On the last day of the month, we are starting to spit snow out here in the ranch. Sooner than I would like, and the ground is now turning white. It does feel too soon, but we are nearly four weeks later than last year’s first storm, and that one dumped a foot up here on my little mountain top.
It is a bittersweet morning as such. I have more kindling I would like to split for my winter stock pile. More window trim to remove and areas to patch and seal before winter, but today we are inside with the fire blazing comfortably. There are plenty of chores here left to do, but we shall watch the snow with a bit more coffee this morning.
I do, however, happen to have a nice bottle of whiskey now headed my way, so it shall be an okay day after all.
I am not much of a betting man, but I did make a wager on Saturday, one that seemingly is a win-win situation for this man.
There is a newly discovered whiskey here that we are raving about, and a bottle of such is the wager at hand. Shall we get snow by the end of the month was the question for the aforementioned prize.
I do not gamble, mainly for I am not very good at it, and in this case, it was a calculated bet. I do not want it to snow, so I bet that it would. With my odds? We will get no snow, and my only penalty shall be handing a friend a bottle of whiskey that, upon simply smelling it, made him salivate like a Pavlovian dog.
This morning, the forecast calls for a thirty percent chance of snow on the 30th so we shall see how the cool down shakes itself out. If it snows at the very very end of the month and that awards me whiskey?
For a man that does not gamble often, this is a pretty safe wager, regardless of the outcome.
There is a bite in the evening and morning air now. A distinctive, seasonal, familiar bite returning. My new wall heater was flicked on this morning, via a button to adjust the thermostat. A small but notable change in itself.
There are many changes occurring this season. I am not an expert on this mountain, and have the same trepidation as last year about a winter of snow, drifts, remoteness, isolation, and access, but there is a subtle grounding here as well.
I have done this before. I prevailed and had a wonderful experience over the last year. I am a bit wiser; I know now what full reserves in all aspects I will require. I am a bit more grounded. A bit more settled. Feeling far more human in relation to the Earth itself. I have shifted, and reinvested in aspects that matter more now. Mean more now. Feel more now.
The bite in the air reminds me of the year past. Gathering wood did the same. The wall heater for a quick burst of warmth sans a real fire now a seasonal ritual. The regular pressure canning throughout the weeks, tucking away goods for Spring. Tuning equipment, ensuring that which will be exposed to tended. Tending that which I need to tend me.
The air is changing, this is true. We all are changing with it whether we stop, connect, and notice it ourselves. It is the start of but one more Fall upon us, one more cycle to embrace.
Yesterday was a long, stressful, busy day for this man, working as a laborer, a grunt, and watching men tear apart his house. The damage was deep, thorough, and as bad as could have been expected.
The windows themselves were apparently attached not with silicone, but with liquid nails making removal a tedious and difficult task. Eventually, the old cracked window was extracted.
After this ordeal, removing the center window seemed unwise; there was no replacement glass built for such, and the weather was to dip below freezing for the first time in the overnight. We devised a plan to prop up the window such that it shouldn’t drop whilst the rotten log below was fully extracted. My over length 2x6s from the ranch came in quite handy for this securing.
Rotten log, oh, was there a rotten log under my windows.
The new d-log was inserted with a bit of sledge hammering, as well as finesse. We even managed to rip (again, from my local wood) some replacement bracing to replace the myriad of thirty five years of patchwork.
Inserting the replacement window was a stressful task for us all. We needed to dry fit it before silicone was applied, and with wedging and testing, we had to put in the window, and take it out, three times before sealing it in place. We all breathed easier with the hole again filled.
Today I will go seal up the seams, the cracks, the gaps and continue on with my seasonal sealing up of the house, the depth of this crisis behind me. Many thanks to all for their help, ideas, and support. I have a new log, a more stable set of windows, and many personal memories tying this all together.
I had another friend stop by with a drawing knife to help debark the log. There is much dead material under the bark as well. He removed the bark I could not get off by hand, and gently scraped the log. I’d never seen it done before. I followed with a stiff brush to move the remaining dirt and debris.
Then, on advice, I used a wood sanding bit on my grinder to work the branch ends down to both a reasonable depth to match the house, and to keep them nicely smooth yet fully intact.
It is now a fine looking log, ready to be installed. That should happen tomorrow. There is a crew coming, and I shall be there grunt for the day, but I do plan to take pictures during the repair.
A tree from the ranch, milled on the ranch, and helped tune on the ranch. It is a special log we are inserting to stabilize the wall. A log of friends, manual labor, and memories.
