Bathroom Laundromat & Cabbage Soup!

This has been one of those washing shirts in the bathtub kind of days. The snow is melting quickly, but it won't be warm enough to hook up the washing machine for a couple more days. So, today I washed work shirts in the tub and my son washed some bedding.

When we wash things by hand like that, we wring them out as much as possible and hang them up to drip in the bathtub. Once they somewhat resemble the dampness of being spun in the washing machine, I can put them in the dryer. I do at least have the dryer to use! **smile**

The sun is shining and it is above freezing out, but it will drop below freezing tonight. That is why we don't want to hook up the washer today. It is a bit of a hassle to get it all set up and to take it all back down. On Wednesday, we can hook it up and leave it set up for a few days...unless the weather forecast does not come true. And that is always a possibility around here! :P

Dave made cabbage chicken soup two days in a row. Boy is it good! He is a good cook...better than I am, I think!

A "Blizzard", an Awning & Three Tries Up the Hill!

These pictures are all from Saturday.

Well, we took off for church this morning after the "blizzard" of Friday and Saturday! I am amazed that it was even called a blizzard. But then, I guess it would be compared to the weather they have typically had around here for years. This was what I remember as being a typical snowfall when I lived only about an hour or so from here many years ago.


Dave had parked across the creek, so this morning we had to walk down the driveway through the snow. He had already shoveled a path part way down and all around the van to the road. When we got to the van it still had a lot of snow on the top, so we had to scrape it off the windshield, along with the ice, and off the sides of the top so we could get in without snow falling into the van. Fun! But the best was yet to come!

Our road was not plowed, but it was not too bad to drive on. But the road we had to turn onto to get us to the highway was not plowed, either. And it had enough of a hill to make it difficult. It took three tries to just make it over the top! We made one run, then backed down and made another run. Then we had to do it again. We almost did not make it! By the time we came home, the roads had improved...but still had not been plowed.

Friday and Friday night, we had to keep shaking the raking the snow off of our awning so the weight would not cause it collapse. We could tell it needed to be shaken off when opening the door caused the corner of the door to hit the awning. There is a wheel on the corner so that the door won't tear into the awning. We are unable to adjust the awning. The winds, etc. have just been too much for it. We need to leave it out, so it is damaged. Right now, we cannot roll it up or tighten it down. So, when the snow or sleet hits, the awning catches it and sags. But we have figured out how to clear it off!

Our son has had two days of tobogganing! He is overjoyed! But it looks like it is already melting pretty quickly. At least he got these two days in...the first and only ones all winter long, so far!

Birdfeeder Beauties!

I am always amazed at the beauty I see in the birds. We have so many that come to our feeder. Finches, sparrows, cardinals. Now, the robins are back, too! So many colors. Some have what look like a beautiful blue gray on their bellies. Some are striped. All of them are such a joy to behold.

The beauty of nature really reminds me of the magnificence of Yahweh. He took so much time and care to create such variety. Wow! All that attention to detail. How can I doubt His same attention to us humans? In fact, His even greater attention. He says that we are more important to the sparrows. He knows every detail of our lives...even the number of hairs on our heads. With Dave and I...that number is getting smaller and smaller! :P

There is a layer of snow ever everything...but it is not deep yet. We have about 3 inches? Tomorrow we are supposed to end up with about 19 inches...after it snows all day.

The birds are sure going after the seed in the snow, as well as the feeder. It is amazing how fast they are eating it all up. What is really funny is watching the bigger birds trying to eat seed from a feeder that is obviously made for little birds!

Dave heard that we have ours well placed. It is best to put it in a pine tree of some sort as it affords the birds more protection from predators. Ours is in a cedar!

Well...I am signing off here for a bit. I have cookies baked and an Adventure in Odyssey to listen to!

Blessings to all my readers!

A Spider, Snow & Black Water!

Oh, what a beautiful sight it is! Starting early this morning the snow began coming down. Our son is ecstatic. We have not had a decent snowfall all winter. He will finally be able to use his toboggan! In fact, he is bringing his toboggan down right now to Dave.

Dave was out getting a new tire put on at Walmart on his way in to work. His boss saw the snowfall and with the coming storm, decided Dave should go back home. In all likelihood, if Dave had gone into work, he might not have been able to come home by the time he got off. We are very grateful for that!!

So now Dave is parked across the creek and has some groceries to bring up.

+++

Well...this is live action, folks! I just got interrupted to help carry in the first batch that came up on the toboggan! **smile**

Poor Dave, what he does not know is that he has to dump the black water tank after he comes in and warms up. We especially want to dump it before we get even more snow. I cannot dump it without getting my feet wet. No, it is not from the black water. It is from the snow. I got a spider bite on one foot and cannot wear anything but an open back clog type shoe on that foot.

Speaking of spiders, I don't know what kind it is, but there is a spider here to which I am apparently more allergic than others. I get this hard bump that turns into a blister that I end up lancing. This is the first one of the year. I think it was in my mudder. I did shake them out and bang them...but I suspect that one was left in there.

So, there you have it. A spider, snow and black water!

Back "Home"?

There are times when I miss the things of back "home". I put the word in quotes because I don't really have a home town. I moved throughout most of my growing up years and so I don't really "feel" as if I have a real hometown. But I have family where we used to live...and if home really is where the heart is...well, I guess my heart is in the broad area over which my family is scattered.

Would I like to move back? My heart is torn over that. It would definitely be nice to live closer to family. My fifth grandchild is on his/her way. I have a new future daughter in law. I have inlaws in different areas. But I could live with all of them any place. If I ask about going back and leave the family out of the question...it is very different.

There are two main areas where we used to live...where my children are living and where we used to live over the mountain from them. I would not want to move where they are...traffic, heat, etc. But where we used to live...it would be nice. There are a lot of things I do miss about that area, including a fantastic therapist and some friends.

I miss having more motorcycle riding weather. Although, since mine is not running, I guess that is a moot issue. We only had two seasons where we were living...warm, dry summers and wet, chilly winters. I was so looking forward to four seasons here. Well...we seem to kinda have three and a half. I miss the real snow of winter.

So, I am kind of torn on the weather. I also like the thunderstorms, something I really missed when we moved to CA. On the other hand...there are enough of them here to make motorcycle riding a bit of a challenge.

I hate tornado warnings. They make the gusty winds very unnerving for me. I would rather have an earthquake anyday. It happens and, except for a few aftershocks...it is pretty much over. And they rarely happen. I cannot count how many tornado warnings we have had since moving here. I find that to be rather stressful. It would not be nearly so if we were actually set up for them...like in a real house...with a basement!

What other differences? Oh yes! Health food stores. I had several I could go to and in the last place we lived I could even walk to one if I needed to. I could also walk to my therapist's office if I wanted. Church was fairly close by. There were all different kinds of stores. And there was Marie Callendar's restaurant, along with a couple of other favorite places. Within one county we had almost all that we really needed.

It was almost like a mix of semi-rural and towns. We had the ocean and the mountains. You could drive to the snow. We used to go to Lake Tahoe. That was so beautiful...both in the summer and the winter.

There were also quite a few retreat places around...Christian camps. We even lived at one for a while. There are definitely things I miss about that area. But I would also miss this place if we left...like the Autumn. I love the Autumn. It is my favorite season and it was not a very strong season at all where we used to live. I missed Autumn and Winter both when we moved to CA.

I miss the beach, too. It was not that I went a lot...but it was nice to drive along the coast...and nice to visit the beach when it was a little bit cool. I loved the waves. I loved the mountains. It was really pretty in the county where we lived the last 11 years I was there. The previous 30 were on the other side of the mountains...where my children live now. 40 years ago...it was OK. But now it is very crowded...highly congested.

It is easy to think of there when I run into difficulties here. But truthfully, we would have had difficulties there, too. It is a very expensive place to live. In fact, it was the rising property values that allowed to refinance our house more than once to live off of while Dave was out of work. Housing costs there are insane.

So, here I sit, in my little RV on the hillside, thankful for what I have. I heard the other day that if we have a house, a car and clothing, we have more than 98(?) percent of people in the world. Well, I am not sure if you count a tiny RV as a house...but we do have a shelter plus the other two. *smile*

I am thankful most of all...to be wherever Yahweh wants us to be. There are good things about being here. I love the view. I love the animals. I love the butterflies in summer. I love the creek...even when it is high...just wish we did not have to drive through it. Life is hard here. I won't deny that. But it also has a beauty of its own. And we are growing as a result of living here. We are having to trust our Abba/Father in so many ways...and that is good. Life is an adventure! But the greatest adventure of all is yet to come!

Long Day and Home Education!

Wew! I made it through yesterday! We have started going to a home school co-op on Tuesdays. We have not been able to go due to no money, no car. Well, God made a way for us to do it through someone who worked things out for us. But it means a VERY long day!

We leave about 5:45 a.m. Yep, you read that right! A.M.! As in...it is still dark. Now, I am used to getting up most days right around that time. However, having all three of us out the door by that time is vastly different! The night before we all need to be showered up and I have to have something packed for both breakfast and lunch.

First I drop Dave off at work; although, when the weather turns nicer, he will be dropping me off instead. That way I won't have to go pick him up. The classes are in two different places. Well, actually, the first set of classes are not really co-op classes, but a lot of the same people are there.

So, my son and I get dropped off at the first church, where the music classes are held. The church secretary is a home schooling mom herself and she has a place for us to work on schooling until the music theory classes start. My son really likes it.

From there we go to the second church, where the co-op classes are. We will need to catch a ride once we start getting dropped off. We go to the second church and eat lunch while we wait for his classes to start. He is taking Oceans, P.E. (for which I am currently a helper), and Art.

He loves all of his classes and he is making some friends. I get to meet and talk with other home schooling parents. Adult conversation! Yay! We are very blessed by this.

Last week, the first week, we were still not up to speed with getting well after being sick. I asked a friend if she would mind dropping us off for the afternoon classes only. She was gracious to do that as it is way out of her way normally. She decided to do shopping that day instead so it worked out nicely for us both.

This week, we did the whole thing. I was exhausted. With PTSD, it does not take much to overwhelm me. I am realizing that I must find a quiet place to just take a quick nap or something during his first class. Yesterday, I was so exhausted that I had my eyes closed most of the way home. I did not even go into the store with Dave on the way home. As soon as we got home I hit the couch. I sort of dozed off and on...not sure if I actually slept at all or not.

Later, I dragged myself off the couch and checked email and a couple of things on the net and then was in bed by 10. This morning, I could still feel the aftereffects of such a long day away from home. But it is worth it! I will just have to take each week as it comes.

It snowed yesterday and part of today, so far. I love watching the snow come down. I just hate that it keeps turning to rain and then sometimes to ice. This is not the winter weather I remember from before. This is like the transitional weather from winter to spring. It is almost as if winter never hit this year. :(

On the one hand, that may be good...saves us the cost of heating and makes it easier to do laundry. On the other hand, it is dreary, muddy and icey. The ice is bad because of how dangerous it is, too.

Today, the sun is shining. I love the sunshine...warm or cold...I love the sunshine!

The mouse population went down again by two (oops...editing in correction...THREE) within the last few days! Sure wish they would just stay outside! My son and hubby get to do the mouse trap duty.

Snow! & Answer to ? About Icey Windows

We have snow! Only about 2-3 inches, but it is still very pretty. We also water dripping off the tarp that covers our roof, which means that it is melting and will probably turn to ice.  

I thought we would be moving back into the type of weather I remember as a child when we lived in this are for a few years. I have to admit it is disappointing having this weather, not to mention also difficult to work around with all the ice buildup.

Someone asked why our windows get icey. I will try to answer it as best I can. Our windows get cold from the outside. The cold glass is touched by the warm air inside and draws the moisture out of the warm air. This causes condensation on our windows. If we did not put anything in the windows, I don't think we would ever get ice because the warm air inside would keep leeching to the outside through the glass, keeping the condensation as water.

However, because we put insulation sheets in  there is a slight gap created. It is just enough to let a bit of warm air, forming condensation, but not enough to keep it warm enough to leave it water. So, the air in between the insulation sheet is cold enough to freeze the water to ice. When I take the sheets down in the morning, there is always a mix of water and ice. Water at the top, ice at the bottom. I guess it makes sense that it would water at the top since heat rises. Obviously, the warmer air would be higher up.

How much ice is there seems to be dependent on how low the temperature gets and how long it stays low enough to freeze the water.

I am sitting here listening to an older PBN podcast...one with Christmas music. I so love the Christmas music they play. It is very worshipful! It is something I can listen to any time of year as it reminds me of what Yahweh has done for us through His Son, Yeshua. I am always amazed when I think of the love of God. It is simply beyond my comprehension. So, I just sit and bask in it as He wraps His arms around my heart. mmmmmmmmmmm! How wonderful it can feel!

Slow Day

Dave was home today. It was nice to have him home on a holiday. We did not do a whole lot with all of us still recovering from being sick.

Today starts a temperature change. We are moving into colder weather with nights of snow and freezing rain. This is weather that is a bit concerning since the rain often turns to ice. Things have changed weatherwise in this area over the years. The winters have gotten milder and wetter.

When I lived not too far from here for a few years during my childhood, we had snow either by Christmas or within a few days after it. Once we got that first snow fall, there was pretty much snow around all winter. We would go out everyday to play in it. I don't remember rain other than in the summer. So this weather is wierd to me...and annoying to us. It is dangerous with the ice.

Dave covered up the washing machine and fixed a place in the plastic on the roof where the rain/snow kept pushing it through. Every time it would push through it would cause it to leak into the upstairs and then down into the bottom floor. Yesterday, he disconnected the water hose going into the laundry room and drained it so that it would not freeze.

Last night we had some strong winds again. I was already restless, thinking about my sister, whose birthday was today. Suddenly, the wind kicked in and knocked something over outside with a big bang. It woke Dave up and startled the heck out of me. It took a long time to get over it and calm down inside.

Dave got up and went out to see what it was. It turns out that a sheet of insulation that was held up by a folding chair that was leaning into it was blown over. We heard the chair hitting the gravel. Dave put it back in place and said that everything else looked fine.

For some reason, the high winds really bother me. I always wonder what it will do to our tarps and all the stuff we have out there. I just have to trust Yahweh to protect all that He wants to protect. He will make sure we have what we need.
There are times when we have had tornado warnings, although not last night. The likelihood of one hitting here is really small. We live in a tiny valley and tornadoes tend to bounce when they hit hills. Still, there is something about the really high gusty winds that bothers me...at night. They don't seem to bother me quite as much during the day...probably because I can see what is happening.

As I was laying in bed, I remembered a hurricane I lived through as a child. Well, I sort of remembered. All I really remember was being in the back seat of a car. The skies were darkened and my parents and I were going to the home of people I did not know. I remember arriving there and being in a house with a bunch of strangers. It seems like the lights were either out...or maybe just low? That is all I remember myself. My mother told me that we went through two hurricanes while we lived in that state, but these little blips are the only thing I remember.

After we had moved into the RV park where we stayed before coming to our land we went through some tornado warnings. I felt so vulnerable being out in an open field like that. I much prefer earthquakes over things like tornadoes and certainly over hurricanes!

Today, it snowed for quite awhile. Big, HUGE, flakes. But nothing really stuck around. After two rather warm days, the ground just was not cold enough for it to stick. It melted. But watching it come down was awesome! It was SO beautiful! We loved watching it blow back and forth as the wind changed directions. It was as if the flakes were dancing in the air...swirling and twirling about and having a grand old time.

Well, that's it for now from our Little RV on the Hillside!

Assorted Thoughts for the Day

It has been a long time since I have been this sick. I am still dragging after overdoing it on Wednesday. Poor Dave had to dump the black water tank after he got home from work because I was just too weak to go outside and do it. Because the water hose to flush it was frozen, we had to dump dishpans of water into the toilet to help it "flush" out the tank. Not ideal...but it works. It got us through the last two winters. :)

Yesterday was a special anniversary for my Honey and me, which I started to write about. But I got too foggy to continue, so I saved it in a document to post later. Hopefully, I will get to it soon. Right now, I am still pretty weak and will be laying down again soon.

There is still a little bit of snow on the ground. It is in the mid 30's, which is about as warm as it is supposed to get today. I am praying that we will be able to do laundry here this weekend. We have the water hose running down the hillside to drain, so it should be open to use.

As I lay in bed I get all sorts of things going through my mind to share about our lifestyle out here. It is hard to have all these thoughts in my head and be unable to sit here and write them out.

As I sit here, my son is watching educational TV. It is amazing the things we can learn from some of these programs. He is laying up in his sleep area while I am below here at my pc. The bed is still a bed. I don't know if it will make it into a couch today. Yesterday it did not. I really don't think I want to spend the energy to convert it both ways today. I need to reserve my strength.

Well, this is about as far as my foggy brain will take me today. I need to go lay back down and get better. It is nice and warm in our cozy RV. :) I hope that all of our friends and family are staying healthy!

Back to Work, Trenching & Life

Well...Dave dragged himself into work today. Our son and I are still dragging a bit, too...but definitely on the upswing! Yay!!!!

I am listening to PBN and writing here in my blog, then I will be off to lay down again.

We still have some bits of snow covering the landscape and patches of ice going down our gravel driveway. One thing we really need to do is to find a way of getting all the water trenched away from the driveway so it won't run down it and freeze.

Ah, trenching! Such fun! NOT! It is always a challenge to try and figure out how to reroute the water. I have spent some hours on rainy days out there in my red mudders, jeans tucked inside, digging trenches. When it rains we have a mini-creek running through our meadow...something we definitely need to reroute as it sits on our septic leach area!

The last heavy rain, I managed to clear the growth out of the trench running alongside the lower part of the driveway. I also dug little mini channels to keep water off the upper driveway. It always feels good to get something accomplished!

My brain is still a bit foggy from being sick, so hopefully these ramblings actually make sense!

Today I need to dump our black water tank again. It is supposed to get up into the 40's, so hopefully, the water hose for flushing the tank will thaw out. Otherwise, I will have to dump dishpans of water into the toilet to sort of flush it out.

Snow!

We have beautiful snow today, although still not much. We get this light one to two inch dusting, which is beautiful, but nothing to play in. Of course, right now would be the worst time to get enough to play in since our son is sick! Oh, what cruelty that would be!

We love being able to sit here and watch outside...that is...when we can see outside. The windows keep fogging up on us, but even through the foggy window it is still beautiful. That is one thing I love about being out here. At least I have the beauty around us to behold! I see God's creative handiwork in all that is around me.

Oh, we had to decrease the mouse population by one more last night. **wicked grin**