The Blizzard of 2010

I think this is our third significant snowfall for this winter. It started snowing at 6:30am yesterday , and is STILL snowing at 11am – with no end in sight!!!!

Just by chance, I happened to read an article in Yankee Magazine by Edie Clark, about an 2008  ice storm in New Hampshire. 400,000 households in the state were without power. Altho her ice encrusted world was pretty – she likened it to Armageddon!!!

The author hauled water from the spring, melted ice for washing dishes, read by candlelight, listened to a hand cranked radio, and slept next to the woodstove!!!

On the 12th day, there was light!!! The electricity was back on in NH!!!

After reading that story, I should NOT complain – our electricity went out about midnite last night. We don’t have ice, just an unbelievable amount of snow for this area of Virginia.

We have a generator, and I am hoping the propane does not run out!!! The news tells us the power should be back on in 10 hours or so. My fingers and toes are crossed!!!

The basement woodstove is on – which heats the the lower and main level of the house. Doesn’t do much for the upstairs – but heat rises, so we will see………….

The kitchen stove does not work on the generator – so, we are microwaving water for tea, and my daughter made a pound cake in mugs in the microwave!!! If we are forced to activate the upstairs woodstove – we can cook on that!

It is times like these, that make me appreciate what our ancestors went thru – without generators, running water, indoor toilets,  or any of the modern conveniences!

We did have to run out early in the morning yesterday – as the snow was starting to accumulate.

I thought I had everything I needed – and realized the bag of feed I thought I had for the horses – was not there!!! So, with Mr. Green Jeans at the wheel, we went off to the co-op for the horses!!

Amazingly – we were not the only ones out – the place was packed!!!! Bill, who works behind the counter – said they had been non stop busy since the day before!! I doubled my feed order and we scooted out of there.

On the way home, we headed to the Post Office – and came upon an accident – two cars collided and were in the ditch. One of them was our mail lady!! We weren’t allowed to stop – so continued on to the PO – the postmaster was already aware of the accident and was making the necessary calls. As we left to go home – the traffic was stopped for emergency vehicles, so DH decided to take the back way home. “The back way” means rural, unplowed, winding, gravel road!!!!!

It was picturesque of course, but a bit nail biting for me! I kept praying there was no one coming around the bend at us. And, of course, my camera batteries died at this point in the drive, so I had to resort to the cell phone camera for photos!

This morning I let the dogs out with me – so they could plow a path for me to the barn!! I felt like a kid in a snowsuit, with many layers underneath waders and a waterproof drover’s coat!

The horses had trampled down the snow right outside the barn, but poor Miss Lilly was quite perturbed – all this snow is just not her cup of tea!!!

The wild birds were gathered at the feeding station – chattering away, waiting for that human to come out and give them breakfast! I refill their dishes every hour in this weather!!!

I am not sure if the deer ventured out last night to get their evening meal of cracked corn. I did notice one of the trees that shelters one of deer feeding spots, had broken in half under the weight of the snow.

I would not be surprised, if we end up with close to 40 inches of snow. there is yet another snow storm scheduled for this coming Tuesday!!! We have Minnesota weather in Virginia!!

If  I can step away from the computer – this would be a great day to accomplish all the “must-do’s” and art/ sewing projects that are piling up!!!

I am looking at the pond in my banner picture above, and have a mantra running thru my head: Spring WILL come, spring WILL come, I know it will, I know it will, I know it will, I know it will……!!!!!

***I just uploaded a bunch of pix to this post – and the electricity was struggling to come back on!!! It finally did – yay!!In the 12th hour – there was light!!! But all the pictures disappeared – thankfully, most of the post was saved!! Let’s see if I can upload the pix again, and get this post up, before the power goes out again!!!***

I don’t know why – but the pictures won’t upload. Soooo, visualize, and check back again tonite. I will try to upload the photos again – if we have power!!!!

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All is white for as far as the eye can see (and that is not far at the moment) at Mountain Meadows today…………………………………..

 

Wordless Wednesday

Water, water everywhere – record rains and melted snow……………..

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All is well, soggy, sunny, and sodden, at Mountain Meadows today…………………

 

Sounds of Silence

Yesterday was a day filled with sound. You might say, every day is filled with sounds, and you would be right.

But, we don’t often take the time to REALLY listen…….The sounds of the day are just background noise, an accompaniment, largely ignored, as we scurry about, deep in our thoughts and errands of the day.

Yesterday became a mental health day for me – directing my attentions to the outdoors, my horses, and things other than the roiling thoughts that make being in my head, some days, a tumultuous ride!

I was mucking out the stalls, basically stripping them down- a kind of repetitious shoveling of what amounts to be a giant litterbox!

The steady and musical drip, drip, drip of the remaining snow on the barn roof changed its tune only when a curious horse came to check on me, and his back caught the drips, silencing their song.

The cacophonous chorus of a crow colony alerted of an intruder in the area. A few minutes later, an ear splitting baying broke the silence, as a neighbor’s beagles broke thru the woods running a rabbit.  Noses to the ground, their voices made everyone within earshot aware that they were on the trail!

I took a break from the barn duties, and took a walk with the beagles- a portly 10 year old little lady with graying muzzle and youthful stamina, a younger male, and a 6 month old pup with endless energy, who kept the others on their toes, using his new found skills as a tracker.

When barn duties were over, the 1st warm, sunny day of the new year, demanded that I pull down a saddle and go for a ride.  The outside of a horse is definitely good for the inside of me!!!

The ‘big guy’ was definitely happy to be out on the walk with me, and as we walked down the trail in silence, the keeeee-aarr screeches of a pair of red tailed hawks bounced off the mountains. They called back and forth a few times, the crows again warning each other to watch out for these two!!

The breeze does whisper thru the trees- its message is one of peace and tranquility, if you really listen. As we got farther down the trail, the unsettlingly loud crack of a shotgun pierced the air. Hunting season is over, but it is no less unnerving, when gunshots come from out of nowhere.

The rattling chatter of the kingfishers, disturbed by our passage, mingled with the sound of the rushing river. Melting snows have filled the river and widened its banks. It can be heard, whooshing along, from as far away as my front porch.

The day ends with the chatter and chip, chip, chip of all the birds settling in for the night within the sheltering boughs of the scrub pines and cedars.  The eerie  hoo hoo hoodeee hoo hoo of the great horned owl, the distant quack of the mallards, and the overhead honking of the last stragglers of geese, brings the day to a close.

All is well, peaceful, and  filled with the din of life, at Mountain Meadows tonite…….

(with a tip of the ol’ chapeau to Simon and Garfunkel for my title…..)

 

Snow Daze………………

View of the pew

Deer tracks

“Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they do when they stick together.”………..Verna M. Kelly

Crystal mound

Snow dusted mullein

Over the river, and thru’ the woods………..

This doe and fawn have been soooo anthropomorphised by me, that Mr. Green Jeans lowers his gun and allows them to pass!

This was only a quarter of the photos I took – hope it wasn’t a boring trek for you!!!! More tomorrow, if you dare return!!! LOL

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All is well, very cold, and snowily photogenic, at Mountain Meadows this crisp Sunday morning……………

 

Whoooooo’s in My Barn??

Well, I guess I kind of gave it away with the title of this post!!! LOL

I went into the barn at about 5:30 pm tonite, to feed and close up the barn for the night. It gets dark early now, so if I don’t feed before 5pm, we are working in the dark!

I was almost done, having mucked the stalls, fed, put out the hay, and climbed up in the loft to toss down more bales.

When I went over to ‘the big guy’s” stall to lock the door, I happened to glance up, and saw something on the ledge next to the stall door.  At first I wasn’t sure what it was, since I didn’t have my glasses on. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a chinchilla – which was highly unlikely!!! LOL

Then, I realized it was a tiny owl!!! Not moving, just calmly staring at me! I pointed him out to my husband and ran back to the house for my camera.

Fortunately, the little guy was still there when I came back. He was undisturbed by the past half hour’s  goings on, and by the interior light being turned on. He sat very still for his photo, barely blinking. He was about 8-9 inches tall, looking as soft as a chinchilla, mottled grey, with ear tufts. I am not too familiar with the different owls – and at first thought of a saw whet owl.

I said goodnight to the horses and the little owl, and closed the barn doors. The doors had been open all day – and I assume that’s how he got in. The stall doors stay open all night, so I am hoping he can find his way out thru them. Unless, of course, he is staying to feast on barn mice all night- which would be fine with me!!!

When back in the house, I got out the old Peterson Field guide to research the little guy.

Turns out he is a common screech owl – they have 2 color phases – grey and brown. My brief research did not indicate they would frequent the inside of barns, but there he was. The saw whet owl, does not have ear tufts, and is even tinier! This little screech owl was about 8 or 9 inches tall.

I know we do have a great horned owl or two, in the trees near the river – they are the ones I hear at night. Apparently these larger ones will prey on the smaller ones like this little guy.

Of course, now I will worry about him all night, and hope he is just hanging out and can find his way in and out of the barn!!!!

Here is a link about the diminutive screech owl, with descriptions and the different calls they make. I know now that I have heard them around – just never was sure whoooo or what was making that sound!!

 

It’s very cold and windy out tonite – so he’s welcome to hang out in the barn, hunt mice, and keep warm- if that’s what he chooses!!!

 

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All is well, with a hint of snow in the air, and a never ending source of new discoveries, at Mountain Meadows tonite…………………

 

Within Its Sheltering Boughs

All found within one tree on the property.

 

These will be the death of him

Homesteader #1

Squatter #2 makes it a duplex!

Remnants of a past life

Endless discoveries still, at Mountain Meadows………………………….

 

Wordless Wednesday – Walk With Me……

Deer was here………………………….

Dove was here…………………….

Hunter was here……………………..

Hunter is gone..............

Even the hardest “heart”……………………

 

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All is well at Mountain Meadows this Thanksgiving eve……………………

 

Nature’s Cleanup Crew…..

The other day I was hanging out with the horses. I take them out to graze every day. Their paddocks are brown, and the hay fields are still green. Mr. Green Jeans has finally agreed with me, that the paddocks need to be extended, til we can get the present ones to stay green into the winter!!

I enjoy hanging out with the horses and watching the world go by. Mr. Green Jeans lasts about a minute, maybe 20, and is already thinking of other things he could be doing!!

So, the plan is to fence in another large paddock, across the front of the barn, where orchard grass and timothy has been planted and grows seemingly forever. Then, the old paddocks will be seeded and reseeded, til they start to grow. It seems a shame to have to horses confined, even tho their paddocks are very large, when there are acres of green grass surrounding them!!! Altho, the acres are what feeds them in the winter months, and makes some money to afford these equines their cushy lifestyles!!!

While communing with the horses, and brushing the mud out of their winter coats, I gaze up at the sky from time to time. This unseasonably warm day, there was a small flock of 11 or 12 vultures, soaring on the thermals above. The whole time I watched them, they never flapped their wings, just gracefully floated in ever widening circles. For such an unattractive bird, they are grace on wings when in the sky.

There was a combination of turkey vultures and black vultures, with a slightly smaller outline in the crowd. Included in the group, was a hawk, about 1/3 smaller than the buzzards, joining in on the fun of soaring in the warm skies. They did not object to him being there, they were just enjoying floating. This went on for about 20 minutes, and as they went farther afield, the hawk looked over his shoulder at the crowd and with a dip of his body, redirected his “float” to the mountain. Still no wing flapping, he continued to soar to the mountains, til he was nothing more than a dot in the  sky.

The vulture flock dispersed, and within a few minutes, I was surprised to see several more flocks of vultures emerging from beyond the trees. There were groups of 20 and 30! I would guess between 75 and 90 vultures were floating in the sky! This aerial circus only lasted about 10 minutes, and they all disappeared over the tree line. Fortunately, no one pooped while I was standing below looking up at the show!!! LOL I did see a couple, a little while later, in the top of a dead tree, wings outstretched, in an eerie pose. They do that to absorb the warmth of the sun.

I can never get pictures of them – they don’t allow you to get too close-they usually fly away, or defecate and fly away-and believe me, you do NOT want to get hit by that!!!

A day or so ago, I happened to catch a couple of vultures standing by the river. They flew to the trees, when they saw me approach. I thought they were just getting a drink. As I walked along, I noticed a skeleton on the other bank of the river. They were feasting on a deer, and were leery of me, but were not going to get too far away from their meal.  The river was too deep, because of recent rain, for me to get on the other side to check out the deer. I’m guessing, a hunter shot and lost sight of his prey. This poor little guy died at the river’s edge. Vultures are nature’s clean up committee, always on the lookout for their next meal.

I went down 2 days later, to check on their progress, but the rain had caused the river to swell, and the carcass had apparently washed downstream.

Ugly as they are, the vulture serves a definite purpose in nature. I enjoy seeing them overhead.  Here are the few pix I could capture of the ones by the river.

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All is well, and unseasonably warm, at Mountain Meadows this Sunday morning……………….

 

Peace in the Country

I first became enamoured of rural living when I was a child.

We lived on suburban Long Island, and grandma and poppy had a “country house”.  I longed for the summer, and the opportunities to go spend a week upstate, in the country!

It might only be for a week-  if I was lucky, I got to go for longer or several times over the course of the summer.

The most noise I ever heard there, was the deafening din of the crickets, and the cicadas’ hot summer song. The whippoorwill at night, and the occasional caterwauling of a bobcat were the evening sounds that lulled us to sleep.

So, when the opportunity arose, as an adult, to move to “the country” – we jumped at it and delved right in to our version of country living!!!

We are at the foot of the National Forest and couldn’t be happier!

Surrounded by farms, there are different types of night noises, and day time odors- something I never experienced in my childhood days upstate!

The sound of the river, after a rain, is one of the most peaceful sounds I know.

At night, we fall asleep to the hooting of an owl, and are awakened at dawn by the rapping of a woodpecker searching for breakfast.

On the down side, summers here bring the less than pleasant aroma of cow and chicken manure, and the flies that accompany that odor!

Autumn arrives with the sounds of gunfire- hunting season – one plus AND minus of living near the National Forest – or any wooded area out here!!!

Last night, the lowing, moaning, bellowing and constant mooing of the cows across the road, indicated that the calves had been separated from their mothers. I can look forward to that sad sound for a couple of days.

Two nights ago, the eerie yapping of a fox woke me from a sound slumber. He, or she, was pacing the treeline outside my bedroom window, vocalizing at the top of his/her lungs. I call it screyapping- it’s an unforgettable combination of screaming and yapping.

Deer speak also – usually only when scared- and as a warning to their herd. It’s also an unforgettable sound- a combination huffing screeching noise. Certainly worked on me, the first time I heard it at close range!!!

What I am hearing now, is the tapping of a chickadee or tufted titmouse as he opens sunflower seeds. The birds have discovered a wire planter on the deck is a handy implement for opening seeds. So, they perch, pound, and eat- all morning long! This sound is accompanied by the whistle of wings. The mourning doves have a distinctive sound when they flap their wings. That, along with their cooing, is a soothing sound I never tire of !

Although not as quiet as the sounds of the country of my youth, the sounds of this “country” have become music to my ears. Far from the cacophony of urban  living, the sounds that emanate from this Gap area, have become dear to my heart. I hope we never leave…………………………..

Hoof & Feather Breakfast Bar!

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All is well at Mountain Meadows this brisk and sunny November morning….

 

Barriers

As I sit here nursing two bruised knees, and one largely bruised ego, I thought I would write a post on this largely ignored (of late) blog!

Let’s talk about barriers.

The dictionary defines a barrier as: something that separates, demarcates, or serves as a barricade. For example – a fence, hedge or wall; a bar, encumbrance, handicap, hindrance, hurdle, impediment, obstacle, obstruction, roadblock, stop………………..you get the picture!

One might think I am about to address something deep and metaphorical, having to do with life, and those things that keep us from moving forward with our lives. A discussion, perhaps, about an obstacle, be it mental or physical, that keeps us from achieving our goals, and moving on to the next phase in our existence……………….

Well, sorry, it is nothing as intellectual as that.

The barricades in my life are about 3 feet tall, and prevent me from moving freely from one room to another in my house. I am talking about baby gates!!!!

Now, at this stage in my life, I should be waaaay beyond having baby gates in my house!!!!!

But, no…………I live with 4 dogs, who, ideally, should be considered a pack of 4. Since I lack the demeanor and macho confidence of Cesar Millan, this pack of 4, is, in reality,  2 packs of 2. Which brings us to the need for baby gates.

My two dogs, and my daughter’s 2, do NOT get along. It is not for lack of trying. So, thru’ out the day, we play “musical dogs”. There are 2 are upstairs while the other  two are downstairs, and vice versa.  If both pairs have to be downstairs at the same time, the barricades are up.

After two too many hairy encounters (no pun intended), between my daughter’s male and my male, we give up………………….

Now, on a positive note, these barriers have kept me quite limber. I can lift one leg and pirouette on the other foot, while balancing a glass and plate, or an armload of books or laundry, going from one room to another. There is no better exercise to keep my old hips and hamstrings moving and agile!

I walk extra steps each day to get to the stairs, since one very high gate blocks the shortcut to get upstairs. Sedentary, I am not!

On occasion, the one gate is triple barricaded, to prevent one high flying dog from sailing over it, in her attempt to engage my two dogs in unwanted, riotous play or worse.

It was this triple barricade that led to my downfall today!!!!

As I gracefully arched one leg over the triple gates, my heel landed on the outer gate. The foot that followed, caught the top of that same outer gate. As my inner voice was screaming “Stop, go back!”, I chose to ignore it (have I learned nothing from that rarely wrong inner voice of mine? Apparently NOT!). I plowed forward and downward as I got tangled in the gate, my English mug of tea, myself, and my glasses  flying in different directions!

I sat, laughing so hard the tears were streaming down my face- or perhaps I was crying – who knows; with my jeans sopping up the puddle of Pipps tea from my overturned mug! Amazingly, the mug did NOT break, neither did the gate, my glasses, nor my skinned knees!

I could, at this stage of my life, being living a quiet, empty nester type existence, with just my husband and my own two dogs.  But, life is short. My daughter (and her unruly dogs) will be gone again soon enough, to strike out on her own. I love having her here, and will enjoy that time, however fleeting or long it may be.

There are some days when a 2 dog, gate-less household seems like an unattainable heaven on earth.  But, until that time arrives, if the only barriers in my life are a couple of baby gates, I should consider myself very lucky.

Now, I must go and get some ice packs for my knees……………….

The good ol' days - when everyone just got along...................

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All is well, if not quiet, at Mountain Meadows, this warm Sunday afternoon…..