Mostly Photos

Roger Smith died today. He was made famous to most of us through Michael Moore's documentary Roger & Me, about GM's massive plant closings in Flint Michigan in the late 1980's, and a few of the real people it affected. Condolences to his family and friends.

Tonight after dinner, we watched Roger and Me. I won't get political or rebellious tonight, so I'll just say Moore, who was much softer in those days, really skewered Smith, GM, and some blind (and/or clueless) supporters like Pat Boone, Miss America^TM© Kay Lani Rea Rafko, and a couple unforgettable mid-level county cogs straight out of Guffman's Blaine, Missouri (great analogy, Monique!).

It got up to 20° today, and for the very brief time the sun was out, I was down by the river taking pictures. The clouds chased the sun it as rose, eventually catching and overtaking it.

Frozen droplets

Steam and frost
Very cold water acting like hot springs...
Rocks in IceMorning Serenity

Chilly Morning

Cold, clear, moonlight spills in the windows. Baby, it's cold outside! The forecast said a low of 5°F (-15°C); what it actually is, I don't know.

The stars are absolutely brilliant this morning, and the waning moon is high. Last night, before the moon rose... the stars were stunning. When I was in Seattle in October, we attended Strawberry Theater Workshop's "The Life of Galileo," which I liked for three reasons:

1. Our friend Andrew Litzky was in it, and dangit, he's good.
2. It's uncomfortably and unfortunately relevant to today's struggle between science -- and sometimes plain common sense -- and the increasingly co-mingled church-run government. In Galileo's day, the church was the government... you see my point.
3. I've always loved imagining what a place was like before electricity. Imagine the world before incandescent lights. Imagine what the stars, and more importantly, the moon and the sun, meant to people.
   

And the cold reminds me of the first season of "West Wing", the Christmas episode, "In Excelsis Deo." The main story is, a homeless person dies in the cold, Toby is contacted by the police because the man was wearing an overcoat Toby had donated, and Toby discovers who the homeless man. It was the first "West Wing" I ever saw, I've now seen them all, and that one is still my favorite.

Cold is good when one is protected from it. We are, and I'm very grateful.

New Additions

(Bob) We have a wood-burning stove, firewood, and many matches. We have warm clothes, hats, boots, and an endless supply of pinecones to fend off potential wildlife attacks. And now we have a truck.

A 4WD Ford F-150 joined our ranks today. It's the same color as the Honda, and about seven times bigger.

It feels good having a four-wheel-drive vehicle for the winter, and something we can use for hauling, hiking, camping, and maybe someday, towing.

Last night the forecast was 100% chance of snow. Outstanding, we thought. This morning we awoke to find it had snowed -- about 1/8 of an inch. This afternoon it came a little more steady, and it's so beautiful. Kalispell has almost no snow, and while we don't have much, it's sticking here, probably owing to our proximity to the mountains.

Buying big-ticket items has always been hard for me. Cars, stereos, cameras, ... I simply don't spend money freely. Never have. The truck -- our truck! -- was a good price, we feel good about the seller, Monique's brother gave his mechanic blessing, and we definitely needed a winter vehicle. With all that, my natural inclination is procrastination and (to cut myself a break) frugality.

Our Christmas decorations are out, but the house isn't quite fully festooned yet. We've put lights on a few trees outside, and they look so good! Literally, there are no other lights visible from our cabin, one of the best things about living here.

Thanksgiving in Spokane was great. We had a good time with my family, despite a scary (and a completely happy ending) MIA episode with Silas (Mr. November on flickr). The Dinner was incredible as always, and the day-after shopping went well and quickly.

Stupid Sink

Heard dripping while I was doing dishes tonight. Didn't notice it for a while because, well, I was doing dishes. And singing. But when I drained the sink, I distinctly heard dripping down where there ought not to be none. I opened the cabinet door et voila, one of the pipes had separated from the sink drain! Took about 20 minutes to clean under the sink, towel everything off, and jam stuff back together. Dunno why it happened or if my "fix" is secure; it must've been coming loose for a while. Crazy.

On a far better note, a few pics from yesterday and today. S'posed to hit the mid-teens tonight, and maybe a little more snow. FINE BY ME!!

A: Waders, Towels, and a Small Inflatable Raft

Q: How do you get a thousand pounds of wood from one side of the river to the other?

Yesterday morning I took a friend's borrowed chainsaw and set out for the downed trees across the river. As the crow flies, it's maybe 75 yards. Driving there takes about ten minutes, and another couple to walk to the water's edge. Thank goodness there isn't a road that goes to the riverbank, but had I wanted to carry logs home in the trunk of my car, I couldn't have gotten the big ones through the brush and woods to my car in any easy way. And it would have taken at least ten trips.

Physically the hardest part of the whole day was getting the chainsaw warm. For the first 45 minutes, I expended huge energy pulling and pulling to get it going, only to have it work a minute, then sputter and die. Once warmed up it worked great, and I'm grateful to Marty and Susan for lending it to me.

I got ten big logs (18" diameter) and 28 small (6" diameter). My path is artfully charted below.
Paddle to the tree, put one large and a couple small logs on towels in the raft, shove off, and paddle to the dock. Empty the raft, repeat.

By the time I got the last logs over, it had been raining hard for a couple hours. My waders worked perfectly, and while I was cold, I wasn't wet.

After a very long shower and a big dinner of lasagna, sparkling cider, and ibuprofin, I sat by the fire and listened to the pouring rain. I'd like to get more of the tree, but I'm sore. Hands, back, neck, shoulders, intercostals... all of it.

Best part of the day was the wildlife. Saw two turkeys the size of barstools, a small ruffed grouse, and while struggling to get a log into the raft, a bald eagle flew upriver, only twenty feet off the water. I love owls and ravens, but bald eagles are so impressive.

Today will be about a walk, maybe watching "30 Rock" and "Scrubs" on the internet, and stretching. I should take advantage of the chainsaw while I have it, yet self-preservation and pragmatism will likely win out. I appreciate this about myself.

about the weather...

(Monique here) We had a big wind storm last night that blew down a couple of trees across the river (thankfully nothing on our side!)....now to try and figure out how to get the wood from those fallen trees cut and floated across to us! A slightly easier task in a warmer season...but then we wouldn't need the wood!

Today was a beautiful moody day...with sun beams and dark clouds fighting for center stage. And since it was my last full day at home for a week I was glad to have the opportunity to be here to witness it.

Nature is good.

A Frosty Path

The landscape outside was covered in silver this morning when we woke...the bright lovely morning light with a pretty hard frost was enough to get us up and grabbing cameras and slippers to go play outside....until it started snowing! Yes!! Our first real solid snow fall in the lowlands. Nothing is on the ground yet, and the snow didn't last nearly as long as either of us wished it would, but as I type this another round of weather seems to be approaching...perhaps we'll have a nice cozy snowy Sunday yet....

(and I can say cozy since we have a lovely wood stove with a nice warm fire going in it!)

I got a couple of fun shots, but as always,

I can't wait to see Bob's photos!

Glass and Fishes

Saturday was momentous. Not only did Greg ("The Guy") show up to replace the windows, but he was on time, he brought his near-stoic chocolate lab along, and the job went smoothly!

Clear glass! No moisture betwixt panes! It's magic, it's wondrous, it's... it's beautiful.

I've learned more about how my house works, how relatively easy it is to replace the glass in our windows, and just exactly how heavy double-pane 4'x5' windows are.

Sunday I went fishing on the St. Joe river in Idaho with my dad and his friend Tom. It was my first time seeing the St. Joe -- what a beautiful area, and what a beautiful river.

We caught over 20 trout in about four hours, mostly rainbow and a couple brown. Catch and release is a good thing, and with barb-less hooks, it's pretty easy to get them back in the water quickly.

Dad caught the first fish, the biggest fish (15 inches), and the most fish. Because of his bad knees and the terrain from the road to the riverside, he also made the most noise. And when he's fishing well, he spreads the love, making sure the rest of his party knows just how well he's doing.

Busy Weekend Ahead

Everywhere I've lived, people say "Well, you know what they say: if you don't like the weather, just wait 15 minutes, 'cause it'll change!"

This place is no exception. It's Saturday morning, the last day of Daylight Saving Time this year. It's cloudy, and it is dark. I went outside to see if Venus was around, but clouds are scattered in this part of the valley. There's a south wind, much warmer than the previous couple days. Yesterday at noon there was still ice on the river (where the sun hadn't reached the shallows).

Today, for the second time, I'll finish the "Harry Potter" series. Hard to imagine western storytelling without it. Just ten years ago, a poor, unknown author was finishing up the first chapter about an orphan boy who didn't know he was a wizard. The bulk of the whole story was laid out and thought through, which is only partly why it's so good. It's remarkable to think she used her initials because her publisher worried about a woman not being marketable to boys. Then again, nobody wanted to back Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies because they didn't know if that could be profitable. Ahh, experts.

So "Harry Potter" will finish today, and the front windows will be replaced in a couple hours. What hesitation in typing that sentence! What trepidation, challenging fate to ignore the appointment!

I feel completely unprepared for winter. The wood stove is in and working beautifully. I need to get studded snow tires for the Honda. And we need a 4wd. And to figure out a way to protect both from the weather. And wood -- we need more wood, and a dry spot to store it.

I want winter. I want deep snow and cold. But I've procrastinated and now we're in November and it could happen any time.

En Fuego

This is a picture of winter security, of cozy warmth against a (hopefully) long, cold winter. This is a picture of a herkin' heavy wood stove that is now in "The Cabin"!

Two burly guys delivered and installed it, complete with tall stovepipe, chimney on the roof, and only two thankfully small incidents: 1) the guy on the roof cut his elbow on some metal sheeting, and 2) the guy on the ladder inside slipped off and twisted his ankle. Couldn't have been too bad, though, as he refused any Costco-sized ibuprofin.

Here's a shot with a hole in the roof. Lemmee tell ya, as a homeowner who's just recently become a full-time resident of said home, I was fascinated at how easy it was (for someone who knows what he's doing) to cut a hole in the ceiling, remove some insulation, and cut a hole in the roof!!

There's no way I'll be trying any of that stuff anytime soon, but it certainly helped reduce the mystery of how people routinely whack holes in their houses for the sake of "home improvement."

The guys did a great job, and my only complaint is a small one: they didn't clean up their job site well. Inside they vacuumed and picked up everything very well, but outside I found metal roofing, plywood, and other bits and pieces that had just been thrown to the ground. It would have taken a minute to clean it up, but they didn't. That's the ONLY reason I don't give them an A+ for the morning's work... they'll have to settle for an A.


Now all that's left is finding a cord or two of good wood and, theme of "The Cabin" so far, someplace to store it.

The Spokane/Seattle trip was good, although short for me. Got to see and spend some good time with my parents and sister, Andrew and Llysa, Edd and Theresa, and my godson Nickolas and his newish baby sister Rowan. Had some great food, saw a good play, drove a heckuva lot, and dropped Monique in Seattle for a week of meetings and work. Can't wait until she's back so we can lounge by the fire and figure out where all the furniture goes that used to be in that corner.

This last pic is a stitching of five I took this afternoon... the right side is just slightly darker than reality was, but I'm pretty happy with the panorama result.