Snow whomp + power outage

If I've been silent for the last couple of days, it's because we finally got our power back on. It went out late Tuesday night after we got a snow whomp. It looks like winter arrived at last.

I mean, seriously. While the rest of the country already had their snow whomps, we were mild and snow-free. Sure, we had some chilly temps, but otherwise bare ground.

All that changed this past week. At first it was just a soft and picturesque snowfall of a couple inches.

The cows didn't seem overly fazed.

Most of the snow melted off over the next couple of days. And then, overnight, WHOMP.

Unsurprisingly, we lost power during this blitz. Out here, the power grid goes down for seemingly any reason: a heavy snowfall, a wind, a Tuesday. We knew this was likely to happen and had everything prepped just in case.

The cows were a little more fazed by this snowfall. We decided to keep them in the corral for immediate access to shelter. Filet, our stand-offish formerly-range-cow Angus, is due to calve sometime in the next month (probably less), and we don't want to be chasing a new baby down in deep snow on the far side of the pasture.

I took a yardstick into the yard and measured how much snow fell overnight.

Twelve and a half inches of new snow, and we've gotten more since.

It almost came over the tops of my boots.

The effect was very pretty...

...especially after the clouds cleared and it turned into a strikingly sunny day.

The snowfall was an opportunity for every man in the neighborhood to climb onto whatever equipment he had available, and work to clear the road. I counted at least six different neighbors on six different pieces of equipment, not counting Don's efforts.

I kept the bird feeder filled, since I knew the feathered ones would have a hard time finding food under such conditions.

The quail had to literally break trails in the snow.

Since Older Daughter's side of the house isn't heated during power outages, she let Frumpkin (her cat) into the main part of the house (making sure Lihn the parrot was safely in her cage, of course). Frumpkin was fascinated by the activity at the bird feeder. Cat TV.

Toward dusk, we took Mr. Darcy for his afternoon walk and noted a large herd of elk, at least 25 animals, spread across a neighbor's field.

We lit the oil lamps and settled in for an evening of reading. Frumpkin was perched on Older Daughter's lap, looking quite pleased with himself.

The power stayed off for forty-eight hours, through clear sunny days and very dark nights.

Don used the back blade on the tractor to plow the lower driveway.

Frumpkin stayed in the main part of the house, looking very cute...

...while Darcy looked very worried. "That cat isn't supposed to BE here."

The power came back on early Friday morning and life got back to normal. And the elk? Well, they went strolling by right below the house. Gorgeous.

How was your Christmas?

Aside from our unexpected car accident, we had a very nice (if quiet) Christmas.

It started in mid-December, when Older Daughter and I took Mr. Darcy and drove higher into the mountains to cut some cedar branches (with permission from the Forest Service). Darcy is always so thrilled by these excursions.

The forest was beautiful. (That's Older Daughter's car at the bottom.)

Darcy was raring to go, so I walked him around while Older Daughter collected branches. She was careful not to cut more than one branch off any one tree.

It soon became apparent, however, that a service crew had come through a short time before and trimmed a bunch of branches along long stretches of the road, presumably for maintenance purposes.

When we realized this, it was a simple matter of finding a collection of downed branches and taking as many as we wanted. There was a nice amount in this bend of the road. (You can see Older Daughter in the pink coat.)

What I didn't realize, however, was in this particular location, the fairly thin layer of snow on the road disguised a solid sheet of ice. I fell once and hurt nothing but my dignity. But then I fell a second time and managed to pull my entire left quadriceps muscle. Whee! That had me limping for a few days.

See that dark spot on the road?

That's the place I slipped. You can see the ice under the snow.

The muscle tear wasn't bad ... at first. It was much improved within a day or two, and then I took a misstep and injured it again. Then a day or two later, I slipped (on dog poop – in the yard!) and re-injured it again, at which point Don practically tied me to a chair to keep me from moving. The muscle finally healed.

Meanwhile, Older Daughter was weaving garlands with lights and hanging them above windows and doors.

On the eve of Christmas Eve (the 23rd), when we all settled in to watch "A Muppet Christmas Carol" (well, why not?). Older Daughter made us a tasty dinner of Cornish game hen and trimmings.

On Christmas Eve, we had a leisurely day of not doing much. I made sure to feed the livestock extra well on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Legend has it animals are granted the gift of speech at Christmas and will gossip about us. Can't have any bad news spreading to the neighbors!

Toward evening, we opened a few presents. For the first time this year, we skipped using wrapping paper and wrapped the presents in fabric according to the Japanese technique of "furoshiki."

With my long-time interest in sustainable and zero-waste living, I'm shocked I never even heard of this technique until last Christmas, and then I experienced a "Where have you been all my life?" moment. It makes so much sense, doesn't it, to use something for wrapping that can be used again and again? Accordingly, last year after Christmas when fabrics were on sale, I purchased a selection of holiday-themed fabrics (as well as some non-holiday samples for birthdays, etc.). Some of the fabrics are small, others larger, for different-sized packages.

So all the presents were wrapped in fabric, which meant no waste. How cool is that?

Late on Christmas Eve, we attended our church's "Lessons and Carols." The darkened church looked lovely.

Christmas Day, of course, was dominated by the car accident that prevented us from attending the proper church service, but these things happen.

In the evening, we gathered to watch George C. Scott's version of "A Christmas Carol, arguably the best version of that famous story ever made (in my opinion).

Above all, we thank God for the gift of His son.

How was your Christmas?

Fall foliage

After two months of lovely progression, all the trees in our yard have finally finished dropping their leaves.

The process starts in mid-September, when the honey locust leaves start carpeting the path through the yard.

By this point, the oaks starts showing just a wee bit of color.

But October – ah, that's the glorious month. By the first, things are really ramping up.

Every leaf becomes a thing of beauty.

It helps to have sunny days during this month, as it makes things positively sparkle.

You see, this is why I have an almost unhealthy obsession with the trees in our yard. After decades of seeing little but coniferous trees (stately and beautiful), deciduous trees – especially those that change color – fill me with giddy and childish glee. God bless whoever planted these beauties in our yard.

Early-morning sunshine through one of the oaks and the honey locust.

This time of year, the sun seems to "glow" through the leaves more prominently, making even green leaves look magical.

The yard looks very picturesque this time of year.

By the end of October, the whole trees are fully ablaze.

The colors are so bright and rich, they almost seem artificial.

And then...

...they start to fall.

Leaves gather along fence lines.

Mr. Darcy starts to blend in.

This is the view from the garden. Half the oak has dropped its leaves, half is still in full foliage.

If it seems as if I'm a bit obsessed with our oak trees this time of year ... well, guilty as charged.

Here's Maggie, framed by some branches.

By mid-November, the trees were (mostly) bare, and it was time to get raking. 

This is usually a relaxed, multi-day process, depending on weather and my work schedule. Since not all the leaves had dropped from one of the oaks...

...I focused on the portion of the yard where the trees were mostly bare.

Even raking, the leaves are lovely.

I got about half the yard raked, then paused over Thanksgiving weekend. This gave the willow trees a chance to drop everything (whomp!) on the lawn, which meant essentially I had to start raking all over again. Rookie mistake.

Preponderance of willow leaves on the left and oak leaves on the right.

Although it was 39F on the day I finished up, I worked up enough heat to discard my jacket and scarf.

A final push to get everything done before dark.

The leaf container is pretty full, but that's okay. Everything will compress down and start decomposing over the winter, which means it can be used in the garden in the spring.

Here's Darcy, with a clean yard behind him.

I still have to rake the side yard, but that's a task for another day.