Snowshoeing to the Sunshine

Last week was cloudy and gloomy. We were even under a flood watch with all the rain and unseasonably warm weather (40 degrees) we had been having. We have little more than a couple of inches of snow left on the ground in the lower elevations. It has been pretty incredible. Not that I am complaining. This mild winter has been a great one for breaking ourselves in to real winters far from the southern border.

We were growing tired of the gloom and fog so, one morning we grabbed our snowshoes and headed for higher ground. We hiked up to some property we have been eyeing and once there, though the view was nil thanks to the fog, we got to take in some brilliant sunshine and blue sky. The temps were also nice and mild that day and I did most of the hike without my jacket. It was certainly a nice break from the hum-drum gray sky and rain that had been hanging around. We also got to see a gorgeous bird that I have yet to identify.  Any takers?  At first I guessed golden eagle, but it is not brown enough, too much white.  Maybe an Osprey?  I think not.  I will keep researching and post if I find an answer.

 

Hope to go adventuring again soon since we are having some gorgeous weather. It'll probably snow now. :)

Texas Bound

I have been MIA in the blogging world for while, but finally have more than 5 seconds to sit down and type up a little about what's been going on. After Christmas I headed to Texas for a nice, but too short, visit with friends and family. I have decided 10 days is not at all enough time for an adequate visit, as many of you who I did not get to see know all too well. It was good to be back home for a little while, and especially to see my niece and nephews. I think I have missed them the most, by far.

My first full day in TX was a little scary, to say the least. I awoke at 6am to my sister yelling for one of us (mom, me, the brother-in-law) to call 9-1-1 as my nephew was having trouble breathing. (If you aren't aware of my nephew's history, check out his blog at www.littlejwtaylor.blogspot.com). I was the one to call and by the time I had the operator on the phone he couldn't breathe at all and was turning blue. It all happened so quickly, but only moments later, his heart rate monitor showed 0 and he went unconscious. Thankfully the EMT's arrived seconds later, right after my sister and brother-in-law began CPR. The baby was successfully resuscitated and was taken on to San Antonio via helicopter. It was the scariest moment of my life, thus far, and I am amazed at the way my sister and her husband handled the whole situation, jumping right in and doing CPR. If you have never seen someone trying to save their child's life in that way, it is simply indescribable. I definitely pray that none of you ever have the experience and that that was my sister and brother-in-law's last experience with it. They truly are the most amazing parents to their children, deserving an award of the same caliber as the Nobel Peace Prize or , in my opinion, something far greater...maybe sainthood. God bless them and their sweet babies as I type this and always. Anyhow, JW was found to have some type of systemic infection and was home from the hospital before I left to come back to WA. His respiratory issues stem from complications due to his scoliosis and the fact that he can't cough or swallow. So, it is possible for secretions to get caught deep in his throat and block his airway. He is pretty much over the infection, still home and doing much better now...Praise God!

While I was home I got to do a few things that bring immense joy to my heart:
-ate some greasy, cheese enchiladas smothered in hot sauce and ranch dressing from the infamous Krazy Chicken
-had dinner with some of my favorite ladies at Chili's in DR...like the good ol' days
-had coffee with my best-ie and made a couple of drags through the hometown
-celebrated my birthday in Fredericksburg with a little shopping and dinner at my favorite restaurant (Bejas Grill...check it out) with two of my favorite gals in the whole world...who I also got to talk horse with :)
-visited my YMCA CFA camp family, saw my kids (camp horses) and met the new Equestrian Director, who I am totally excited about

At CFA...me and the sweet "Romeo"

-saw my two Texas ponies, Blackjack and Festus...who are fat and happy thanks to mom and dad

Blackjack and the old man Festus

Festus peeking at me from behind Blackjack

-met Max, mom and dad's new Jack Russell puppy, who I threatened to put in my purse and smuggle back to WA

Me and Max...wouldn't you want to puppy-nab this cute fella too?

-saw my two favorite people in the whole world (T & M), next to the hubby of course

T after we made brownies...nothing better than a kid with brownie batter all over her face. :)

M...only the cutest boy on the face of the earth. How could anyone resist that face?!? We had so much fun playing in the piles of leaves in their front yard.

-ate some yummy TX BBQ

Chopped brisket sandwich from Oasis...mmmmmmm good!

I think the most surprising thing about going home was that I was freezing the whole time I was there. I don't know if it was because of the difference in the humidity and how it made the weather feel colder or if I was getting sick. I felt yucky part of the time I was there, but it never amounted to anything. When I got back to WA, I felt as toasty as ever...warmer than when I was in TX. Weird.

A few other things....I got to spend New Year's Eve at my home church, where I was baptized. I got to meet a bunch of new faces and was excited to see the church still growing and changing. What a blessing it was. That along with other little things made me realize how thankful I am that I grew up in a small town where, literally, everyone knows your name. For instance, when we went to eat lunch in town one day, the restaurant proprietor came up to our table and asked my mom how my sister and JW were doing...but the difference was in the fact that she asked about my sister by name. People, you can't buy that kind of genuine care and compassion. I will admit that I do miss that...the small town friendliness of TX. I at least feel better here when I go to the feed store and the owner knows me by name and is super nice...it is as close to TX friendliness as I have come.

I , of course, thoroughly enjoyed the time I got to spend with all of my family. I am truly grateful that God blessed me with such amazing loved ones.

Me and my one and only Nana, the sweetest lady ever, on my birthday...that kiss was real. We could not stop laughing!

All in all, my trip was great and to top it all off...I didn't get stuck in Denver! Now I am ready for some of you Texans to come up here for a visit!

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