This is older news... but figuring out how to start a blog got me behind in sending out my news. So now I am catching up.
I decided to take the train to return to N. Dakota to visit my mother for the holidays. With recent snow and colder weather I had been a little slow in getting my outside tasks done; and I had stuff to do before I left. After a busy Fall I didn't have the ambition to work in the snow. (Maybe it'll melt!) The foggy/overcast weather didn't help my ambition either. But, Wednesday, the sky cleared and the sun shone in a bright royal blue sky. Beautiful!
The temperature warmed to the mid 20s. In the sun, and with no wind, it felt warm. Even though the temperature was a half dozen to 10 degrees below freezing, melting was happening here and there. From under the snow, water slowly dripped off on my "tool shed" building. The previous day I had shoveled the snow from the driveway and cleared paths to the barn and some other buildings, so now I shoveled some snow off the "tool shed" roof. This building is lower than average so I could reach half of the roof while standing on the ground. The snow had piled up during successive snowfalls to be a half foot to a foot high. Within an hour of my work the sun melted from the roof much of the snow that remained from where I had shoveled. Where I hadn't shoveled on the roof, that pile of snow was shrinking; but more than a few hours of sun will be needed to melt it all!
I took more snow photos as the trees were still snow and frost covered. They looked really nice in the sun and against the blue sky. Picture perfect. One photo will become my signature photo: Tall Pines. I added it to my new blog as my profile photo.
I uncovered and stored away some of the lumber the earlier snowfalls had buried. I shoveled a path to, then shoveled off, the snow that had fallen on my stock trailer. I climbed the sides and pushed off all the snow from its roof. Then I got a chain and a lock and wrapped 2 wheels and locked the chain. I also wrapped a small chain around the hitch. Nothing is completely fool proof, but it is at least some deterrent if a thief gets a hankering to take my trailer.
I took some of the plastic tubes I had gleaned from somewhere this summer and put them around most of my young fruit trees. Now if those #$%& deer break my baling twine fences they won't be able to eat the bark off these young tree trunks. Darn wildlife! :-)
When clearing my garden this Fall I had left one small stunted sunflower plant standing. While dried and brown it still had some visual appeal against the white snow blanketing everything. I also uncovered the snow off some of my carrots in the garden. I dug up enough carrots to fill a 5 gallon pail. The ground was softer than I expected considering we already had temperatures as low as -19 F. The snow acted as a good insulator and underneath the ground's hard thin crust the dirt was soft and fairly loose. I estimate I have enough carrots left in the ground to fill 3 pails. I shoveled more snow on top of them and hope they last the winter without freezing.
After cleaning the dirt off the carrots I put them in my house's crawl space. I found the temperature there to be 40 F. This is lower than the mid 40s of last year. I wonder if my new crawl space insulation has reduced the amount of heat escaping into the crawl space by this much? I hope leaving the house's temperature at 55 F is enough to keep the crawl space, and the water pipes within, from freezing!
With the nice weather I even found time to "stop and smell the roses" as I went for a 12 mile bicycle ride. After my ride Amy called to say the hucklebeary lotion bars she had made for me to give as Christmas gifts were ready. Amy's husband had some bee hives on my land this past summer, and apparently Amy uses bees wax and other ingredients in her secret recipe to make her lotion bars and body creams. I 'm a guy, so I don't really know about this stuff, but they seem to be good. People I have given the lotion to have all liked them. I do know they smell good. Amy sells the lotions and creams and more info can be found at Amy's web site.
Thursday the temperature was again in the low 20s, but this day no sun. Naturally it didn't feel as warm and there was no melting going on. No matter - I had indoor stuff to do before my trip.
I disassembled my wood stove's pipes that go to the chimney and took them outside to empty of soot and then to brush clean using a wire brush. Dirty work! Naturally I then had to get the vacuum cleaner out. I may not keep the cleanest house (what's wrong with a little dust?), but I do have limits.
While I had - uncharacteristically - started packing several days earlier I still had to finish the job. Hmmm... lots of stuff. Let's see... Amtrak allows for 3 checked luggage pieces. I went into the attic over the garage and found a large boxy suitcase my dad had put up there years ago. Or was it from the previous property owner from many, many years ago? Is it an antique suitcase? Well.. I'm using it - it's big. Of course packing took longer than I expected, and I didn't finish till around midnight.
Amtrak allows 2 carry on items, but I think that rule is only meant for the northeastern U.S. where lots of people ride the train. In my experience, unlike airplanes where passengers cram the overhead storage bins full to overflowing, train riders don't bring much personal luggage on board. It's odd as train trips usually last longer than the average plane trip. But the overhead racks - which hold more than the airline's overhead bins - are mostly empty.
Let's see... carry-on luggage... 3 suitcases. Oops. More than two! But that's not all... I had stuff in paper and plastic grocery bags. I don't know... a half dozen bags? I didn't count as I didn't want to know. What all was I taking? I don't know! Clothes, winter clothes and coats (bulky!), video tapes of movies to watch, a small suitcase filed with magazines to read, food to eat on the train, and food from my garden that won't keep while I am gone: several bags of beets, carrots, onions, parsnips, whatever... How will I get this on the train as carry-on luggage? Ah... time to go to bed as I must get up in 5 hours to get ready to catch the train. I'll worry about the luggage in the morning.
A call to the 1-800 Amtrak line and I was told the train was on time. I found, then set, my alarm clock; including in my bedtime prayers that the alarm would actually work this time!
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