The weeks news. Or the month from hell.
It’s been a quiet week up here on the mountain, my little slice of heaven.
It’s Thanksgiving week, and everyone is preparing for the coming meal, making plans to head for relatives, or staying home and having everyone come to them.
Up here, it’s been a rather hectic month, starting with my son’s truck catching fire the first week, right after he got home from a trip into town. The fire started immediately after my son turned off the truck, throwing a blast of smoke and flame into the cab. The end result was a total loss of his truck, with him getting lungs full of toxic smoke and me getting a bad burn on my hand. We both ended up in the ER, and the less said about that particular experience the better.
We have had our first snow. Thankfully it occurred over a weekend so we didn’t have to get our truck off the mountain until the following Monday, with the assistance of tire chains, which we ended up using for most of the week. The road is now clear, thanks to warmer temperatures, so even my son’s car can make it in. Winter is reminding us that it’s just around the corner, and we are making the final preparations for it. Snowmobiles are being made ready and any bugs worked out before we really need them. Cleaning up outside from summer projects is finished, and we also moved the camping trailer my son and his family had been living before their house was completed. We moved it so it won’t be in my driveway, and in the way, this winter when we need to bring snowmobiles in.
My son and his family are moved into their cabin now, and he is slowly working on making it ready for winter, as well. They haven’t been able to insulate the upstairs yet, so he insulated the ceiling on the first floor and they plan on living on the first floor until spring. This is a bit crowded with four of them, but they have been making it work for now. Things they don’t need right away are being stored on the second floor, and they are making themselves as comfortable as they can on the first floor. He still has a lot of things to do inside, enough to keep him busy for the winter season, at least.
I have been working on a few projects I wanted to finish before winter. Though a few, like rainwater storage and finishing the bathroom, have been put off now until next spring. I have been forced, because of the burn and a pulled groin, to take it easy; something I find hard to do. I tend to chafe when I’m forced to be idle and I wasn’t even able to write due to pain issues. I still have repairs to make on our truck which I hope to complete this weekend, since the weather is nice and temperatures are supposed to warm up into the 40’s.
With all the delays due to lack of supplies and injuries, we have been rather fortunate with the weather so far. This year reminds me of four years ago, when we didn’t have much snow to speak of, and the following summer ended up being the worst fire season around here in years. I am hoping that things change soon and we get the snow we need. Having our truck in the yard at Thanksgiving is unheard of here. Yet, here we are, parking in the yard, snowmobiles sitting unused.
Well, that’s all the news for the week. Bye for now.
