A Somewhat Rare Event

 After thinking Spring is here, we got a last gasp of winter over the weekend. 16" of snow on Saturday. That just happened to be John's birthday, and he's not a big fan of snow.  We spent a few hours digging out, and now most of it is melted, at least in the driveway and areas that didn't get extra snow thrown on them. We hadn't had any snow for most of the winter, then bam! a dump of it. That has only happened a couple of times over the years. This time was nice, we have a neighbor who does an excellent job of plowing, so he got the road all plowed, and even came up here and plowed down the hill so all I had to do was clean up the edges.  Years ago when it happened, we had to hire a guy with a skidsteer to plow a trail up the road just wide enough to drive through.  Couldn't even open the doors on the truck it was that skinny.  Luckily there were only 2 families living on the entire road back then, so no collisions or blocks or anything.  Now that wouldn't work at all, way too many people live along this road.  Ah, the good ol' days...

  60 degrees today.  A bit windy, which is helping to melt the snow. Luckily the ground wasn't frozen, so the water soaked in and didn't just run off.  I should say, it's soaking in, there is still a fair amount to melt. Watching Ryan Hall's livestream over the weekend, I was happy to have just a snow and not all the wild weather most of the rest of the country experienced. Or maybe still experiencing.  Even Hawaii has had a bad storm. 

The goats haven't been combed, well a few of them have, but the snow stopped everything.  Tomorrow I will get back to it, thankfully they aren't all shedding yet.  There are 4 out there now that really need it, so that is who gets combed tomorrow. I did Mini the other day.  Silly girl. She jumped right in the stand and started eating her treats, but the minute I grabbed the comb, she laid down and stayed down for most of the combing.  Last year when she had a kid that died, I milked her, so she thought she was just coming in for that, even though she is dry as a bone now.  She is a funny goat.  Always has a condescending look on her face, that whole line does.  They sure do have nice soft, beautiful cashmere though.  They are also pretty tame, so they are easy to handle.  Goats; the most lovable frustrating creatures on the planet. :-) 

I hope everyone is doing ok in the wild weather and your animals are all good.  Quinn, I did see your comment, but for some reason I can't reply.  I do hope your weather has straightened out and everyone is doing well and you can get the fleece before it's totally ruined.  A farmer's life is always regulated by the weather.  Whether that be farming crops or raising animals, it's all weather dependent. 

Thanks for reading this and I hope you are having a wonderful day.

 

Is it Spring?

 The weather sure is interesting this year.  There was a robin up here last night!  I heard him having a fit out in the dairy pasture.  I do believe that is the earliest we've ever had a robin up here.  They are showing up all over the Flathead Valley, too.  The mild weather has everyone confused.  I just noticed some of my Hellebores are starting to come up.  

Our forest service road has more soft spots in it this year than usual.  It's getting a bit difficult to navigate it, between the giant potholes, washouts and now all the boggy soft spots.  It really needs to be graded this year!  There is more traffic on this dead-end road than on probably all the other through roads combined. I am going to have to go down to the forest service office and once again complain.  They always tell me there is no money for grading a dead-end road.  I think they should just pave it and be done with it. When it does get graded, the washboards reappear within a month from just about everyone driving too fast up and down it.  I don't understand why people can't figure out that gravel/dirt and speed don't mix.  One little skip of a tire on a rock creates a little divot, then as everyone else goes over that, it gets bigger and bigger. Pretty soon, big stretches of the road are just a big washboard.  Especially around corners and in areas where it's slow going, people step on the gas when it gets smooth, and wa-la a washboard is formed.  Our Dodge truck is pretty rough riding anyway, and going over washboards just about breaks my back, even going very slow.  Then there are the deep potholes that are unavoidable.  I try not to leave this place more than once a week. :-) 

I am making my first top out of some of my handwoven cotton cloth. It even has sleeves!  I haven't sewn anything clothing since home-ec class way back in jr high.  That was a long time ago.  I just need to figure out the neckline and then it will be done.  Exciting times! :-) 

I hope everyone is doing okay in these times.  Observe, don't absorb.  Thanks for reading this.  One of these days I'll get the photo transfer thing down and post some pictures. One of these days...