wet week ahead!

The upcoming week has a full load of rainfall! The image shows the total 7-day amount that's currently forecast, and the moisture plume showing on the IR satellite image confirms that someone is going to get very wet. Even four inches is enough to put us positive for October's total amount, so we needn't fear for our well running dry.

The past few days have been quite nice, with temperatures now reaching the 30s - with just under 11 hours of daylight now, that's no surprise. I rebuilt the wood 'shed' with our largest tarp for a roof/wall and the remaining fiberglass from the previous shed for bonus protection on top. If the wind doesn't get out of hand that should do for a while.

Our wood is going faster than I expected, so a refill in December will need to happen. Hopefully by then our income will be reinforced in one of several ways. We still await word on my wife's Social Security payments that were suspended for reasons not entirely clear, but I'm seeking a part-time job to cover that missing income. We'll get through this spell but retirement will be suspended for a while. It would take a while to qualify for SoSec myself, as I removed myself from the pool very early to enter Federal service. A few years of part-timing will reduce our debts substantially.

*updates - 

• 10/19 so far so 'good', as yesterday ended with about 2¼ inches of rain. The weekend promises as least two more inches, so mark up another month of above-average precipitation - we've sure had a lot of those in Oct-May months!
• 10/20 another half-inch, about three more inches now expected beginning early Saturday.
• 10/21 nearly 5 inches, and 3/4 more Sunday! 

quick change as always

Highs in the mid-60s are now called a warm day, and lows are about to fall into the 30s. Nothing new here, it's called October!

We picked up a SportTrac-load of firewood (perhaps 1/2 cord) for the season, and I've finally learned how to heat the house with it: big fire by 8am that becomes coals by noon. The house stays toasty warm until bedtime and the furnace isn't needed (at least not yet).

The firewood is already nicely seasoned and nearly all cut to size - the big axe may not get much use this year!

a stunning turnaround

After a white season like we've had, it was quite surprising to see how quickly the year's largest snowfall disappeared. Five days ago we had 13 inches on the ground - and on the trees, which broke many of them and tilted others beyond recovery! Today we are down to small piles wherever I shoveled it into mounds. It was pretty nearly gone by Thursday morning but now it's barely a memory.

All vehicles are back on top of the hill where they presumably belong. Plenty of firewood is now available for the coming seasons.. assuming I can get our chain-saw to work again. Plenty of scars will remain to remind us of this winter.

why do I ache so?

Let me count the ways! 

1. Shoveling a long path downhill, to remove icy slush (heavier than snow)
2. Carrying bundles of firewood uphill from the point the Fiat gets stuck - that location is just below where the Explorer is stuck from trying to go down the un-shoveled path!
3. Chain-saw and hand-saw removal of several trees, the big one 8 inches in diameter! (I had help)
4. Walking back and forth to the mailbox, once on snowshoes.. yes it's uphill both ways, in the snow!
5. Removing snow from the cracked porch awning that I built four short months ago, and
6. Trimming and fitting a long stick to support the cracked section!

No doubt I've missed a few points here. Yes I should hurt - I don't believe I have ever shoveled thirteen inches of snow at a time, not to mention how long a walkway I carved from the Big Garage past the house and down to the cars. Oh yes: I also shoveled around our mail-boxes, as the local plow made them almost completely inaccessible for little mail-trucks (I suspect they had to back up to reach them).

Task #3: missed the car, but not by much! The pine in back is a lost cause.

I found a few extra g-free ales in my garage refrigerator.. those won't last long!

heat's end?

We made it to September without a heat pump. Our financial strategies pulled down many debts but in doing so much of the down payment for this went elsewhere. Late August was a string of 80-90° days, but on the 31st we had over ½ inch of rain. September began with fog! Over an inch of rain already as we head toward autumn, and no 80° days in the forecast. We could still pull a few warm days, but for the most part summer heat has ended for us here.

In the garden our spinach has gone to flowers, a dozen or more hops have arrived, and a few small zucchini are doing their best. The rains will cheer them for a last dash, and hopefully a few days of steamed 'zukes will come before long. The big mower was only needed once on the major slopes, thankfully - but it sure does the job well!

Little Mithril isn't so small any more, getting lanky and matching up more closely with her mama-cat. It's time to trap and spay, with a bit more luck mama will take the drive this year. Besides the cats, several other projects remain before the true wet season: some more rain-diversions, a porch roof and finishing the two stairs outside are the big ones, and a bit of painting would be good too.  The roof must wait another year like the heat pump, but the gutters really need to be re-sloped for better big-rainfall events.

Also, it's time to buy firewood for the first time - the previous owners stocked us very well and we were sparing with it, but the pile is now essentially empty. Our new green 'truck' can handle a decent amount, likely enough for the year.. now to get out and shop / chop!

transition time

Several transitions this weekend.  While recent wet forecasts have ended up less wet, the odds improve a lot by late October.  With that in mind, I mowed the uppermost lawn one last time, and munched up plenty of leaves in the process!

We also took Zuzu in for her neutering appointment so she can become an indoor cat before cold rains make her miserable.  She's a bit freaked by Duncan so far (24 hours in), but he is mighty thick compared to her family thanks to his Siamese coat (Zuzu is a short-hair study in black and white, Duncan more of a downy caramel mocha).

I also took partial advantage of the last dry day to get our wood-pile in a better place, and under some rain protection.  It will now sit near the wall of our metal outbuilding to minimize carpenter ant interest in a pile of wood leaning on our home! The main stack must sit under a temporary blue-tarp roof.  At some point it will be more of a wooden lean-to structure, but time's up to get that project underway. It's a longer walk now, but perhaps later I will set up a staging area with some wood near the front door (after the porch roof is built - another item that didn't get done in time!).  My wrists already ache from picking up and setting down so much wood, and I didn't get finished either - so the next dry spell will see me out there again.

It would be nice to see some seasonal weather though; we were quite mild last winter and quite dry since early Springtime.  Real October weather would be a nice change of pattern, in more ways than one.