Comes in threes

Life is a series of ups and downs and it looks like a down stretch started today...

1. My mother entered the hospital today. Apparently she fell last week, then lost her appetite for a few days, then got very, very weak. She had her regular scheduled visit from a home health nurse this morning and the nurse recommended mom to go to the hospital for tests to figure what is going on and get her strength back. Apparently a full day of tests today with no answers. More tests tomorrow.
   
   
2. My car's clutch started acting up today. I have trouble getting the car into gear as the gears keep spinning and don't stop when the clutch is pressed. Cold weather apparently can bring out problems in clutches. Finally got the car into gear and fortunately only had a short drive from the neighbor's house as shifting to another gear would not work. Supposedly the car's transmission may need to be taken apart to fix the problem and can be expensive.
   
   
3. A winter snow storm is coming tonight and tomorrow. Snow predicted even in the valleys: 2 to 5 inches after midnight tonight with 1 to 3 inches tomorrow. Lots more snow in the mountains. Probably enough snow that it will last all winter as global warming is over and the temperatures are below average. It started snowing lightly a short time ago. Today I dug the few remaining onions from my garden but was not able to get to my beets and carrots. I covered them with tarps to keep the snow off so I can dig them later.
   

I checked my pocket gopher traps with plans to bring the traps in for the year before the snow arrives. A couple days ago I had trapped four pocket gophers. I debated on placing the traps again. The top layer of the ground is frozen now which makes digging a new hole difficult. I preserved and placed the traps and was fortunately to find the tunnels without too much digging. It paid off as I got two more pocket gophers this morning.

Two more traps were covered with dirt so I decided to leave them after removing the dirt and then recheck them later in the afternoon. I brought the other four traps in. I was busy and didn't recheck the traps. I'll have to dig them out of snow later. With the cold temperatures the pocket gophers freeze solid after death and were difficult to remove from the traps today. I got soooo close to the fence at the end of the hayfield to clear the hayfield of pocket gophers.

With mom's health woes I may have to go to North Dakota earlier than planned. The problem is I will be leaving for a few months over winter rather than a few weeks else wise. More needs to be done to prepare the house for an extended absence over winter. Hopefully I will know more tomorrow.