I woke to the sound of a dog barking outside. It wasn't a coyote. I stirred from my sleepy state enough to recognize my surroundings. Ah, I was home. It feels strange to be here. Normally it feels good to get "home," but this time I'm ready to go back. I'm not sure what was different this year than past years. 

Yesterday I wandered our house aimlessly, unsure of any routine or what I was doing. It was all off. I didn't sit with my morning cup of coffee watching the sun light up the side of Bull Mountain. I didn't start a fire in the wood stove to take the chill off. No stellar jays squawking and asking for their morning feeding. No walk to the bottom with the girls. 

No. Instead we had the television tuned to Good Morning America. I was appalled at the amount of depressing, unnecessary news they spew out. Rapes, murders, accidents and lots of other horrible things that don't have any bearing on my daily life. Sure, some news you need to hear, but we really don't need the level of detail they report. I've decided it's not part of my morning anymore. I lived just fine without it for three weeks and I felt all the better for it. 

The trees have really changed here, and a few are even done so we have a lot of leaves on the ground already. When we left it was still summer, but we came home to fall. It's chilly and gray and we had to turn the heat on for the first time. It's hard to believe we were swimming right before we left.

I'm sure all the old rhythms of life will soon find their way back into our routines and life will go on as before.

 

 

 

This was the sunrise this morning as we drove through Iowa. Tonight we are in Bryan, Ohio at a Ramada Inn where we’ve stayed before.

Right now we are awaiting delivery of our pizza and greek salad to our room from a local Mom & Pop pizza place.

Our trip has been uneventful and really quite pleasant, if you don’t count the long hours in a vehicle. Getting out of the cabin was easier than we had thought it was going to be due to the heavy melting that took place on Sunday. One part of the road was still “iffy” so our neighbor kindly guided us out on roads he knew would be navigable. It took us quite a bit longer to get to Laramie, but it was worth it. I’m glad we left while the muddy bits of the dirt roads were still a little frozen, otherwise it would have been a real mess.

Home Sweet Home tomorrow at this time. Still, it’s hard to forget our little cabin.

I’ll be catching up with you in a few days. I’ve missed a lot on your respective blogs, I am sure! I just want to thank those of you who have left comments even though I have not been commenting on your blogs. It meant a lot to me.


—Posted using BlogPress from my iPad on the road home.

As in Departure Day ... finally! The sun came out today with a high of 54 degrees F and melting took place big time. We did a trial run to our neighbors and got through fine. A few places along the route are still a bit sketchy according to our neighbors who went in to Ft. Collins yesterday afternoon (it took them 4 hours just to get out of Sand Creek Park) and came back this afternoon. They were amazed how much melting had happened in their absence.

All day the snow has avalanched off the roof with a loud whoomph. It startles us every time and the cat runs for the closet. We have a huge pile of snow now on the front side of the cabin and more than the beginnings of the outdoor cabin fridge. If you are wondering what I mean you have to wait until we get home and I find the photo.

We learned something new this trip: it snows into the screened-in porch. Makes sense I suppose, but we have never actually seen it happen.



So. This trip was kind of a marker of sorts for whether or not we really can see ourselves retiring to the cabin, at least for a little while. As I’ve said before I promised Rick one full year here. My answer? A resounding YES, I think I could do this. Life is peaceful here and even though it is not an physically easy life, I believe it’s one worth living. At least for a while. Maybe not so good when we need walkers. But while we are still young enough to tough it out, why not?

I know you are thinking we are crazy. Maybe. But this cabin and surrounding 70+ acres are in our blood.

Seasonal Clash

We are ready to leave. I think. Mentally we both know we need to get home but our hearts our torn. We’ve had an extra three days due to the snow, so for that we can be thankful. But we are packed and have been since early yesterday morning, so it’s kind of a limbo experience knowing our departure is imminent.

We’ll miss our little piece of heaven on Earth. Thanks for coming along on our adventure with us. We’ll see you on the flip side back on the East Coast.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad at the cabin 8,650 feet above sea level

Yesterday

We are getting a taste of what it would be like to live here at the cabin during the winter months. We are snowed in! Our neighbors called this morning saying they were going to try and see if it was possible to make it out or not and asked if we were planning to leave, and if so, could we all caravan together for safety.

We said well ... we weren’t really planning on trying to leave until Sunday and as yet had made no move to get things packed up. But, if they were going out and not coming back in until Sunday afternoon then there would not be anybody around to help us in an emergency. They said they would call when they got back from their scouting trip.

In the meantime, Rick and I started to gather things and begin our task of packing up just in case they found it was possible to leave. We are a pretty good team when it comes to who does what in the whole process.

We were pretty much packed except for the fridge and Rick was starting the chore of putting on our newly-made shutters on the windows when we got a phone call from the neighbors. Getting out was not possible. They had only gotten just so far, passed a few pickup trucks stuck in a ditch, and found that the main county road we would need to travel from the Wyoming/Colorado state line in to Laramie had not been plowed. Not only was it not plowed, but they had no intention of plowing it until they were certain they could keep the road open because the wind which was drifting it continually. (A very common occurrence up here.)


Hailey says phooey! I didn’t want to go home yet anyway.

So, Rick took down shutters he had already put up, brought in things that were already packed in the truck that might freeze, I unpacked a few things on the inside and we settled in once again. We left the suitcase packed and things are sitting around in bags and boxes, just waiting for the inevitable all-clear call.

There is one slight hitch though. We decided to strap on our x-country skis and ski up to the neighbors to see what condition the road was in to their place and see what drifting had taken place. It’s not a pretty picture. Well, it is a pretty picture if you have no where to go and don’t care if you get out. Here is the road in one direction. The turn on the left that you can see is the road that leads to our driveway. I stood in one position to take both of these photos. The second photo shows the road that goes past our neighbors’ property and you can just make out there gate posts in the distance.





If you can’t tell by looking at the photos, it doesn’t look good. We could maybe get up off the road and go cross-country where there is less snow, but even that poses it’s problems. Here Rick tries out a possible path.





The wind is pretty much relentless today, carving and shaping the fresh snow. I just wish Mother Nature would practice her art only on the hills and not on the roads.


Right now I am thinking that Pioneer Woman has nothin’ on me.

P.S. I should have added that we have enough food for about three more days or so, plus (very important) wine. We are fine except that Rick really does need to get back to work!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad at the cabin 8,650 feet above sea level

Last night right after we got into bed, around 9:15 or so, I heard a coyote. I had cracked the window ever so slightly for some fresh air. I jumped out of bed and opened the window wide so I could hear it better. The barks and howls of the coyote split the night air and quickly faded as it got further and further away from the cabin. I could hear wet snowflakes making a plopping noise as they hit the canoe stored under the window.

Rick got up at midnight to look outside and he said we only had a skiff of snow at that point. I woke up several times thinking that if we were going to get the snow they had predicted then the wind should be blowing. All was quiet. I assumed they had blown the forecast.

It was kind of like Christmas morning this morning, lying in bed anticipating opening the curtains instead of presents. We were not disappointed. I was rather shocked to see about six inches of so already on the ground and covering the trees.

The photo above is the view out our main window this morning. Since then it has snowed at least another 3 to 4 inches on top of the six or so that we got overnight.


Here is a before and after view of our driveway looking away from the cabin. The first one was taken yesterday morning, the second one was taken this morning.

It has snowed all day and just now is finally stopping at 4:00 p.m. At times it really came down. We lost our internet satellite connection for a time because of the heavy snowfall and some accumulation of snow on the dish itself.

It’s been between 24 degrees F and 26 degrees F all day. The heat has not come on at all as I’ve kept a modest fire going all day in the wood cookstove. The cabin is nice and toasty. It always amazed me that all that lie between me and the great outdoors is the width of a log.

I had to laugh at the pack rat’s preparedness for the winter weather. This is his collection yesterday afternoon on either side of the front step—this time near the ground and not on the step itself. Can you see what it has collected for insulation? Take a close look at both artful pack rat piles. Do you see the little “something special?”





If you can’t tell, I’ll give you a clue: the dogs helped somewhat.

We could try to get out in the morning, but frankly I am afraid we will get stuck. I think it’s better to wait until it gets above freezing and the sun comes out tomorrow to help with some melting. We have gotten stuck trying to make it out before and thankfully we had neighbor Larry to help us out. He isn’t around to “save” us anymore. So, scheduled departure date is now Sunday. Fingers crossed!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad at the cabin 8,650 feet above sea level