A train through winter

It was early morning (for me!)  but I wasn't sure where my mind was when Jan  came to get me to go to the train station.  She had to remind me to turn off the power and water valve in my well.  Later, halfway, across Montana I remembered I had forgotten to click the padlocks shut on a couple of the outbuildings.  *sigh*   I called Jan and she will lock the locks.

The train was on time to Whitefish at 7:26 am. It was Christmas Eve Day and to my surprise the train car was near full.  I was assigned a seat by the train attendant.  Usually a person gets on the train and looks for a seat.  I sat next to a woman traveling from Portland, Oregon to Great Falls, MT.  She was leaving the train at Shelby.  Or "Shelberia" as the train attendant called it in a fake Russian accent when he announced the train stop.

I walked through the train and found that the car I was sitting in was the most full.  The oriental attendant had sent me and many others to this car instead of letting us board his car.  Later that afternoon as I walked through his car I saw him fast asleep in his seat.

It was a bit odd in that lots of people were exiting the train at the towns of Cut Bank, Shelby, and Wolf Point instead of the usual larger towns.  Fortunately several of the towns were early in my train trip, and as hardly any people were getting on the train, lots of seats opened up and I was able to have two seats to myself the rest of my trip. Which made it much easier to lay down and sleep overnight.

After the train left Minot the conductor came by and asked me if I would move up three cars to make it easier for me to get off the train in Red Wing.  The Red Wing train platform is not long and I was in the third car from the end.  Oh, yeah I'll move!   The other cars still had less people and my new car was a refurbished and nicer car.

Because the Red Wing train station doesn't handle baggage I had to carry my bags on the train. The conductor offered to carry one of my bags to the new car.  When he returned from getting my suitcase from downstairs he commented that Red Wing makes and sells bricks and I could have waited to get bricks there instead of bringing them in my luggage.   Little did he know that the other bag I was carrying to the new car was the heavier bag.

The views in the mountains were a winter wonderland with the fresh snow on the pine trees. Once we crossed the mountain divide we began to lose the clouds.

 

 

With the clear skies the temperatures dropped.  At the stop in Havre my face and ears felt the nip from cold air as I walked the station's platform.  At Glasgow the train attendant announced the temperature was minus 17 degrees.  There were less than the usual number of people standing outside the train to have a quick smoke.

Another side effect of the cold was that quite a number of the bathroom sinks wouldn't drain and were half full of water.  I informed my car's attendant and he told me the sinks wouldn't drain because the pipes were frozen.

Because of the winter storm across North Dakota and Minnesota Amtrak decided to add a third engine in Havre.  We had been on time until the third engine was added.  After that we ran an hour and a half or later behind schedule all the way to Red Win

Preparing to leave

Contrary to the weather forecaster's predictions no snow ever fell in the Valley.  Good.  After sundown the clouds all left and the stars are shining bright and cold.  Global warming has left again as we will be well below our normal temperatures yet again.

The past couple of days when it had warmed up I checked my two pocket gopher traps.  One trap was cover in dirt both days.  That gopher gets out of the tunnel and then covers the opening at the back of the trap.  The gopher doesn't fill the inside of the trap or go inside.  It is frustrating as I want to catch it and end my season of trapping.  And to get my 250th pocket gopher.   My only hope is to find a gopher in my trap when I return.

The deer are still around as I see some tracks around the pastures in the snow that had not melted.

The river level is low but with the warmer weather some of the iced up areas melted.

I lit the pilot light and ran my natural gas furnace today for the first time this season as I need to have it running when I am gone. It seems to be working.  I tell ya... natural gas heat can't compare to the heat from a wood stove.  It just doesn't feel warm.

I also baked an apple pie today in between my packing for the trip.  The apples from my trees are showing their age and I wasn't sure they all would last until I got back.  I decided to see if the pie would keep in my refrigerator.   What about putting my pie in the freezer?  Sorry.  It is full already.  I'll take deer meat over apple pies any day.

The Minnesota weather forecast is still bad.   Spending Christmas Day in a train station is looking more likely.

Winter Storm Warning in effect from 9 PM Wednesday to 6 am CST Saturday.

Thursday Night

Freezing rain...snow and sleet. Brisk. Snow accumulation of 3 to 6 inches. Ice accumulation around one quarter of an inch. Nearly steady temperatures around 30. East winds 15 to 25 mph. Chance of precipitation 100 percent.

Christmas Day

Areas of freezing drizzle in the morning. Snow. Light snow accumulation possible. Highs around 30. East winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph. Chance of measurable precipitation 100 percent.

The weather forecast for Montana?  Cold, but sunny and dry.

From no snow to snow

It appears we escaped the snow. For a number of days the weather forecasters have been predicting snow for the Valley.  But thanks to global warming (thank you!  thank you!) our temperatures have been a few degrees above our normal high of 30 F which was enough to stay above freezing and keep the rain as rain and not as snow.   Hurray!  Otherwise, as it had rained and rained most of several days, I'd still be out there shoveling snow.

That's not to say I won't escape snow for Christmas.  I am going to Minnesota for the Christmas and New Years holidays to be with Tammy.  The weather forecast is for a big winter storm in Minnesota when I am traveling.  ...great.   In fact, as soon as I cross the mountains I will be into snow and Winter with a capital W.  I guess global warming isn't global.

The good news is I will be taking the train and not be driving.  The bad news is that the Red Wing, Minnesota train station is 50 miles from Rochester.   Tammy insists she will be at the train station to get me.  That isn't what I am worried about.  I am worried about her driving through snow and freezing rain on the narrow and hilly Minnesota roads.

Oh well.  Should be an interesting Christmas.  I leave Montana December 24 and arrive in Red Wing on Christmas Day.  So I will spend 25 hours and Christmas Eve on Amtrak.  I wonder if Santa will find me on the train?  I wonder if the Minnesota weather will be so bad that I end up spending Christmas Day in the little Red Wing train station?

Stay tuned.

New Building

Remember my neighbor's building that burned this past summer?

Well, he must have gotten his insurance check as a new building is going up.

When I spoke with him after the fire he wasn't sure he would rebuild.  Then later he thought he would rebuild but the new building definitely would be smaller.  I haven't spoken with him since the building work started but it looks as if the new building is larger.  Much larger.

Today the contractors started adding sheet metal for the roof.

Night sky light

Here is a photo of the night sky from the same view of my previous sunset photos.  The glow is from the commercial district built this decade north of town. Usually the lights are not so bright, but it may be brighter tonight because of the atmospheric conditions.  Snowy night.

Kalispell has a lighting ordinance to reduce light pollution but I read today that many business are still not in compliance.  Home Depot is a major source of the light in the photo.

Gathering logs from my pasture

Last Friday, the day before the snow came, I went out into my pastures and collected the logs I had cut up earlier before the cold came.  I got a pickup load from each pasture, though not all pickup loads were completely full.

One of my chores for next year...   Keep in mind the stack is two logs deep.

Here is one tree cut and stacked in the pasture, and then after it and another tree were loaded into my pickup.  Notice in the background of the pickup one of the trees resting on branches waiting to be cut next year.

Warmth from my stove

With this recent cold weather my wood stove is nicer than ever.  After a hard day of shoveling snow I curl up in front of the stove like a cat seeking warmth.

Sunsets then snow

Winter arrived this weekend.  Light snow started Saturday morning and picked up by afternoon becoming heavy.  At sunset the wind arrived and blew strong all night.  And the temperature stayed in the single digits most of the weekend.

Saturday morning when the snow started, I put into paper bags and stored away, the remaining branches I use as kindling to start fires in my wood stove.  I've learned from past years that having the branch pile sit under my patio doesn't protect it from getting buried by snow on a windy day.  They would have been buried by Sunday morning.

We had 7.5 inches of snow. I think the snow will be staying until Spring.  Sunday I shoveled the snow off half my yard/driveway.   My body felt it as I haven't shoveled snow since this past Spring.

Here is Wednesday night's sunset and Friday night's sunset.

More of Friday's sunset.  Then Saturday night's "sunset".

Frosty mornings

It's warming up!   ...a little.    Today we made it just into the double digits above zero for a high and it looks like our low overnight will stay above zero.

Tuesday morning's low was -13 F.   A number of my windows had frost on them.

 

Cold temperatures meant sunny skies on Tuesday.

The white mountains past Badrock Canyon are in Glacier Park.

Tuesday's sunset saw the first signs of clouds.  It was overcast by morning.  And still cold.

Even though it was cloudy with a touch of light snow, my part of the Valley had sun breaks during the day.  Here is Wednesday night's sunset.

Cold continues

Another cold day where the high temperature officially made it to 11 degrees.   My thermometer never made it out of the single digits.  The temperature now is heading south and is a degree shy of the minus double digits.   The official temperature Monday was 11 and -3. Our normal high is 31 and normal low is 17.  Oh yeah!  Global warming baby!

Other than getting more firewood I only went outside to run and quickly check my gopher traps. No activity there.  That gopher is laying low in a lower warmer level of his tunnel complex.  Smart gopher.

Doesn't it look cold in the photos?

I want my global warming!   Remember what George Carlin said about "military intelligence"?  Substitute the words 'global warming'.  No wonder those controversial emails turned up in Britain about global warming.

Baby, it's cold outside

Today I made sure the wood stove was going.  The outside temperature slowly slid all day from 12 degrees to zero right now.  And that is not factoring in the wind chill.  The house temperature was in the low 50s when I got up but I had it up at high as 73 degrees this evening.  It is 67 now. I love my wood stove.

I did go outside for a little while to check on my gopher trap.  It was too cold even for the gopher as the trap was not filled with dirt today.  Yesterday I had to move the trap as the gopher filled the trap and the tunnel so solid I couldn't see where the tunnel used to be.  The ground was frozen so hard I had to find another spot to dig for the tunnel.

Today I brought a second trap. I bent the metal shovel blade trying to dig through the frozen ground.  Eventually I noticed a few dirt mounds under a nearby tree's rain shadow.  The ground wasn't nearly as frozen there and I was able to quickly find and dig a place to set the trap.

Hopefully I get this gopher sooner than later.

While out in the pasture, on nearby trees, I decided to cut off some low dead tree branches.  I got about a dozen cut before I called it a day.  Even wearing my new leather gloves my hands froze and I ran home to hold them near my wood stove to warm back up.  My wood stove is great at getting the chill out of one's bones.

Working with a chainsaw

Even though Winter is here - and getting stronger - I got out my chainsaw and cut up four downed trees in my pastures Friday and Saturday.  The other day I had finally finished splitting the logs I had stacked in the backyard and it was time to get more logs for next year.

The temperature was cold but I found wearing ear muffs was good for chainsaw noise reduction.  And the work kept me warm.  Come to think about it I sweat buckets when cutting in the summertime, so I guess cold is better.

I cut up the rest of one large tree and then three other medium sized trees.  The large tree was in the north pasture and one I had been slowly cutting up a number of years now.

Two medium trees were in the middle pasture and the other one in the south pasture.

Mainly I wanted to cut up two of the trees as they were laying on the ground.  The others were supported by their branches and in no danger of rotting.

One tree had fallen into another tree and I was concerned it would fall on cattle someday.  That turned out to be baseless as it was difficult to get the tree down.  The top branches intermingled with the live trees branches and it took a bit of cutting from the bottom to shorten the tree enough that I could then maneuver the trunk enough for the tree to fall out of the other tree.

I have fallen six trees left to cut up (one medium and five large trees), but as they all are supported by their branches and off the ground I can wait until next year. To use up the gas in the chainsaw I cut the smaller (top) parts of each of these trees to shorten their footprint length.

I stacked the logs in the pasture as I had a little daylight left.  I also was concerned the weather would really turn bad, and before Winter set in I wouldn't get the logs picked up and brought back to the backyard for splitting later.  I have enough logs already split to last me several winters so I can split these logs at my leisure.  And I am close to running out of room to store my split logs.

Here are photos of the north tree. The tree's diameter was so thick I had to cut from each side as my saw's 16 inch bar wouldn't go all the way through.  It's going to be some 'fun' splitting these logs.

The tree had blown over in a windstorm and this is the bottom of the stump.  I left it.   It was pain to cut and then I realized it made a decent place to sit.  And my north pasture hardly has any decent stumps for the cattle to scratch against.

The second photo was taken because I had taken photos of other piles of stacked logs.

Here is a photo of one of the south pasture's stacked log piles.  These logs are from the tops of trees I had cut.  The pile is a little bigger than it looks.

Here are the one of the log piles from the middle pasture.   The height is taller than me - over 6 ft.

Sharpened stakes

Our weather is still well below freezing.  The ground is getting even harder.  Today the one pocket gopher left to trap again filled the trap with dirt. I decided to move the trap up his tunnel a bit to confuse the gopher.  When I dug the ground I had to really work and chip away at the frozen ground.  I hope I get this gopher soon as the weather forecast this weekend and next week has an Arctic front coming with snow and then sub-zero temperatures and wind with wickedly cold wind chills.   North Dakota and Minnesota type of wind chills.

On my to-do list before Winter was to mark the locations of the tree stumps in the pasture so I can easily find them for later digging and burning.  Quite a number of them are less than a foot above ground and most of the year the grass hides them. I cut the ends of almost 20 boards to sharpen them in order to make it easier to drive them into the ground.  However, by the time I got the boards sharpened the weather changed and the ground is now too hard to pound the posts into it. I guess this is now an early Spring project.

Hayfield cleared

Maybe "cleared" is a bold statement.  I have gone over the entire hayfield trapping pocket gophers as I trapped my final one Thursday.  This is the first time I have gone over the entire hayfield.  Why I say "cleared" is a bold word is that there may be some pocket gophers that I missed.  In fact the last few gophers I trapped were in areas I had gone over earlier and thought I had cleared until I saw what I thought were new dirt mounds.

With this last pocket gopher trapped in the hayfield I also pulled all but two of my traps from the south pasture. Even though the ground is freezing, and the temperature ranges from the single digits to near 20 above, I am still catching gophers as I trapped three on Thursday. And while I have cleared over half of the south pasture the quickly freezing ground is making it hard to dig to find more tunnels.  There is always next year.

I currently am at 249 pocket gophers trapped for the year.  I am confident I will make it to 250 as one of the traps I left in the south pasture had been filled with dirt the past day indicating activity.

Bob's dead birch tree

Using my "new" chainsaw, last weekend I cut down two of Bob's birch trees that were dead or dying.  I got more firewood to stack and dry for splitting next year.

Moon over the mountains

Monday at sunset I was out in the south pasture near the southern fence line when I noticed the very close to full moon rising over the Swan Mountain Range.   The snow covered mountains were a rosy pink from the sunset and the moon was huge as it first rose.  It was beautiful and I wanted a photo of it.

Though I only had minutes in which to get a photo I ran all that distance home and got my camera.  The pink was fading fast, and I missed the best color, but I got a couple photos off before it was completely gone.  Then I was left with the moon rising over white mountains.

 

The one photo shows the moon from where I first seen it rise.  Trust me, the moon looked much bigger in person and when it first rose over the mountains.

Later, after dark when I went outside the moon was so bright it was almost like being outside during the day.

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