Merry Christmas and This Is Why We Moved Here!

Merry Christmas everyone! As many of you back home in Texas were enjoying a true white Christmas, we were wondering where all of our snow has gone. All that is left of our foot's worth of powdery snow is a 1/2 inch in some places, a few solid ice puddles, and bare ground in other places. I won't complain too much as I know it could be the exact opposite....we could have feet upon feet of snow and our Christmas could have been spent shoveling and plowing. Instead our Christmas was spent in the company of new friends and delicious food and enjoying our Christmas presents from each other.

For Christmas we got each other snowshoes. On Christmas Eve day, we set out to find deeper snow in the higher elevations, enjoy the gorgeous sun-shiny day, and try out our new gear on some of the snowshoeing trails in the area. We snowshoed for over 2 miles where we were the only ones on the trail. We saw a glorious sunset and even saw the peaks of the North Cascades in the distance. Now, aside from the lack of snow in the valley, I have no excuse not to get out and get some exercise this winter. All in all, we had a blast and can't wait to go again. We plan on exploring all that we can on our snowshoes this winter, provided we finally get some of that white stuff on which to do it. As we were snowshoeing along, marveling at the sheer beauty of the winter scenery, I couldn't help but think that this was why we moved here. We moved to the mountains to do just this and more! I felt like we were living our dream and I loved every minute of it! Following are some pics from our first snowshoeing adventure. Now I am off to pack for my big TX trip. Hope to see some of you soon!! Pray the weather stays clear and I have safe travels to and from TX. Love to everyone this holiday season!

Wet Snow is Good for Something!

We have had about 1/2 a foot of snow or a little more in the past week and up until yesterday it was D-R-Y. It was so powdery, you couldn't possibly make a snow ball with it...it would fall to dust in your hand. This has been nice as things haven't been terribly icy or slushy. All that fresh powder is now sloppy wet and melting. This led me to finally experience something that can only be experienced when one has wet snow....the building of a snowman! Yep, made him all by myself...well, me and the dogs, as you can see...which was why he wasn't that tall. :) Don't pay any attention to the yellow-ish snow on the bottom left hand (as you are looking at the screen) side of the snowman...Logan loved him so much he couldn't resist. Aside from the doggy antics....its feeling a little more like Christmas around here!

PS. I threw in a cute shot of the third dog, who didn't make it into the snowman photo...just to play fair and retain my good momma status. :)

~L

Winter Necessities

I knew we would be needing some stuff to prepare ourselves for the coming winter, but I had no idea what that would entail. We started shopping early, back in September, so we could spread out the spending and make sure everyone and everything was covered...us, vehicles, house, animals, etc.

Of course, the first thing I had to buy was my winter boots...a girl loves her shoes! I researched online for quality brands and customer reviews and decided on a pair by Sorel. They are useful, but also quite fashionable and go very well with that hip-hop song that my niece sings so well...."apple bottom jeans and the boots with the fur, fur....". Yep, they have fur...they had to have fur!

Muck boots on left, Sorels on right

Surprise!...David catching me crossing the street in Republic in my furry boots :)

The Sorels are my "nice" pair of boots and then I needed insulated muck boots because a girl can't possibly wear her "boots with the fur" out to the barn. So, I got a pair of "Chore" boots from The Original Muck Boot Co. and let me tell you that these boots are THE BOMB! They are so warm and they come up higher on my leg than my Sorels. My feet DO NOT remotely get cold even in the negative temps we have been having. If you are looking for a good pair of winter muck boots...buy these! They are so worth it!

The little things we have needed to buy include ice scrapers and brushes. I needed one with an extendable pole so I could reach the top of my truck. We also got Heet de-icing spray, which, let me tell ya...definitely has come in handy because here, unlike in TX, the ice on your windshield does not thaw quickly even after your truck is warm and the defroster has been blasting the windshield for 20 minutes! Sooooo thankful for de-icing spray! After almost busting my backside a couple of times on the driveway, I also got us some shoe chains. These are the coolest thing ever...just like chains for your car tires but for your shoes.


I also researched horse blankets for days on end, trying to pick just the right ones that met each horses needs and my requirements. Scout needed the heaviest one with major rip-stop denier since he is the hardest keeper and low man on the totem pole. Bailey needed a medium weight with serious rip-stop denier too, since she is fatter and hairier than either of the other two and she still gets picked on by Ranger. Ranger, I finally decided, could just make do with Scout's old medium weight blanket with medium style denier since he is both large and in charge. I finally found blankets for Bailey and Scout on the same website...so I didn't have to pay double shipping. I also got name brands at GREAT prices! Anyone looking for blankets try www.jeffersequine.com. I got Scout a Weatherbeeta with a detachable neck cover for a better price than any other site. I blanket the horses as little as possible so they can acclimate to the weather and so their bodies can do what they do naturally. Here's a shot of them from this week hanging out in the pasture in the below zero weather. They have been quite comfy.

The major necessities came when we had to find something to clear the road to the house and the driveway and tires to help us get on down the road without sliding off the side of a mountain in the process. We knew we HAD to have something soon to plow our road and debated for weeks about whether to get a 4-wheeler or a plow for one of the trucks. We finally decided to go with a small plow. It was less expensive than a new 4-wheeler, and we couldn't find any used ones, and it was also less expensive than a big plow. David was so excited when he got to test it out earlier this week. It worked like a charm and is easy to use. A big plow, we decided, wasn't practical unless one of us wanted to plow other people's roads to help pay for it. :) We decided on studded tires and good set of chains for my truck and the tires have worked like a charm. I haven't had to use the chains yet, but I am practiced in putting them on, just in case. It wasn't as easy as the tire store guy made it sound. ...30 seconds per tire?...yeah, right! More like 30 minutes! I know it will get easier, but it took me forever just to figure out how to get the chains all untangled! All in all, we are loving our life here along with all the new things we are experiencing....things we would have never experienced living in TX. God has been so good to us and we are so thankful to be able to prepare ourselves for winter and to be living in such a beautiful place. Hope we get to share it with some of you some time.


Here are a few other random pictures from the past week and our below zero weather....

The truck showing -4 degrees at 6pm-ish a couple of days ago

At dusk looking south, the con trails around here glow so brightly

The river right behind our house, it is even more frozen now...I threw a rock at it and the rock bounced all the way across.

Winter Weirdness

This whole "real winter" thing has thrown me for a loop! I have begun to experience things that are completely foreign to a gal from Texas. In all this below freezing weather, I have learned a few new things...for instance, day before yesterday it was 9 degrees at 9am and I was preparing to go over the mountains to Colville for an appointment. My hair was still wet from my shower because I was planning on going curly. I needed to let the horses out of their stalls and wanted to do it before I started loading the truck and putting my makeup on, etc. So, I RAN from the house to the barn, which is about 300 ft. and by the time I made it to the barn, my hair was frozen. Yes, FROZEN! So, I reluctantly got out the ol' blow dryer and put it to good use. Lesson #1: You can't "go curly" when it is below freezing. :)

Other strange things have been happening too. David and I were on the way home from town and stopped to gas up the truck. It was about 22 degrees out. With all the ice, snow, and dirt on the passes the truck gets FILTHY. So, David started washing the rear window on the truck canopy so he could see out of it. He couldn't figure out why, when he started washing it, it wasn't coming clean. Then he realized that it was because as he was washing, the water from the scrubber was FREEZING to the window. Lesson #2: You can't wash your truck windows when it is below freezing...you can only scrape or use de-icing spray and then scrape. Lesson #3: Water really can freeze instantly.

Night before last we had about 4-6 inches of snow fall and then the clouds moved out leaving it to get COLD. With the doubly clear skies yesterday and last night the temperature was around -5 degrees this morning and supposed to be colder tonight. Coming home last night over the pass the thermometer in my truck was reading 0 degrees and I was wondering if it would show negative temps too. Well, I soon after got my answer...Lesson #4: The Dodge does show negative temps! It was reading -3 on the way home after leaving Republic. David got to use our new snow plow yesterday to clear off the driveway and main road to the house. We are breaking out all the extreme cold weather gear too. I will try to gather it all up and take pics...we are amazed at all the stuff we have had to buy for the weather here! More to come soon...enjoy the winter wonderland pics!

The Kettle River beginning to freeze

Mountains from the front porch at sunrise after the snowfall

Tree in the front yard...love how the snow lines the branches, so pretty

Scout wondering what all the white stuff is :)

The truck was covered with ice, snow, and icicles

Icicles were hanging from the truck...they covered the front bumper and grill and the ones behind the tires were almost down to the ground

Icicles on the front porch...hummingbird feeder for measurement purposes

Moon Madness

As winter rapidly approaches, mother nature is changing in strange ways to keep up. Sunset this past week has been at 4:00pm and the sun is usually up around 7:30am. The days are short and will still be getting shorter for the next few weeks. We had some beautiful weather this week. While COLD, it was clear and the dawn sky revealed the most amazing lavender color. Also, the full moon is now coming up over the mountains before sunset and it is the biggest moon I have ever experienced. So, the moon has proven to be quite photogenic this week. The photos can never do it real justice, but they still turned out nicely. I threw in a couple of sunset photos of Curlew Lake as it has begun to freeze over. I need to run out that way and take a few more because I hear it is even more frozen (and white) now than it was a couple of days ago. Winter scenery pics coming soon!

Looking east at the moon coming up over the Kettle Range at sunset, Curlew Lake in the foreground

Moon over Kettle Range at sunset

Curlew Lake in the early stages of freezing over

Curlew Lake beginning to freeze over...taken at sunset

Moon at sunrise looking east from Danville

Moon at sunrise

Fun Facts!

To put a twist on my usual "what I've been up do lately" blog, I thought I would throw in some fun facts about the area we now call home. We live in Ferry County, located in northeastern Washington. The closest "big" town to us is Republic.

FERRY COUNTY FACTS:
-With a population of only 7700 residents Ferry Co. has approximately 3.3 residents per square mile, making it the least densely populated county in the state
-Bordered by Canada (British Columbia) to the north and the Columbia River on the east.
-Was created in 1899 and named for Gov. Elisha P. Ferry, the last territorial governor and 1st official governor of the state
-Hwy. 20 bisects the county from east to west and is designated a national scenic byway
-Hwy. 20 in Ferry County is also home to the highest navigable pass in the state (Sherman Pass) at 5,575 feet
-Ferry Co.'s primary industries are mining and timber
-Home to primarily National Forest areas chock full of natural resources and wildlife, Ferry Co. has a mere 18% of taxable property within its boundaries.
-Summer recreation includes: fishing one of the local lakes or rivers, boating, kayaking, canoeing, swimming, hiking, camping, horseback riding, biking, and more
-Winter recreation included: ice fishing on Curlew Lake (which is 7 miles long), hundreds of miles of groomed snowmobile trails in the Nat. Forest, skiing, snowshoeing, dog sledding, and more

REPUBLIC FACTS:
-Republic is the county seat and largest town in the county
-Was founded in the late 19th century by gold prospectors (gold is still mined in the area today with the last remaining operational gold mine in the state)
-Originally named Eureka Gulch, the town name was later changed to Republic after the highest gold mining producer...the Great Republic Mining Claim
-Current population is just under 1,000 residents
-Republic sits in a valley near the source of the San Poil River between the Okanogan Highlands to the west and the Kettle Mountain Range to the east

For more information, maps, photos, etc. check out this link:
Ferry County, Washington

Friendly Reminder

Yep, I am now aware that winter is on its way. Old man winter has sent a few friendly reminders of this fact our way over the past week. Monday was our first snow in the lower elevation. It started sleeting in early morning and within an hour of that it was snowing. We had about a half inch that stuck for a few hours and then the sun came out in the afternoon and wa-la, all the snow was gone. It was nice to have a bit of a warm-up and see the sun. Yesterday was gorgeous...sunshine galore, but still cool. Then, I checked the weather last night and we were first, under a winter storm warning, which was quickly downgraded to a winter weather advisory. When I woke up at 7am, there was already an inch or so of snow on the ground and it is now after noon and still snowing. I can tell its not sticking as well and the temperature has risen slightly, but it is supposed to snow off and on for the next few days. I doubt it will stay very long, but again, I think it is just a reminder of what is yet to come. I went outside in my sassy new snow boots (pics coming soon), a t-shirt, sweatshirt, light jacket, and toboggan, and I was actually a bit too warm. It is not near as cold as most people would think. The temp has been staying around the freezing mark and little above.

It was so beautiful, still, and quiet this morning. The horses were huddled in their stalls waiting to be fed and wondering what was going on. The dogs LOVE the snow, especially Kenai. He was made for it. Molly likes it too, but she has a much harder time smelling her way to her ball when there is snow on the ground. I captured some funny shots of them all going crazy in the snow this morning

Ewan was begging to be let out for his usual morning romp, so I let him...thinking he would freak out at the snow and want right back in the house. Well, he ventured off the porch and down by the river for an hour or so, but as soon as I went out to call him, he came running!...stopping every two or three strides once on the porch to shake the snow off his paws, like cats do when they get their feet wet. It was too funny. Ewan has also been taking advantage of the gas heater in the living room...he has figured out that it is warm there and has claimed the area right in front of the stove as his new napping place.

More to come soon...

Ewan napping in the best spot in the house.

Pre-snow view of the river just up the road from the house (in yesterday's sunshine).

View of the mountains to the east of Republic, taken leaving Republic (the furthest ones are dusted with snow)

Snow from first thing this morning.

Outside this morning with the dogs

Snow on the pine needles

Ranger finally coming out of the stall to eat...notice how he graciously knocked the door off (from Monday)...always into trouble :)

Ranger in the snow

Molly in the snow

Playing fetch in the snow

Doggy paw print

Pic of the roundpen...the snow was curling around the railing...weird but neat.

Weird snow formation on the roundpen

Snow curling all the way around railing

The Wildlife and Other Things in Nature

I have already mentioned the abundant wildlife that make themselves at home in the front pasture and around the house. Well, I wanted to share a neat video I captured just this week of the white tail deer who eat all the bad apples we throw out. We have a herd of about 30 that come up in the evenings to graze in the front yard and just outside the fence. They are becoming more docile every day and literally run to and then fight over the apples right in front of us. I also got some great photos of the geese circling at dusk, the moon over the mountains, sunset behind the river, and a couple of other pretty shots of the local scenery. We are truly living in the nature enthusiast's paradise.

Our First Visitors

We were so excited when we learned that David's parents would be coming up for a week to visit. I love having company and it was nice to show off our new home, WA, to our loved ones. We explored the area, did some shopping, and celebrated David's birthday. We had a grand time and I can't wait for them to come back OR for some other friends or family to visit...hint, hint!

David's mom and I made our favorite family dish, chicken curry with rice and all the toppings...fried plantains, roasted peanuts, shredded coconut, mango chutney, and raisins. Well, she did most of the hard work, I assisted where needed. It is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. It is so good, that as a rule, I eat it for breakfast the next day...it is even better after sitting in the fridge overnight. I also baked David a triple chocolate cake with chocolate icing and served it with vanilla ice cream topped with hot fudge. It was a fabulous meal and a great week.