Tag: Snow

May SNOW? Showers

Posted on by Melisa

Today appears to be bringing May Snow Showers instead of rain showers. Good thing I took my clothes that have been hanging on the line for the last 3 days down last night. yeah! We do need moisture and it will be back up in the 80’s by Thursday so all is good.

May SNOW? Day

I just hope that my early in garden will not have any difficulties with this cold snap and snow. I do have all my tomatoes under little green houses built just for them and my herb bed is under a large hinged green house cover. It has been all winter and is why my chives are over 2 ft tall and in flower already. My lettuces and spinach garden should be fine as well as that spinach I planted in October and it has been growing all this time under the green house garden cover during the winter. They are just grand and really help at our altitude as we have some odd weather here.

Charlie and I were walking Kizy and Broch together at the Blossom Festival in Canon City, Colorado on Saturday in 95 degree full on sun. Today it is snowing and barely above freezing. yup that is weird mountain Colorado weather.

My sweatshirt is the one that I took off the line last night so it does smell April Doggey Fresh! that lovely smell my puppy has after being outside and playing in the sun and wind or how your clothes smell after being on the line. Thursday is Charlie’s 50th Birthday and I am happy to see that the forecast says he will be back in sun and fun by then.

I have been busy crocheting and weaving as best as I can with my shoulder and wrist injury. I have finished 2 ponchos, and have an 8 ft triangle shawl part way done as well as another free form open lace shawl close to finished.

Tri Loom Progress

I will finish the crochet shawl today, start on a crochet mobius and work more on the triangle shawl. Later this week, I think I will take Vicky the Mannie out into the garden and do a photography session of all the new shawls and ponchos. Stay tuned for the photos later this week or next week depending on when I finish making them.

Closeup Tri Loom Progress

Still on Llama mom watch. Glenda has 6 more days for her first official due date. She is definitely fat, definitely preggers and definitely got the bitch to prove it!!

It is only 71 degrees here in the cabin and with the wet, rain, sleet, wind and snow outside, it feels really cold in here. I think that I must get to making some food in the oven, in the casserole dish, baking to create some warm yummies for us inside. What do you all want me to make? hmmm……..

I am thinking one of my regular Italian casserole pasta dishes. Mince, hamburger for you Americans, browned and then simmered for a half hour to hour in lots of onions and garlic minced in. Throw in a few red, yellow, and orange sweet bell peppers. some chopped or maybe even stewed tomatoes, a bit of cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, some cream cheese and a touch of Parmesan cheese for a 4 cheese flavor. Some basil and oregano from the herb garden and put it all together to bake it nice in the oven. Take the lid off the last few minutes so the mozzarella on top can crisp up a bit. Throw in a few pieces of garlic Naan bread and we are good to go. I don’t know what you are going to have but this sounds good to me and I am hungry!! I am going to make an Aztec Coffee as well to enjoy while I go to create!!

Snow Days on Alba Ranch

Posted on by Melisa

Wow,Wow, Wow!! We got more snow in the last 24 hours that I recall getting even as a child. We have about 20+ inches on the ground. Now mind you, that is on top of the 12 inches that I got last week. Which with all the cold temperatures did NOT melt.

Driveway Area after 20+ inches of snow in 24 hours

I tried to get out with the 4WD Landrover yesterday. I got about 20 feet and was stuck. It left a perfect imprint of the head lights in the snow drift that built up in front of the bumper. Managed to get it reversed and back in its post.

Our Mountain and Pole Barn Site
Landrover in there somewhere??

Then we tried the 4WD Suburban. It took off, up the hill and down the drive the eighth mile to the gate where I had to stop as the gate was closed. I guess that lift kit and huge tires really help with ground clearance since the snow was all the way up the running boards. Got it turned around and back down to the barn. I got into a bit of trouble on the hill as I was trying to turn around and started to slide. Well, being from Michigan originally and always driving cars that were rear wheel drive and most often with bald tires, I seriously know how to slide. Gunning it a bit, I slide in sideways using the slide to get the arse end swung around and wallah, back in front of the barn and did not even hit the Landrover.

We shoveled about 20 inches deep of snow off about 750 sq feet area in front of the barn where the vehicles go and moved them back in place. Then it was time to take my baby out of the barn, my 1985 CJ7, and take her up the hill. I was stunned. She dead ended in the snow at about the same spot as the LandRover. Apparently the Rover and Jeep, can not make it through more than 20 inch of snow. They do NOT have lift kits you see. Oh well.

Alpacas unimpressed by the snow

The Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGD) were out with the alpacas through the storm. Of course they were smarter than the alpacas as they were buried in the BACK of the shelters with the alpacas lying in guard over the door opening. Hey who said dogs were not smart??

Larick, the LGD of the female alpacas

We took 2 border collies out for our usual walk of a quarter mile in the evening. A mother and daughter dog team of Abbey and Cinnamon. Cinnamon decided to go off trail and was literally snorkeling. The snow was OVER her head and she had to tip her nose up and try not to inhale all the snow. Abbey, older and wiser, stayed in the tracks with mom and dad! ha!!

Abbey, much more comfortable INSIDE on the rug
Cinnamon, crashed out on the rug after a hard day of play!

This morning, we took almost the entire pack of border collies out in the snow to play and go for the quarter mile walk as I expect the snow plow guy will show up sometime today. Abbey only made it about as far as the Landrover and Jeep and she was down. It is 3 degrees out and it was just too cold for her puppy paws, so Charlie had to carry her back to the cabin. The rest of the dogs were younger and more foolish and they floundered on with mom. Dad came back a bit behind us and got some good video of them all going under the snow over and over.

Snow Snorkeling Border Collies. Gotta love them!! Everyone is now back in the cabin with a roaring fire in the stove and steaming everything up.

All this snow has made it very interesting to do the chores outside. I have had to shovel out the hay feeders several times for the alpacas to have their hay. We boil gallons of water to unthaw all the water buckets….repeatedly….several times a day. We had to shovel paths everywhere to even find the alpacas and chickens. We were out yesterday morning at 6:30 am shoveling and putting up a tarp for the male alpacas because one went in the shelter and the other stayed outside. They are not exactly friends, so with the tarp, it gives a second space away from the other to be in shelter. The girls have several shelters in their pens so they were fine.  With all these extras needing to be done because of the snow, any fiber work had to be postponed.  I try to do fiber creation on a daily basis of something.  Course, I guess it does depend on how you look at it.  The fiber animals survived through the store to grow more fiber on a another day.  That is Fiber Creation at the most basic, right?

I had to take the long handle broom and knocked off several feet of snow built up on the edge of the barn as it was poised for an avalanche and more than likely would have taken all the eaves off at the barn at the same time. We used the same long handle broom to get the several feet of snow off the Landrover and the Suburban. Charlie was out in the barn sawing up off cuts of wood from the barn build to make dry fire wood for the stove as the rest is buried under several feet of snow that the snow plow guy put up over it last week, then add the new 20 inches of snow on top of that. I think we won’t find that wood until JUNE!!

Going to go have homemade meatloaf, bread pudding and purple mashed potatoes for breakfast. Yes the potatoes were purple naturally so the mashed potatoes are as well. Charlie thinks they are weird!! We had it for dinner last night and I am still NOT out of comfort food mode!!