Frozen in Leetonia

Home sweet home

Approaching home

Leetonia Rd.

Pine tree Hooke camp

I threw in a little video that you will have to view at the blog site to enjoy. We awoke to -8 this morning and the sun rising to warm it up to the low 20's today. When it gets below zero I have to let the faucet drip all night to keep the water lines from freezing. My grandfather buried the water line to the well a bit too shallow for full time living up here and dripping is the only way to keep it from freezing.

We got about 6-8 inches of new snow on Thursday and Friday bringing the snowmobilers back to the mountains. Although our road is plowed they didn't scrap it down to the grave so a few snowmobilers have been buzzing by the house this morning. Most of the snowmobiling is on the pipeline and other unplowed roads. You can hear them buzzing like bees in the trees as the sound bounces through the mountains.

The sun made the mountain like a postcard today with the blue sky above and the fresh white snow below. I put on my snow pants and just laid on the side of the mountain for a while looking up at the few white wisps of clouds passing over. The sun doesn't rise far over the mountain to the South of us during this time of year. In fact, it just comes up in the valley and follows the top of the mountain until it sets, casting a long shadow in front of the mountain. Fortunately, our house is high enough to get sun most of the day and that really helps warm it up and brighten things a bit during the short days of winter. 

We did two puzzles over the holidays. The first was a 1000 piece one on Christmas and the second a 750 piece one on New Years Eve. I got down to the last piece to put in at 2 min before midnight and it was missing. My searching didn't find it before midnight and I had to settle with finding it under the recliner the next day. Thanks I believe to a mischievous cat pushing it there. There is a lesson about goals and how they don't always go on your time schedule. 

I have never had a indoor cat before and I can tell you they are much more mischievous than the dogs. He is however catching the mice which has eliminated my need for poison or traps. Of course he likes to bat them around the house for a lot longer time than I will tolerate before I throw them outside. Speck investigated the one he had this morning and after sniffing it and seeing it wasn't moving didn't seem to understand why the cat was still interested in it at all.

Tomorrow it is supposed to get above freezing and possibly rain before again turning to snow Sunday through Monday morning. The possibility of rain in between the snow never thrills us. The ground is so cold it will instantly turn to ice and make driving very dangerous.Then it is supposed to go so cold the first few days of the week it will make last night seem like the Bahamas. Chains and four-wheel drive are still a must if you are to travel anywhere up here this time of year. Have a great 2014 from the Mountain girls and boys. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.