March 2015

Looking at photos and our farm journal, it looks like we spent much of March working on the garden fence, family financial stuff for Linc's mother's estate, reseeding and re-mineralizing pastures, adding amendemnts to the garden, but we also had some fun outings, more than normal for us.

The first photo is of Ryan's tractor with disk on the back.  Linc added an old stock tank that he filled with rocks to try and give the disk enough weight to cut the sod.  This still didn't work, even though the ground wasn't frozen, so he used a two-gang moldboard plow to till a section of one paddock, then disked it, then seeded it, then harrowed it with the disk.

Early in the month, friends took care of our farm so that we could do a wedding anniversary ski vacation.  We traveled down to Red Mountain Pass, skinned up above tree line and skied some wind slab.  The views were outstanding, even if the snow and abundance of snowmobiles was not.  Linc had fun on some wide Black Diamond skis he'd picked up at a Flagstaff thrift store, but Jeanne's older style narrow skis, her engagement present, kept breaking through on turns.  We went out for dinner in Ouray and spent the night relaxing in the hot springs at Orvis, and car camping in the Prius (yes, it sleeps two short people just fine).  We must have forgotten the camera for this trip, no photos.  Just as well, Orvis allows nudity.

At the end of the month, we got another trip in.   This time, Jeanne picked the trip - no wind slab skiing for her.  She opted for a backpack down into Gunnison Gorge.  It was beautiful.  And the trailhead was maybe 30 miles from home.  If you click on the image to blow it up, you'll see a set of switchbacks in the trail, with Jeanne standing at one corner.

Our tent site on the river.

Another view of the gorge during our climb back out.

We stopped for a visit to a former hermit's homestead about halfway back up out of Gunnison Gorge.  Linc had to check out the open air latrine, perched so that the "product" would end up in a gully that would periodically flash flood and flush everything into the Gunnison River, just like the fancy porcelain flush toilets that most civilized folks use.

The hermit's cabin.  He had a nice, fairly sheltered spot.

Can't go desert canyon backpacking and not come home with at least one collared lizard photo.

On to April.

February 2015

Welcome to Frugalbundance February

This was one warm winter month.  Most days the temps reached the 50's and several made it into the 60's (a high of 65.6 F according to Jeanne's weather journal).  The hoophouse did great, cranking out salad greens, greens for cooking, radishes, carrots and beets (above).

And, we took advantage of the warm weather by cranking up Ryan's tractor and put in 50 or 60 cedar posts for the start of a new, higher, stronger, more goat proof and wind proof garden fence (below).

It was so warm, Jeanne started making goat milk yogurt smoothies with berries from the freezer.  Here she enjoys one during a fence post digging break.  Her expression says, "Sorry, I've got several more swallows of smoothie left.  Since you finished yours first, you can do the next few posts."

Linc's response was to go mountain biking with Gabe and John on the Sidewinder Trail down in Delta.  It was great riding, especially for February in Colorado.

Warm enough to start the old backhoe, pretty much impossible to start below 50F, and dig a hole for a new solar panel array pole mount foundation.

All that work and play means time to relax and watch the sunset.

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I wonder if winter will return in March?

January 2015

Welcome to our Blog for 2015!

We've been burning a lot of slab wood from a local sawmill lately.  A bunk (about 1 cord) of spruce and fir slabwood costs 15 or 20 dollars.  We use a lot of this wood for building projects (siding) and for fencing.  The unusable pieces get sawn and split for cooking.  Linc put together a rack (above) to make it easier to cut them to length.  Always on the lookout for labor saving measures, he then screwed a salvaged ATV tire to a large cottonwood round and uesd that to hold the slabs together for splitting (below).

And then to the woodshed/outhouse.

Here's the interior of the addition to the goat barn, sided inside and out with slabwood, and hinged polycarbonate panels for light and solar heating.  Came out nice!

Our 1983 Toyota Tercel wagon, complete with multiple coats of house paint, expired at the end of 2014, and Linc bought a 2004 Prius down in Arizona to replace it.  Linc tried to revive the Tercel, but the engine had lost compression, so he got it running well enough to drive to the junkyard.  Sad to see an old reliable friend (machine or not) go.  We have a lot of great memories of times spent car camping and sightseeing in that car!  So, the Prius needed new headlight bulbs and ballasts.  The bulbs had overheated and fused themselves into the headlight assemblies, requiring the entire front end be taken apart to get them out and replaced.  Yikes!  Maybe it's not too late to go buy that Tercel back from Phil's Auto...

I don't remember when we did this exactly, but we added a solar electric system to the mobile camper chicken coop to power their portable electric mesh fence.  Our chickens have entered the solar age and now qualify for carbon credits!

Chanterelle, our Chanticler hen (one of two remaining hens from our first hatch purchased when we moved here several years ago) needed nursing for a few days.  Either that or she was faking it and just wanted to spend time in the warm, wood stove heated cabin.  Here she keeps Linc company in the office/dining/living room.  She made a complete recovery and was evicted from the cabin for defecating on the dinner table.

Still lots of apples in the root cellar we use (at a neighbor's place across the road).  With Linc down in Arizona much of last fall, we hadn't had a chance to press any for cider.

And, we were starting to get sunny days in the 40's, so we had a cider pressing day in January.

The cider was delicious.  We ended up with something like five gallons.  Drank some, gave some away, and bottled a couple gallons for vinegar - the best vinegar around.  We saved the pulp and dried it in racks on the goat barn roof and in our cabin greenhouse to use for treats for the goats.

Then came a shocker.  Our good friend and neighbor, Colin Dunbar, passed away unexpectedly on the evening of the 26th.  I know we're all unique, but Colin gave a completely new meaning to that word.  He was EXCEPTIONALLY unique, and his leaving us tore a huge hole in this entire community.  Writing this, a year later, I realize how often I still think about him, and miss his visits, long talks about the meaning of life, and his quirky sense of humor.  He is still very much part of our lives.  All plans were cancelled for several days as we all came together to give Colin a loving send off.  Lead by his former partner and neighbor Zoe Zappa, the community came together to bring Colin's body home from the hospital in Grand Junction (in the back of our old Toyota pickup truck), wash and wrap his body and set him on ice, dig his grave in frozen earth in a grove of junipers that he treasured, learn how to lower a body (we practiced by lowering Linc into the hole first), create a day-long internment and life celebration ceremony attended by a hundred or so people who were shuttled up the icy mountain road by volunteers, and place one of Colin's works of art on top of his grave.  It's been great knowing you Colin.  Thank you for being part of our lives.

Seeking solace and renewal in nature, Jeanne and I grabbed our skis and headed up to McClure Pass.  It turned out to be just what we needed.

We enjoyed it so much, we got a few friends together and went up onto the Grand Mesa for another tour a few days later.

 On to February...