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 The laws of physics will not be repealed, no matter how confident a driver you are.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.