Snow

It's days like this that Dennis is foremost on my mind. FOURTEEN INCHES, yes that is 14 inches of snow since yesterday at noon. Dennis would have loved it. He loved the snow & he especially LOVED being able to move the snow.........clean up the driveway.........work on the road out front........go over to Freda's & do her yard. He would get the ATV out with the plow on it & off he would go. He loved every minute of it. Well, today he would have loved even more because he would have had to have used the TRACTOR with the BUCKET on it.

There is toooooooo much snow to even try & use the ATV. I got the battery charged up & off I went. Well, I ended up getting the ATV stuck at least 3 times. Luckily I was able to get it out each time. Personally I prefer to look at the snow from inside the house!! I like to keep the fire going & watch................but not today.

Willie & I have plowed out by hand with the snow shovels all the way to the girls shed & then both the other sheds where the boys are. In fact it was most interesting when I was shoveling to the girls. Cinnabun finally started out to meet me. She walked almost halfway to the gate through the snow plowing her own path. I guess they were most anxious for me to get there & feed them!!!

Snakes & Snow

Well, I'll cover the Snakes subject first. There are a lot of water snakes around here in the Spring, Summer & Fall. Typically I pick them up & throw them across the road. Sometimes our Youth Pastor, Josh drops in & picks up a couple for his aquarium/terrarium. Well Tuesday evening we brought in a lot of wood to totally fill the wood box. About 8 pm I went to fill the fire & turned around -------- there in front of the fire was a SNAKE!! Quite a shock, especially since it was about 6 inches long & thinner than a pencil. Big head though. Yup, it looked like one of the water snakes. I was not happy about finding a snake inside the house in the dead of winter!!! I picked it up & tossed it outside. The weather took care of it by morning.

Snow, snow, snow.................we've not had a lot of snow here in the ground this winter. I think the most was about 2 inches & it melted. We did have a sideways snowstorm one night (with major wind). Who knows how much we had then since it was headed to Kansas. Today the second storm from California made it here. Started snowing at noon. Hasn't stopped. I haven't seen Monte since about 1 pm & usually I can look out the north window & see Monte day or night as it is only 4 miles away. Maybe about 3/4 an inch on the ground now.

I have alpaca friends who live over the pass to the west near Ignacio. They had 10 or so inches on Tuesday. I just called them & they have another 10 or 12 or 14 inches. Hard to say exactly how much. Wolf Creek, the pass to the west is being closed now due to the snow.

Bob, my hay man was suppose to come tomorrow & get two loads of hay........I emailed him last night & ask if he had happened to look at the weather as it was suppose to start snowing here this evening & snow through Friday. So I'm keeping in touch with him, but do not anticipate seeing him before Saturday at the earliest. I'm glad I'm in my house warm & cozy.

Snow

Well, we woke up this morning with a light snow............never really did anything. The radio claims we should have 1 - 2 inches.............doubtful on the valley floor at least. Even Wolf Creek pass only had a trace overnight. But it is good to see the moisture.

I have finally moved the yearling males to another field & blocked them in it. The plan is to move all the cria over into the barnyard when I can get some help. It really takes two people to three people to move a cria..............they are not happy & put on their brakes. They have no idea what is happening to them. So I like to take two at a time, which means 4 people to get it done. Wish it were easier & I could move them into a closer field, but we are just not set up that way. Anyway they do need to be weaned.

The cattle next door should start having calves any time now. There was one that delivered two weeks ago Sunday & I was told that he was 2 weeks early. They had another one since then that didn't make it (perhaps fell on it's head?? who knows). I love calving season when I'm able to watch the calves born. Most of the time I only see one or two............but it is most interesting to watch. That's why I have binoculars in all the north & west windows............that's where the cattle are to the north & west!!

I think I'm going to lose one rabbit. She hasn't been acting right at all. Now she isn't eating nor drinking ALTHOUGH she did take treats out of my hand this morning. They all still need to be sheared but I don't want them to die due to it being too cold. Plus I have to get started on my taxes & mom's too.

I'm sleeping some better & have started walking on the treadmill that Dennis got last year (another of his shearing experiences where he "finds" things he thinks we need & barters for them). One year he came home with a male alpaca to geld and sell, a spinning wheel, and an agreement for mating one of their males with two of our females at a lower rate!! You would just never know what he would come up with. I've not been motivated to do much lately. I know it is partly depression and missing Dennis. Life is very different without him.

I have made some decisions about some rather not so significant things. First of all our wedding rings. I went in & spoke with a jeweler this week about what I could do with them. I will post a picture in a couple of weeks when he has done what we decided would look good. I had been wearing them on a chain around my neck under my clothing. I've also thought about the spot where he died. A lot of people put crosses & flowers (like at the site of automobile accidents). I thought about planting a tree or something like that. But the area doesn't really lend itself to that. I spoke with Sandi (Dennis' daughter) about my thoughts & she made some very good suggestions. I'm working on that for further down the road.........but I'll just keep everyone in suspense until then.

God is good.

Winter or Spring

Well, yesterday we had sunshine, snow & rain. This morning we woke up to about .3 inches of snow. The wind blew so much the last two days it was awful. My neighbor's loafing type shed had the entire roof blow off. When we went over to help pick up the pieces we were able to take some of the tin roofing, but there was one piece that was pretty well still together with major 2 x 4's nailed to the tin roofing. It was too heavy to even try and pick up. It was beautiful this morning, but the wind is up again this afternoon. I was suppose to go to an AB4C meeting (alpaca breeders) but chose not to go due to the weather over Wolf Creek Pass. I would have had to go alone & they were predicting 12 more inches on the pass today (although seldom is the weather bureau correct down here).

Saw the attorney yesterday. I need to get a lot of paperwork together for him. But I don't think it will be too hard. It was a relief to finally get started on some of this. Hopefully everything with th estate will be done fairly soon (although he wants to go through probate due to the trust being a CA trust here in CO).

Today I saw a coyote in the field behind the house. It's been a while since I've seen one up fairly close. He turned & ran to the East quickly. Then about 5 minutes later I saw him back & he just slowly trotted across the field going west ----- into the neighbor's field with the cows.

I dislike tonight with turning the clock forward..............I dislike getting up in the dark. I did it for many years working in the hospital in Santa Fe..........but I sure don't like the first couple of weeks with the time change.

God is good.

Getting Life together

I feel so much better when things start coming together & become organized. I realize that you would not think that organization existed, looking at the "clutter" around my house, but it really is true.

Things are starting to come together somewhat. I've got my list ready for the attorney so we can start working on the estate. He has been gone, so I don't see him until about a week. But I've made progress. I just hope it is in the right direction. I've made progress in other aspects of the estate with insurance & retirement issues, which is a relief to get things accomplished.

BUT there are the other items. I need to separate the cria from their mama's. Now I will say this is a major undertaking. I have to remove them from the large field & move them to another area by the barn. Three years ago when I discovered our first mama had not weaned her cria, Dennis & I made a separation in the field & feeding shed such that all the females were together but three were on each side of the fence (separating cria from mama of course). Things went very well until day 5. On day 5 the cria had her head down & looked depressed. She would not eat & would not drink anything. I then discovered she was having diarrhea. I had to call the vet with my diagnosis (she was truly ticked off by the situation & upset) & ask for a couple of meds. Then I went ahead & put them back together. Whenever I'd see the cria nursing, I'd run out of the house, jump over the fence & yell & separate them. It was such fun. Last year we decided to go with the other method ---- out of sight, out of mind. It worked well. But I need to do them 2 at a time & that will take a minimum of 4 people to keep them moving and get them where they need to be.

THEN there are the rabbits. Now I told Dennis that I did not want any more rabbits. IF HE chose to get rabbits, then HE had to take care of them. So here I am with 5 rabbits that desperately need their cages cleaned & to be sheared. I say sheared because I don't dare pluck them. It is still getting down to 6 degrees at night. They are in the barn, which sounds wonderful. BUT the barn was built in 1887 (or at least existed in a photo back then)........so there are cracks --- if that is what you call a 1/4 to 1/2 inch open area between many of the boards. Now the rabbits have done fine all winter even with it being that cold & no heat, but I really think it needs to warm up a little more before shearing them. I hate cleaning rabbit cages AND I need to cut more boards for them to stand on also. I did find appropriate boards & I do know how to use one saw that Dennis has. So those are two of my now larger items that are creating mental problems for me.

Oh, I cannot forget the taxes. I've not touched them yet. I used to get everything together for the tax person out in CA. BUT once we moved here, I only did a small portion. I let Dennis do all the farm stuff...................so I guess I get to learn something new this year!!

On another positive side (unlike the last 3 paragraphs), well, positive & negative ----- it has been warmer during the day the last 3 days. So warm most all the snow is gone. I love the warmth & anticipation of Spring---------BUT we need more snow. It is still February (I know tomorrow is March).........we need moisture for the crops this year.

God is good & things are pulling together. Onward we go.

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork

Sometimes it is so hard to do paperwork when there are so many other things going on. Now the attorney is gone, he is in Africa climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. Ah well, that means a little more time before getting paperwork together. It's amazing how much paperwork there is especially running around my house!

Otherwise, no new snow which is good. Everyone seems to be doing well. All the rabbits NEED desperately to be sheared, but I think it is a little cold for that. There is no heat in the barn (& the barn was built in 1887 or something like that). There are large spaces between the boards in the barn, so although it is warmer than outside, it isn't truly warm at all.

I haven't seen the fox again, although I did see a skunk run across the driveway area a week ago. Luckily neither of the corgis have seen the skunk nor trapped a skunk like they did last year. Onward into the paperwork!

Catch up

Seems like time flies, perhaps I'm just growing older!!

The Work & Witness team made it back & had a very good trip from what I understand so far. I have been busy trying to do paperwork for the attorney. I have to pull information from our file cabinet, which is interesting. I finally gave Dennis one drawer when we moved here for him to do filing with. Well, that drawer is interesting. I think I have almost found most everything I need. But I am missing some items from 2006, so that could be a challenge.

But the weather has been so nice for a while now. No snow, we are in the mud season now. But we maybe might have snow this weekend. Hard to say for sure (you cannot trust weather reports for here at all). Still cold at night, 0 degrees C. but it seems to get up to around 30 or so in the daytime, which is what accounts for the mud.

I'm almost ready to pick the first lemon off the tree. They were green on one side, so I'm waiting for the entire lemon to turn yellow. I'm doing so much cleaning as I go along, which is needed. In the meantime I'm keeping my eyes open for things that I cannot seem to find besides the 2006 stuff. Dennis had been in a men's Bible study that was studying the book, Heaven. I know it was here. I know for sure it was here..............I cannot find that book. I had planned on reading it sometime in the near future. So as I clean I "look" and am trying to organize a little better.

God is good............and maybe we'll have a true summer this year!!

Lemon Tree

Dennis saw this lemon tree in Safeway early last May. He just "had" to have it. And I guess why not since we have a sun room........otherwise it would not survive in the Valley very long & for sure not produce fruit. So we bought it. All the blossoms dropped off & the lemons also. But by October it had blossomed again & this time some of the lemons stayed. I believe there are around 11 lemons on the tree and it has been blossoming again. Just in the last two weeks have the lemons turned yellow............everyone would look at the tree & say, oh a lime tree. Well, here is the proof that it is a lemon tree & I think by the end of the week we will have a lemon to add to something, tea?

Snow, snow & more snow

Friday night the wind blew & blew & blew & it snowed & snowed & snowed. By yesterday morning we had drifts up to about 25 inches high or in the low windswept area of about 2 inches high. Such fun. I really thought that nothing more could go wrong with my ATV snowplow. I'd had the tire fixed twice, the last time included putting in a tube. But I was wrong. One of the long screws holding the snow plow together came apart..........the bolt & washer decided to come out. The entire plow blade & holder moved to the right when I hit the snow bank. I didn't really realize "what" was wrong, just knew I had a major problem & called a neighbor. Then we had to call another neighbor since the two of us coudn't get things just right. But I managed to find everything needed to fix it and heaped blessings on my neighbors for fixing it for me. I finally got the entire area plowed AND the area next to the hay stack (so when Bob, my hay man comes he can get in). So now in areas I have snow stacked about 3 1/2 ft. deep. I hope we don't get too much more snow as I will have to learn to drive the tractor & use the bucket next. All the alpaca seem happy which is good. I just wish it were warmer....................20 for a high is just a little cool. I'm looking forward to Spring.

Christmas Cards

For Christmas cards this year Dennis & I bought some pocket calendars, 50 of them. They say D W Fiber Farm & have our names on them, etc. I've been passing some of them out to people who have been here. I've also forgotten to give some out.

Last night I decided I had best get started on Christmas cards, etc. There are approximately 100 people on my list due to relatives, and having lived in Northern CO, Santa Fe, Roswell & southern CA previously. I decided a short, 3/4 page typed note would do along with cards.

Every card I have to stop and think to not add Dennis' name. I have to remember did I send this person a bulletin from the service due to them either sending money or flowers or whatever. Then who do I give the calendars to.............?? I'm waiting to see how many I have left or if I run short.

More snow anticipated today..............it is cold and has been all week.

Winter

Well, no matter what the calendar says, Winter has arrived. We knew the storm was coming & I was pretty well prepared. Sure enough over 4 inches of snow arrived overnight. My friend from CA, Carolyn, was thrilled. She loves snow & had not seen this much for a long, long time.

I had to have help getting the ATV going since I hadn't started it for a while. But I now know exactly what to do & have the equipment needed for next time. First we shoveled out to the females & their crias. Then shoveled out to the others. Finally I got the ATV going and worked with the snow plow on it for the driveway area. I think today it strongly hit me harder about Dennis' death. He so loved the snow. He loved running the ATV with the snow plow on it. He always had Jamie (his corgi) behind him on the snow plow when he did the area. I took Jamie with me today and I would suspect she still misses her "Daddy" a lot. Dennis always did the neighbor's front driveway & if possible her back driveway. Another friend did her back driveway this morning (she had cataract surgery this morning) but I finally made it over to do her front area and her porch.

Carolyn took pictures & enjoyed seeing the snow. Our high today was 29.6 degrees F and we are anticipating a low of at least -2 degrees.

Tomorrow the vet is coming out to do the bloodwork for the ARI registration on the cria and also BVD testing. Should be an interesting day since I have two "half catch pens". Dennis wasn't through reworking the new one & had partly torn apart the old one. So tomorrow morning we redo what we can & see if it will work.

Seems like there isn't a minute during the day that I don't miss Dennis.

But God is good.

Snow

Winter is here. I'm glad we are overall prepared. Thanksgiving day we had about an inch of snow with another 1/2 inch overnight. It is beautiful out. Dennis loved the snow and always looked forward to winter. The corgis are overjoyed & love playing in the snow.

The cria (baby alpaca) are checking it out but seem to think it is ok also. I have one thing left to do which is get the snow plow hooked up to the ATV. It is something I have not even considered working on doing in the past. (never learn stuff unless you have to otherwise it becomes your job!!) Today a friend is coming over to help out & see if he can figure it out. Once it is on I know how to run the plow etc. as I did that last year when Dennis was in Ecuador. I ordered some bib coveralls from Sierra Trading here about 2 months ago. They had a great sale plus I got an extra 20% off. They are teal on the outside & hot pink on the inside. I'll be quite a sight with my blue & gold merino/angora winter hat ------- everyone will see me from a distance for sure. But I'm prepared to be warm.

The wood stove is going strong and we are warm inside the house.........it's still only 29 degrees outside. Personally I prefer summer!!!

God is good.

Life

Life has a way to just keep things busy. I've had some post op minor complications and had to go in for a couple of stitches last Friday. But I've seen the GYN Oncologist & everything looks very good with a stage of 1b, grade 2............which is better than anticipated knowing the first pathology report. So I'm well on the way to recovery & feeling much better........just busy busy.

I'm going to post some pictures of the rabbits and perhaps the cria so you can see how much they have grown. Today we had about 1.5 inches of snow, the first "real" snowstorm of the fall. The wood stove is going full force & the pellet stove in the bedroom has been on quite a bit the last week (with some nighttime temperatures down to -2). So I think winter is for sure right around the corner.