I put the snow thrower through its paces… only 2 1/2 inches of new snow, but I wanted to see if I could flatten out the ruts of frozen slush. I was partly successful – the driveway is better than it was and both the thrower and I survived the experience.
Then, a morning walk in brilliant sunshine…
On the first day of Winter.
That is the snowthrower in that trailer. It is going off to Big John’s.
The auger stopped augering on Thanksgiving Eve. I had a spare auger belt. The directions didn’t look bad and I have tools, can read, have done plenty of repairing/servicing of stuff. But, in recent years, Big John’s has been my go to place for home equipment as they pick up, service and deliver for a price so low it is hard to understand how they are making any money. But…it was Thanksgiving and snowing and forecast to snow more and I had all I needed so I began.
My first hurdle was getting the new belt on. I finally realized that at 15F, a rubber belt was going to have less give than normal and maybe warming it up would help. Also, it was getting dark. The belt spent the night in the house.
Friday, I got the belt on. I fired up the thrower. It started marching out of the garage on its own. I didn’t try the auger.
I have a work deadline to meet. I already had a couple of hours in the thrower. Discretion…valor, etc. – I made the call to Big John’s. Adding to the agony, I had to include a note about working on it. The good news is that it may be the source of amusement to whoever draws my thrower to work on. Laughter is good for the soul!
Meantime, the temperature rose above freezing. Three – four more inches of heavy wet snow has fallen. The snow and needles have come down off the trees in shuddering avalanches – sometimes on the roof of the house sounding a bit like the entire tree came with. It is a mess. It does this every year!…a VERY cold spell, a foot of snow and then a warm up.
Now, it is forecast to get cold again and more snow on top of slush that will freeze. Somehow it works out and looks beautiful again but at the moment not so much.
Although some long days this week on this project push, it has been a very good week. Hope yours has been as well – Happy Friday!
That is a bear. That is a black bear. I think it is a yearling cub. It is not Karl.
It is not Karl, because Karl is next to me and the black bear is down there…
Karl was just in front of the front porch, noshing on a treat as I was unloading groceries from the Jeep. The Jeep was also just in front of the front porch…to the south of Karl.
Karl suddenly jumped up, did his scent gulp thing and started the bear bark alternating with nose in the air scent gulp thing.
I grabbed Karl’s leash and went back out. I think that Karl knows that he is not 100%…he waited. I leashed him. The cub was still there. I dashed back for pepper spray and camera and we went to the edge of the ravine…watching for Mama.
Karl kept up the bear bark. Once I was there for backup, he strained at the leash. I took the photos. We came inside.
A black bear, although exciting, was not the only adventure of the day.
A nap for Karl, a glass of wine for me.
Bob??? He is in front of the woodstove – the woodstove which has a small fire crackling merrily… Our Saturday…partly!
Echo Lake…due east of home, along a dirt and gravel road over the foothills. On a weekday morning, there is minimal activity on the water – a few fisherman, a few waterskiers.
We access this piece of lakeshore from a public fishing access site. There is a nice trail around an inlet that provides plenty in the way of things to explore for Karl and beautiful vistas for me. We have a long amble as it is cool now, but getting warm on its way to hot.
Echo Lake in the morning.
…but oh, the raindrops left behind are beautiful!
The squalls that were only rumbles of thunder and dark clouds at my house, must have rained plenty in Bigfork. This photo from Wayfarer’s park when Karl and I walked this morning: Pointed Mariposa and Indian Paintbrush. (Double-click this one – so gorgeous full screen!)
At home today, a repeat of yesterday, but today’s fun DID include rain. Green continues in yards, pastures and on the mountainsides :)!
