Author: Cabincrafted1

     With each season, the decorations on the porch and in front of the house change.  The fall brings pumpkins, mums, and corn shocks with a fall flag, the flag tradition began when the kids were small and there was one for each season, plus a birthday, Easter, Valentines (our anniversary), Thanksgiving, Christmas, and of course, an American.
     Thanksgiving changes only  the door wreath and the flag, one my husband picked out long ago.  This one always brings a chuckle and the repeated quote, “This year we fight back.”  It is a turkey dressed as a pilgrim with a blunderbuss.
      For Christmas, the door wreath and flag represent the season, sometimes with sprigs of fir on the porch light and the posts of the porch.  There are also a chainsaw carved Santa and Snowman that bracket the door.
      After Christmas, Santa comes in and an old fashioned sled goes out, leaving the snowman until spring.  The winter flag is brought out and hangs for the next couple of months.  Of course, the snow shovel appears and disappears, the kids toboggans are brought out if the grands are visiting or if the power goes out and we have to haul water, but they are transient and not really part of the décor.
      By mid March, we are tired of winter, the snow if we receive it is generally sublimation snow or light snow showers, the rains have set in, it is too cold and wet to play in the garden, or walk the dogs most days.  They don’t mind the weather and will play outdoors on our farm regardless of the weather, including playing in the muddy creek when I think it is too cold to even wash them down with the hose.  After a couple of spring like days, a short walk yesterday, as hubby’s knee is bothering him, I decided it was time to put away winter.  The Snowman and sled were brought in; the winter flag taken down and it and a couple of others that are showing wear from flapping in the persistent wind the hollow generates, were brought to my sewing area and repaired before being put away for the year.
     As Easter is only a couple of weeks away, that flag was brought out and hung and the blown decorated eggs hung from the grapevine wreath on the door.  Perhaps I will buy some pansy plants to put in the porch side pots.  But today also brought the end of the early spring weather we have had this past week.  Today is cold and rainy, sleet and snow showers are due tomorrow morning and the temperatures are returning to freezing at night this week.

     Soon it will be warm enough for the shrubs to recover from winter, for the Spider plants to be hung from the edge of the covered porch, the daylilies, iris, daisies and other perennials to bloom and the herb and flowers planted in the deck pots.  The garden will be seeded and another growing season will begin.  This year, there will be chickens running in the yard, helping to keep the bug population down and hopefully by midsummer, providing us with eggs.

     Today is a beautiful spring like day.  Already warm enough for just a long sleeve T-shirt and going up to the mid 60’s.  The maples are swelled with buds, the redbuds showing that they will soon be in their lovely pink glory.  The birds are trilling and singing, presumably reestablishing territory and seeking their mates.
     A few days ago as we were coming in to our driveway, we met a car with out of state plates on the narrow state road off of which we live.  The lady and man in the car are professors from Indiana State University and North Dakota University.  They had come down from the top of the mountain where the Biological Research Station is located and she is in charge of a nearly 40 year long study of the Junco birds.  There are two groups of Juncos here right now, both the same species, however some of them stay here year round, the Carolina Juncos and the others migrate, the Dark Eyed Juncos.  They were looking for additional locations to place mist nets to catch and band the beautiful little birds.  After a delightful talk with them and a hike around our property, we offered them permission to set a net here for their study.  This fascinates me and now I am on the constant lookout for the little gray birds.
     This morning, the swifts started making their initial recon visit for nest making purposes.  I am now going to have to be on the alert to keep them from building against the logs.
     In spite of the glory of today, I know that this is just a tease, next week brings snow showers, rain and freezing temperatures at night again.

     Sixteen chicks in their new habitat.  Already they can get out of the 28 gallon washtub.  We started with 17, but when you buy chicks who are shipped within hours of hatching and they are only a day or two old when purchased at Tractor Supply, that happens, especially when it is still winter like weather here.  The remaining 16 are thriving.  The youngest, the Cornish Rock cross for meat, grow quickly and are already the biggest and most active.  They were so tiny on Tuesday, when we brought them home and are now larger than the Red Rocks that were about a week old already on Monday when we brought them home, they already were developing wing and tail feathers, but they have been surpassed in growth.  The remaining Rhode Island Reds and Silver Laced Wyandottes, the potential egg layers are still cute cuddly little chicks.

     Since the first idea of moving to country and buying the land for the farm, we have discussed what animals could provide us with entertainment, income and food.  The first animals added were the dogs, obviously for  entertainment and as guard animals for the property, though the goofy Mastiff guards us by chasing deer, his size up the driveway and greets the neighbors like long lost friends.  We have observed him getting between us and the neighbor’s somewhat threatening male pitbull.

     We did go on to look at the coops and decided that the ones they build are too large and too expensive for my small flock needs.  I discussed with hubby, just buying some framing wood and a sheet of marine grade plywood and building one using some of the extra house roofing metal for the roof.  He decided that was more of a task than we were willing to tackle right now and we had seen a more appropriate sized and priced coop in town, so we went back to measure and ask questions about that coop.  It will house according to the literature, up to 20 chickens, the salesman said 15 was probably more appropriate, so we decided to purchase one and maybe add another half dozen meat chickens.  This will be delivered sometime next week and since we have at least 3 or 4 weeks before the chicks can be moved outdoors, I will have time to put a 12 foot square of chicken wire around the coop to help them adjust and help the dogs adjust to the new critters on the property.

     By mid July, we should be getting eggs and should have a few roosters and meat chickens to put in the freezer.  Farming other than my vegetable and fruit garden has commenced.

     Yesterday was glorius.  The sun was shining, the week’s wind died to a whisper, it made it into the low 40’s with much higher expectations today and tomorrow.  The pups haven’t been on a leash walk in weeks, so off to the Huckleberry Trail we went.  The trail is an old rail grade that runs from the library in Blacksburg to behind the mall in Christiansburg, about 7 miles.  More of the trail, an offshoot is under construction in Blacksburg.  The trail is about 6 feet wide, paved with asphalt, sometimes running behind houses, sometimes through farm fields, often shaded by mature trees.  The trees are showing buds that we aren’t seeing on the mountain yet.  Right near the parking lot at the Blacksburg end, a resident whose house backs up to the trail, plants a small well maintained flower garden, poppies in the spring, daffodils, lilies, a flowering crabapple and these…

the first spring flowers I’ve seen.

     Today was farmer’s market day and in the beautiful weather, we took the pups, purchased our week’s meat, cheese and eggs then walked around town with the dogs.  After lunch and a peek at prebuilt chicken coops, we took a 2 1/2 mile walk around Pandapas Pond and Poverity Creek trail.
     One more day of stellar weather then it gets wet and seasonal again, but spring is coming.

     Mother was kind to us.  The brunt of the storm was north of us and we only got a couple inches of snow.  It has remained overcast this week with sublimation snow showers and temperatures hovering at or near freezing.  In spite of this, the snow is gone except in the woods and north slopes.  The overcast weather brings the wildlife out into view.  The week has brought a large flock of wild turkey, about 15 of them, repeatedly out to forage the hayfield for bugs and seed.  Each late afternoon, a herd of 5 deer seemingly materialize from the edge of the trees, one at a time to graze in the same field, and a gimpy doe that survived hunting season with her twins from last season frequent the area around the barn each evening.
     With the pups indoors and the lights inside kept low, we can sit and watch them.  The beauty of the snow cover still in the woods is seeing them as they move among the trees before entering the field.  At this time of year, their coats are dark and when they are still, they are perfectly camoflaged in the trees.

The morning broke with sunshine, small puffy clouds, and the lightest hint of a snow dusting.  The wind is still for the first time in 6 days.  What will Mother give us for the next two days?  We shall see.

     This past week has been uncharacteristic; it has snowed for 5 days, mountain snow showers that fall, often heavy, all day, but accumulate nothing more than a dusting at night that disappears during the day in spite of the continued showers.  We are being threatened with the worst storm of the season this coming week.  After our January storm that took out our power for 72 hours, we have kept the downstairs bathtub filled, 5 gallon containers filled and ready to deal with it again.  This weekend, we had house guests, so the tub and containers were drained to get them out of the way and to make the guest bath available.
     This afternoon, as they have returned home, we again are preparing for this potential storm by refilling the tub and containers and if we really get a foot or more of wet snow, we may not be able to get out for a few days, so I am also partially preparing some meals that can be finished easily on the propane camp stove.
     Our houseguests were my sister in law and her friend.  We drove the hour to the nearest, very small ski resort, for a day of skiing yesterday.  The conditions were fair, snowing lightly, but it being a Saturday, it was crazy busy, long lines and the snow quickly getting skied off by too many people, many up there with groups and new skiers.  It is a great resort for new skiers, and the friend is a new skier, but it was frustrating to us, especially on the heels of our great week in Colorado.  As a result, hubby and I went over to the most difficult two runs on the mountain, where there were fewer people and more challenge to ski.  Our first run down this, I was feeling confident, unafraid of my speed or the ice patches.  About a third of the way down, suddenly I was in the air, then my head was slamming down on the ice and I was sliding head downhill on my back about another third of the way down the run.  To my amazement, once I stopped, I was able to get up by myself, looked uphill to see a man and his teen son collecting the missing ski and poles and skiing toward me to check on me, shocked that I seemed okay and had gotten up.  After much concern and assurances on my part that I was OK, the Dad stated, “Ma’am, that was a spectacular fall!”  I am lucky, all I seem to have experienced is much soreness, whiplash type soreness, and a sore spot on the back of my head and a small cut on the bridge of my nose (I was wearing a helmet and goggles, fortunately).
     I have never been a fan of guns, but live on a farm in the mountains, and when we moved here, we installed a gun safe for the few guns and a hunting rifle that my husband owned or had inherited.  I have not even fired a gun on a range in more than 40 years.  As we are beginning this spring to start our livestock acquisition, and since the coyote population seems to be swelling, we determined that I should learn to shoot, safely and accurately.  None of the weapons in the house were ones that I could handle, so very uncharacteristically, I suggested to my hubby that perhaps we should go look at a smaller rifle that I could handle, that I could use to defend our livestock and garden from the coyotes and groundhogs should I be here alone and need to do so.  We made the purchase and now we are going to have to make some treks to the local shooting range to familiarize me with the handling and safety of this rifle and to help me learn to fire it accurately.
     This has not be a characteristic week.

The morning is bleak, heavy clouds hanging over the peaks and obscuring their tops.  The deck, east windows, and cars are shelled in a layer of ice, wind is howling and the precipitation is a mix of solids and liquids.  The forecast for the next 3 days hops from freezing rain and sleet, to snow, to rain and back to snow.  Not pretty, not recreational, a hazard to be out in it.  My sinuses warned me of this late yesterday.

The unusual feature of this winter yuck is that the wind is coming from the east, the clouds are blowing toward the west.  We rarely have a wind from this direction on the mountain.  If the pattern of the past few weeks holds, this system will be followed by a day or two of warmer than seasonal temperatures, rising to near 50.

The wetter than average winter has taken a toll on our driveway and front lawn, the pups playing there have helped tear up the lawn.  Spring will bring seeding, grading and a new load or two of gravel.

     We live 5 miles from Mt. Lake Hotel (of Dirty Dancing fame).  When we were looking at the property and making all of the construction decisions, the lake was full.  We stayed there for several nights with our eldest son and family and our youngest son.  It is a delightful place to stay.  Over the past 7 years, we have watched the lake go completely dry on two occassions and have read that this phenomena has occurred in the past when geologic changes have cause the drain holes in the bottom to leak water more quickly that the springs and rainfall were filling it.
     Though it is not the attraction that brings in visitors in this state, it is interesting to watch.  Since it went dry 3 summers ago, it has only refilled to about 20%, draining toward the dry end of summer and refilling partially in the winter.  We began to wonder if we would see it refill in our lifetime.  Last summer, when it was nearly dry, geologists began a study of why it was overdraining, where the water was going and if it would self correct.  Then the Conservancy that owns the property announced that the General Manager who had been there for dozens of years was retiring and a new, very young General Manager had been hired.
     Articles began to appear about the changes that were being made to bring back the guests, tearing down some old buildings, renovating others, adding new recreational opportunities, teaming with a local river outfitter for kayaking, rafting, or fishing trips on the New River.  Though I hated to see some of the buildings go, these were understandable changes.
     The change that bothers me, however, is that they have hired a company that has come in with heavy equipment to completely drain the lake, recontour the bottom, using boulders, then rocks, then gravel and soil to plug the drain holes in the bottom of the lake in hope of it refilling completely in the next two years.  We drove up to see this today and have a gnawing concern about how this might affect the water table and the wells of us that live a couple thousand feet below the lake in elevation.  Pehaps we should allow mother nature to take care of herself.