Blizzard: Bad!! Blizzard: Good!!

Blizzard: Bad! The Midwest is in the middle of a huge snow storm. When we left Colorado on December 21st it was a sunny day... 60 degrees when we drove thru Denver. By the time we got to Nebraska it was late in the day & it had cooled off considerably. On the drive across Nebraska on I-80 we noticed snow... lots of snow. When we got to our destination there was much more snow than we had imagined. The front yard had about a foot of the white stuff... the back door had a drift in front of it so it was not possible to open it for Skeeter to go out. Jerry has shoveled the sidewalk & driveway every day since we've been here & is growing weary of it!

Since we got here (Nebraska) it has snowed several days, the wind has blown, the sun has stayed hidden (we've seen the sun twice since December 21... for a total of maybe 4 hours!), the temperature has plummeted! We're experiencing wind chills of 30to 40 below zero... and daytime temperatures of barely above 0. A few years ago we had a winter with lots of snow & many gray days. Each day was like the one before... it never changed... the roads were icy, there was lots of snow, lots of wind, no sunshine, more gray skies. Terribly depressing. It was like living "Groundhog Day" over & over again.

We traveled to my parents' home in Kansas on January 1st... and guess what? It snowed again! My son & daughter in law were in a car accident on their way from Kansas back to Missouri on January 2nd due to the weather. We drove to my father-in-law's home in central Nebraska on January 3rd... and guess what? Not only was there more snow there than where we are... but... it snowed again!

Tonight the local news continues to tell viewers to stay off the roads due to blowing snow; school closings continue to scroll across the bottom of the television screen. The weather man referred to this weather as "cruel & unusual punishment"! Can't say that I disagree with him on that! The furnace seems to run constantly & it's set at 68*. I can only hope that "this too shall pass" and "the sun will come out tomorrow"... but I'm not holding my breath!





Blizzard: Good! Who doesn't love a Blizzard ice cream treat from DQ? Well, maybe not when it's this cold. But I'm thinking ice cream is good ANY time of year & it's one of the things I've missed having at the cabin. My favorites are German Chocolate & Pecan Cluster! I wonder if hubby would think I'm crazy if I told him I wanted a Blizzard tonite?

Stay warm everyone!

It's CHRISTmas Morning!!!!

This morning I woke up early, made a pot of coffee, popped a PopTart in the toaster, let Skeeter out... er, at least I tried to. There was a huge drift in front of the door to the backyard which made it impossible to open so he had to go out the front door. By the time Skeeter went out & came back in my PopTart was done...not exactly the kind of Christmas morning breakfasts I've been used to (mom's Swedish pancakes). I poured a steaming cup & sat down to have a little one-on-one time with God.

The snow is beautiful... not as beautiful as it is at our place in the mountains. One thing I noticed when it snowed at the cabin - especially at night - was that the reflection of the moon made the snow sparkle like the ground was scattered with diamonds! You just don't get that kind of eye-candy in the city with all the street lights. Jerry is outside shoveling the sidewalk... something he doesn't have to do at the cabin and doesn't miss doing! I don't know how much snow there is in the yard - looks like more than a foot - it's deep enough that Skeeter's belly drags in the snow - and he's a BIG dog! And it's still snowing.

Yes, it's CHRISTmas morning... but without kids here, it's another morning. I opened my laptop, signed on to my email, Facebook and my blog, then flipped on the television hoping for something inspiring for CHRISTmas morning. What I found was someone talking about the Twelve Days of Christmas. Here's a link that will enlighten you as to what that song is REALLY about! http://www.crivoice.org/cy12days.html

I should call my daughter in North Carolina & find out what the little girls thought of their Christmas gifts. My boys will be here in a few hours to open a couple gifts then we're having Christmas dinner at the home of friends. I suppose I should let Skeeter back in and get ready for our day!

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Franklin... the Woodstove!

Last Thursday we were in town getting mail, doing a bit of shopping & ran into our friend Hal. He & Jerry got to talking about our respective building projects (Hal's building his own place too). Jerry mentioned that we were needing to get the woodstove hooked up so we could spend the winter here & Hal said he'd be out the next morning! WOW!!! The next morning Hal arrived about 10:30 - he & Jerry worked on getting the piping & chimney hooked up. By 2:30 we had FIRE!!! We asked Hal how much we owed him - he said he wasn't working for money, that he wanted to BLESS us!!! WOW again!!! We truly were blessed... and blessed him with some cash to help him with his building expenses!!
Anyway, Franklin the woodstove has been hooked up & keeping us warm for a week now! Our latest concern is having enough wood to get thru the winter. Other than that we're enjoying the heat very much considering the cold (below freezing) temperatures we've been having. We're still having issues with the propane kitchen stove... so we've resorted to cooking on the woodstove. The Original Slow Cooker. Dinner is not ready in a half hour... a pot is put on the stove to cook as soon as we finish breakfast & it's ready to eat by late afternoon.
Last weekend & early this week - before the snow - we picked pinon nuts off the trees at our place. One certainly couldn't earn a living doing this. Very tedious & sticky. Jerry thought we should just pick up the ones that had dropped on the ground but there are so many deer - um - droppings under the trees that I decided it was better to pick them right out of the cones. We soaked them in salt water overnight then roasted them on the woodstove. Pretty tasty most of them.
We got maybe 3" of snow at our place. It was beautiful watching it come down in big, fluffy flakes... and then Skeeter went out in it & now our pretty snow is full of giant dog tracks. Oh well. There will be more snow!

More pictures of the roof!!

Here are pictures sent by the roofing contractor last nite! The metal roof is on... just have the soffit/fascia to do I guess. We can't wait to see it in person!!

New things on Miracle Mountain!!

I am SO excited!! We got a call from the roofing contractor who told us that he got most of the roof done... and will finish it tomorrow! It looks great... and the snow on the mountain really makes it look just like we dreamed it would! I'll add more pictures of the completed roof when he sends them but for now this is what we have!!

November news...

November 11, 2008 - Tuesday
SNOW... and cold Current mood: blustery
We got back to our place in the mountains about 1:30 a.m. today! We left Lincoln about 4:00 p.m. What a long drive! We slept in the camper... temperature was about 31 degrees. Luckily we had the usual sheet, thermal blanket & quilt on the bed... topped with a sleeping bag & another comforter. It wasn't too bad but I certainly wouldn't want to make it my normal sleeping arrangement. Anyway, tonite we're staying at a local motel. They're pet-friendly so Skeeter is right at home. He seemed glad to see me... and I was glad to see him.
After we put our truckload of stuff in the storage unit we headed to the coffee shop to visit friends. It was good to see people & catch up on what's been happening in the Valley. While we were there it started snowing & has been doing so off & on all day. I don't know how much is expected but even tho it's below freezing here it's actually not bad. (I'm just not thrilled with sleeping in the camper!)
Jerry has made arrangements to meet someone tomorrow to look at the roof of the cabin & give us a bid. We're planning on having the "standard" green metal roof. Once that's taken care of I think we're headed back to Nebraska.

November 9, 2008 - Sunday
So much for "plans"!...I’m tired of moving!! Current mood: tested
Well... I thought we had a plan... but as with most plans... there should always be a "Plan B"! I thought we'd be in & out of Lincoln in 10 days. HA! The weather didn't cooperate with our plan to have a garage sale the first week we were home... and we were caught up in the excitement of seeing family & friends we hadn't seen for 5 months that we really didn't care if it was raining or not!
Thankfully we have GREAT friends who were willing to buy our excess - lightening our load some... my Jeep, stacking washer/dryer, a rocker & ottoman, TV, sewing machine, the kitchen table, patio swing, a set of antique dishes... I'm sure I'm forgetting something... were BIG items that they bought. I also gave away quite a few things to the kids... but still we had too much!
Then we made a trip to the storage unit only to discover that there was MUCH more there than I had remembered putting in... VERY depressing! Ugh! So... we decided to give away a huge box of Hayli's leftover toys to a son & daughter-in-law who just had a new baby. That eliminated some of the stuff... my younger son took a couple things...and one of Jerry's sons took Hayli's twin size bed & two dressers. We made a trip to Kansas where my cousin has an antique store... and consigned a few larger items there & dropped off my pie safe & grandpa's hutch at the farm! Ahhhh!
We did end up having a 3 day garage sale & got rid of quite a lot... but again we were disappointed at how much was left over. We packed up a couple big boxes of things that we thought were worthy of being sold on eBay & took two truckloads of stuff to Goodwill. With one of our boys out of the house we were able to really start digging into what was left. My piano was the BIG item that I've had the most difficult time with... I hated the thought of getting rid of it... and offered to donate it to the church we'd been going to in Blanca... but they already had a piano (and no place to put another one!). Knowing how stressed out I was about the prospect of selling/donating my piano, our good friends offered to store it at a little rental house they have (it was not being rented) and then generously offered to let us rent their little house for the winter. It was an offer too good to refuse. We hauled the rest of our possessions to the little house & I have been sorting out what will go to Colorado to our storage unit there and what will stay here.
Hopefully tomorrow we can get on the road to Colorado. I'm sure my friend is WAY tired of Skeeter... and quite frankly, I miss having him around. Sounds like our trip to Colorado will be a rather quick one since we'll be staying in a motel (TOO cold to stay in an unheated camper & the cabin is nowhere near ready to live in - even for a couple weeks).
So... friends & family... have no fear... we'll be back in time for the holidays! And BTW... pretty much whatever I post from this point until next spring... is just going to be stuff... very little about the cabin or Colorado. I may mention a few things in the posts but since we're not actually there I won't have much to write about. Just wanted to give you a heads up!