate of sorts that leads out to the garden. I will add a lintel across the top, maybe even a swinging gate in between. I'll have plenty of time to consider options for another object de art project I don't really have the time for. It's Black Locust, the stuff doesn't rot. I can contemplate this for years. I did however spritz the cut ends with some strong tree killing herbicide. Other wise they would sprout and try to grow back.



I think my poor wood burning neighbor was feeling a bit discombobulated and googly eyed after the delicate operation got the trees on the ground. There was only a narrow area for them to fall between the wires and the other big trees and we didn't want them to bounce off of the cozy cabin. A little stress was involved. Once they were down he headed home. That's plenty work for one day.



A totally dead Black Locust along the drive came down before the delicate operation got started. It was probably good to warm up with an easy fall.



I have two more small to medium for forest kind trees I can part with along the drive and another really big Black Locust out back that can go. A few more spindly things are on the hit list. A more open forest is opening up. We don't have to worry about the damn wires anymore at least.

Up A Ways

I looked at the county topo map to figure out that the cozy cabin is 85 feet lower in elevation than the top of the low spot. That extra height and a little tree thinning makes a world of difference in the view. I can wander over there anytime for a look, but the comforts of home are no longer there. It makes it more of an effort.

Looks like something is headed this way.



I do have reason to ascend those 85 feet in elevation and will continue to have reason on plenty of occasions. Today's main activity after an hour spent picking up sticks in the ridge top garden was to put a vent guard on the vent pipe near the bottom of the roof. It has been ripped right off the roof once by sliding snow. Handy doesn't want to repair that pipe again. That little gizmo is supposed to cut and part the snow around the pipe as it slides down the roof.



My vent pipe is at the bottom of the roof too. Made sense to get two of these vent guards. I have seen the snow slide off my metal roof as a single, nearly intact piece. All that moving snow has got to have some weight and force behind it. It lands with a big thud.



I probably need to stock the pantry a little bit better first, but now I am ready for the big one. I want to see if these vent guards work. Those two pieces of metal and a handful of screws were outrageously expensive, $60 bucks each. They better work.

The View

Eighty five feet lower down in elevation isn't quite the same as the view from the resident gardeners house. I have wires in my view. My view is wires. Things could be much much worse so I don't lament the tragedy of my viewless condition. I have scenery. That will do.



A house on a hill. A 4000 foot high hill. There is really only one way a house in these hills can't have a background of more hills. It's at the very top. I bet they have a view.



I may not have my own view, but by the time I get home I have seen more views in one day than most will see all year. And I have scenery.

My Wood Burning Neighbor

Attached a chain to one of my trees. Then he went home because he wasn't feeling up to the task.

Yes I have more trees I am willing to part with to keep my neighbor warm through the winter. Another round of tree clearing along the drive, behind the cozy cabin and around the parking area is in the works. Funny how that can happen in a forest. I want a tidy forest of healthy trees with a little more space between them. My neighbor is fairly obsessed with collecting wood to burn. It works out great for both of us.



There have been three sunny, well above freezing days in a row and the little bit of snow from Tuesday still hasn't finished melting. I have this ominous feeling there is long period of snow pack in my future.

That means we better get busy before the snow piles up.



There are other things I really should take care of before things get buried. It is beyond time to disappear more of the construction left overs. Time for Freecycle or Craig's List.



Chores, chores, chores. So many chores and not enough daylight, time or enthusiasm. Eventually. It sure would be nice to have an assistant who I could just say to, take care of that would you.

Aiming For The Shortest Day

There's not much light or warmth left by the time I get home these days. I'm lucky to be able to wander around for a bit before the dark sets in. The sun now hides behind Hebo Mountain across the scenic byway around 4pm and puts my world in the cold shade before the sun ever sets. It could be worse. There are folds in these mountains that may not see any direct sunshine at all right now.

Miss Collar and I wandered down to the Creation to have a look. I either need to come up with a planting plan of short things that like wet feet or just mow what ever comes up and make a lawn of sorts. I want the Creation to be a bit more visible year round. The current tall flower meadow community swallows it alive in June.



The shortest day of the year is still weeks away. I am busy getting the last chores done and putting gardens to bed for the winter. Once that is all done then there might be more time to attend to all the chores that need doing around here.



"Look mama, there's a crazy man gardening out there in the dead of winter."

There is no other choice. Spring will arrive with a frenzy of work. I'm expecting a crowd up here in May which amounts to spring in these parts. I want the wild cultivated garden to look as good as a wild cultivated garden can.