A Compression

Samain                                                                             Closing Moon

Kate's Realm
Kate’s Realm

A snow quiet afternoon. A pause, an interlude between stronger bursts, then the second   helping, a large white scoop to fill out the rest of the dish. Yesterday it was fall. Today, it’s January. Whiplash.

We worked hard over the last month or so at outside tasks emptying the sheds, harvesting, then fertilizing and mulching the vegetables, the same around the base of the fruit trees, cutting back the perennials, having a contractor prune and mulch, scrape away the dog’s many holes. We put up fence to protect the scraped over areas to prevent new holes until a snow. I repaired a hole dug near the firepit. We moved bee woodenware and other accessories into the garage. I removed the angel weathervane from the honey house and the Davis weather station from its post in the east section of prairie grass.

This is not so much a downsizing, though there is that element to our move, as it is a house and garagecompression, a reducing of the outside work load. Our interior space will be smaller, somewhat, but very differently organized. I’ll be up in the air overlooking Black Mountain while Kate will sew and quilt in a former two bay garage. Our reading area will be our reading chairs facing a wood fireplace while the tv will be downstairs, outside our bedroom. The laundry room is down there, too, all just five steps from the main level.

Kate’s space is behind the double windows on the right of the house and mine is above the garage to the far right.

 

Minnesota!

Samain                                                                               Closing Moon

And the award for first roads driven while snowing goes to… Minnesota! Colorado, at least Conifer, is still blessedly shy of snow which means the fence posts will get in. It won’t last. Conifer gets 90″ of snow compared to Andover’s 45. More snow falls there, but the sun, closer by 8,800 feet, also melts the snow faster and the colds don’t get as intense, at least on south facing surfaces like our driveway. The result is more snow, but less snow cover.

The roads on my way to the eye doc this morning were icy, but plowed. Folks drove sensibly for the most part though there were the occasional frozen minds talking on the phone or even texting. A few also followed too closely for dry pavement. The laws of physics will not be repealed, no matter how confident a driver you are.

Not bad for the first storm, really.

At the front desk, on the way out, I signed a release for my medical records so they can be transferred electronically to the next ophthalmologist  The same will happen when I visit Dr. Massie in a couple of weeks. This is much more convenient and better for me as a patient, too. Thank you, difference engine.

 

 

Next Assignment: Shadow Mountain

Samain                                                                                 Closing Moon

Vantage proFor the first time in several years, I no longer have a weather station outside reporting on the weather. I brought it in Saturday to get ready for our move. Its control panel sits over my computer and I look at it several times a day to check its data. After I brought it in, I thought, well, no more information from the weather station. It surprised me then, yesterday, when I glanced up at it, out of habit, and saw 64 degrees, 47% humidity. Oh, it was sending me the temperature and humidity in our kitchen, where it now sits on the table.

The weather station’s next assignment will find it reporting from Shadow Mountain.

And the North Wind Doth Blow (actually the Northwest Wind)

Samain                                                                         Closing Moon

We’ve seen storms over-hyped before, but this one feels pretty solid. Take this assessment from Paul Huttner, author of MPR’s Updraft blog: “It’s tempting to wiggle and obfuscate in winter snows, but I’m paid to make a call. Right now 8″ to 16″ is my forecast snowfall range for the metro, with heaviest totals favoring the north metro.”

And here’s the Winter Storm Warning from NOAA:

“A POTENT STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL TO MUCH OF
CENTRAL MINNESOTA AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. OVER 6 INCHES OF
SNOW WILL FALL ALONG AND NORTH OF A LINE FROM CANBY TO GLENCOE TO
HASTINGS IN MN…INCLUDING THE TWIN CITIES METRO…THROUGH EAU
CLAIRE WI. THE HEAVIEST SNOW WILL FALL ALONG A LINE FROM MADISON
TO LITCHFIELD TO ANOKA IN MN THROUGH RICE LAKE WI…WHERE 12 TO 18
INCHES ARE POSSIBLE…ESPECIALLY IN WESTERN WI.” (emphasis mine)

And, finally, the National Weather Service graphic:

Snow predictions 11.9.2014.png-large

Good-Bye Midwest

Samain                                                                  Closing Moon

Laid down two year old straw in the orchard, covering up exposed landscape cloth and soil2010 10 04_0347 put in to repair holes dug by various dogs. Brought inside the garage all but two hive boxes, making the bee colony left for the showings less intimidating. Started taking up the silt fencing that protected the area we had scraped over to fill in even more dog holes. The snow coming should make digging a non-issue for the remainder of our time here.

These final outdoor chores, more than anything else we’re doing, say good-bye to the world of the Midwest, the agriculturally focused life that has been around both of us as we grew up. We participated in that life here in Andover growing vegetables, fruit and flowers. Growing anything in the very short growing season at 8,800 feet will require season lengthening strategies such as hoops for plastic tents and starting plants indoors.

Whatever we do, it will be on a much smaller scale than here. We’ll have all winter to plan it.

A Head Scratcher

Samain                                                                                     Closing Moon

If you read my election day post (see below), you’ll know I tagged two major problems with democracy: the tyranny of the majority and volatility. This article from Slate by Jamelle Bouie  provides the best explanation I’ve seen for this volatility and it’s a head scratcher: The Disunited States of America.

It’s a head scratcher because it posits an identifiable demographic reason for our apparent swings from Democratic influence to Republican. In summary older, white voters who now vote Republican 57% to 43% show up both in the mid-term and Presidential election cycles. The younger, more diverse demographic only shows up in Presidential election years. This age-based divergence in participation is of long standing, but the partisan nature of both groups is not.

The effect of this phenomenon is to produce Republican gains in both Senate and House races in the mid-term elections, only to see this process reversed in Presidential election years. This means we will likely sway from a Republican controlled Senate to a Democratically controlled one, neither in a strong position, presided over by a Democratic President for some time to come.

The House is in firm Republican hands for now due largely to gerrymandering, a successful strategy called REDMAP. See this article from PBS: GOP Gerrymandering. The demographic influence identified by Bouie tends to reinforce this control.

Anyhow, if you’re interested further, read the article. It does not bode well for our democracy over the next decade or so at least.

Winter Solstice 2014 on Shadow Mountain

Samain                                                                             Closing Moon

This full moon, shining on the early weeks of Samain, illuminates important nights in our life. Already within in this new year we have purchased a new house, contracted a mover, found fence, painting and carpet contractors and readied ourselves for the final push psychically, fiscally and logistically. We will, still in the season of Samain, move into our new home and begin our new life in that house.

Then, only two or three days later, the highnight of my sacred calendar, the winter solstice, will come and we will celebrate our first solstice on Shadow Mountain. This is a potent beginning to a new year and to a new phase of life.

For the Doctor in the House

Samain                                                                            Closing Moon

I checked these with Snopes which says most of them seem likely though it’s impossible to verify. A few seem unlikely. But, they’re all funny. My personal favorite? #8

patient charts

Leaving the Leaves

Samain                                                                             Closing Moon

Outside today, mulching with fallen leaves the beds on which I spread the broadcast yesterday. As I dispersed the leaves, enjoying their rich smell reminiscent of hay lofts and the old days of burning the leaves by the curb, it came to me that Colorado, especially at 8,800 feet has mostly conifers. No leaves. There are aspen, but they are the more scarce tree, the only deciduous one that I know in the front range at that altitude. Leaving behind working with fallen leaves in the autumn. Another mark of the move.

Both Kate and I remarked that though this place has been good to us and for us, it’s time to let someone with fresh vigor take it over. On Black Mountain Drive we’ll have two, maybe three raised beds, no yard, no perennial flower beds. I will have to blow snow again, but I’m ready for that. The amount of outdoor maintenance will be significantly less. There will be some added interior work since at least until we sell this house (Andover) we’ll be doing our own weekly housecleaning, but that’s well within our capabilities.

It’s true there will again be a fence and inside the fence dogs. That means inevitable fence work. We’re going to try a combination of 2×4’s nailed between posts at the bottom of the no-climb wire fence and invisible fence run at its middle. The fence itself will be five feet high. This might work. I’m cautious because I’ve experienced a jail break from every combination I’ve used. The prisoners have all day everyday to figure a way out.

It looks like we’re going to get our first major snow event here well before Conifer, which is unusual. Every one I talked to out there shook their head wondering where the snow was. I’m sure it will come. Probably around December 18th.