Winter 2010

The April Blizzard (An April Blizzard?)


The fast-moving storm hit in the early morning hours, delaying school on the north end of town.


The mountains are getting a foot or so - we get about an inch. Woo Hoo!

Painting the Great Room


If you give a mouse a cookie... Same thing if you paint one corner of the upstairs..


Nice and bright!


Smoker's Ceiling be Gone!!! Out Nicotine, Out!!!


Half of the Great Room ceiling is done :o)


The remaining walls will be a one-at-a-time task. Lots of furniture and "stuff" to move for each one.

Tractor Service Call


The lack of heat in the cab stemmed from two causes:

  1. kinked heater hoses
  2. 6° ambient temperature


The kinked hoses were straightend out and cardboard was inserted in front of the radiator to help the engine get to normal operating temparature.

Ron, the John Deere Service Technician, also found a loose hose on the intake system that was allowing cold air in at the wrong place... starting in sub-freezing temperatures will be much easier from now on.


I'll have a piece of cardboard cut to fit just right for the next visit.

The Laundry Room is upgraded


Two cabinets from the Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity's ReStore provide a lot of storage space for linens and stuff!
The pile of single socks, however, is much tougher to deal with.

Painting the Kitchen... slow and steady wins the race


With the new vent pipe dry-walled over, a coat of paint was in order and that means the whole kitchen gets paint.
And, eventually the entire upstairs, too.

Moving Snow in Park County


Starting out early on a Saturday morning, the beagles and I reached the property just after 0800.


The Barn is in good shape. And, after I got the tractor running, I pulled it forward to allow the exhaust to leave the building while the engine finished warming up.


The beagles wore themselves out searching for clues as to who, what, and how many visitors they had missed barking at over the Christmas holidays.


They quickly made up for lost time and spent the next two hour "barking and marking" all over their territory. :o)


It was a beautiful morning, but cold at 6° F.


The work we did this past summer looks like part of the landscape.


Apparently, there's not much else to do in the winter (if you're cattle-minded) besides huddling together on the leeward side of trailers and pooping. There were at least a dozen head of cattle within sight of the barn. They didn't seem to mind us or the cold


Looking South West.


Once the tractor warmed up, I moved a bit of the drift in front of the north door. Putting the bucket in float mode worked!


You can see where the drift that formed around the trailer joined with the drift around the barn.


Bob!


I should have brought a thermos of coffee!


Another popular cattle activity - scratching the assorted itch.


Ow!!!


Pretty sure that's an cow print - it was over 5-inches from heel to point. If you know what it was, let me know! We've seen cows, elk ,deer, pronghorn, and horses. Also known to frequent the site are bears, coyote, wolves and badgers.