Wednesday, November 06, 2013

The Second Snowfall...

I wish I could post something motorcycle related, like photos from a ride through the woods, but I've got nothing. The weather's been very cool lately and this morning we woke up to find this winter's second dusting of snow.... Beautiful!



The deer were on the patio looking for for some bird food and maybe a pumpkin. This is a mom and her little boy...


While I was typing this, Rick Gruel Landscaping showed up to do some work. Nancy wants a garden next year, and I needed to do something with the space between the sidewalk and the house. An hour later I have the start of a garden spot, a yard of rock, and some fill next to the house. Now the heavy work begins. I hope the weather improves!


I built another rack for wood. It's been too cold to stain it so it's still raw wood. I've been working on filling it with some ready to burn oak that had found it's way out of the woods and has been piling up on my driveway...

18 comments:

  1. I'm probably hallucinating, but why do your deer look like mule deer to me? Have I been in the city too long?

    I love the photo of your kitty at the sliders. You treat your cats A+++

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    1. They do look like they have big ears, but their tails are all white!
      There's usually 3 cats on the bed. It's placed right over the heat vent. They love to lay there.

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  2. Wow thats a heck off a lot of wood. Glad I don't have to chop it up and stack it. Do you have gas in your area?

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    1. We're too far from any population for a natural gas line to reach us, but there's propane. We have a 500 gal tank. This year, the price is about $1.40 a gal. That's down from $1.90 gal. from 2 years ago.
      Nancy loves to have fires in the fireplace, but I keep thinking of a more efficient wood stove.. We'll see....

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  3. Eric:

    Don't worry about motorcycle content. We like to see all of your hard work, huffing and puffing moving those rocks and splitting wood. I was thinking like a chipmunk gathering nuts in preparation for Winter.

    I can't imagine having to pile up that much wood every year. Hope it lasts

    the deer must be hungry and tame

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast

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    1. I'm hoping that the wood piles are good for a couple of years. Some of it will need to dry/season for at least another year before it's dry enough. I got lucky and found quite a few standing dead oaks that are at about 15% moisture content. Typically, anything under 20% is "dry" and ready to burn. Some of my neighbor's live oak was off the scale on my moisture meter, that's the stuff that will have to dry for a couple of years.
      Don't let their closeness to windows fool you, they are still quite wild and spook easily!

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  4. Mmmmm, venison...

    What's that white stuff?

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    1. I've told Nancy that this deer season it would be all to easy to just open a window..... She informed me that there's no way that's going to happen!

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  5. What's the rock for? A walkway?

    Nice photo of the deer and the cat. And that seems like a lot of wood for a fireplace....

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    1. The rock it going to go between the sidewalk and the house. They dumped in so fill so I could level it out and get the grade to run away from the house, instead of running towards the house and pooling at the basement wall. I'll cover the dirt with black plastic and then cover that with the rock.

      It is a lot of wood, but she has to have her fun!

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  6. It is pretty.......and always exciting the first few times, weeks, even a few months and then ......:)

    You've a beautiful spot and surroundings to enjoy it in Erik. Once we get done with this commuting thing, we'll find it all more enjoyable too.

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    1. It's kind of "fun" to see snow this time of the year... I'm sure that by February or March it wont be "fun" anymore!

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  7. The pictures of the snow and deer are so pretty. I like the kitty looking out at the deer too.

    I always feel bad for all of the wildlife looking for food in the winter. Part of nature and the circle of life though.

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    1. Nancy is such an animal person. This summer, while I was on my trip to Nevada, she called me and said she "felt bad for the bear in the back yard"... She wanted to go out with a tweezers and pluck some of the ticks off him... LOL We still joke about that.

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  8. Cute pics of the inside and outside wildlife ;-) What's all this firewood for? Do you expect to have to be able to survive without regular sources of energy?

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    1. I'm trying to build up a supply. Some of it will take another year or so to fully dry. That's why there 's so much. We enjoy the fireplace, and it does help us cut down on our propane use.
      Personally, I'd like to replace the fireplace with a modern wood stove. You get much more heat from the wood with a stove Vs. a fireplace.... and use less wood too. But, Nancy isn't too keen on that idea.... yet...

      And, yes, if we lose power because of a winter storm, the fireplace would be out heat source... It's nice to be able to be prepared.

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  9. Maybe add a wood cook stove. Some friends used one to heat their home and since it was always hot, there was always hot coffee, water for tea, freshly baked bread and rolls, stews and soup, etc. Plus the old cookstoves look pretty cool.

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  10. Looks like kitty is quite used to seeing wildlife peeking in the door ... what did he think of the bear? I had a bear go through the back yard one year and the cat went crazy, making the weirdest noises I'd ever heard. Personally I'd prefer the wildlife to stay out of the yard, because with them do come the disease carrying ticks. It's become a big problem in this area.

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