Friday, December 26, 2014

Paradise ponders...

Paradise ponders...  Looked out my window today and saw a little girl trudging across our field.  I knew her – it was Allie L., the 8 or 9 year old tomboy in a neighbor's family.  Likely she was returning from a sledding outing – the local kids use a farmer's hill to our northeast.  That hill is something like 3/8 mile from her home, so the round trip is roughly 3/4 mile.  Her path to that sledding hill crosses state highway 165, the busiest route in the area.  The ponder: how differently the parents here treat their kids, as compared to California.  Here it's completely normal for a little girl make a solo journey of nearly a mile, crossing a busy highway.  In California, the parents would likely be at risk of arrest for child neglect and abuse.  Similarly, kids start hunting (with either gun or bow) at quite a young age - girls and boys, at 9 or 10 years old being quite normal.

It's a shame that such normal behavior here is noteworthy.

But it is...

Dogs in the snow...

Dogs in the snow...  Taking Miki and Race out for their morning walkie today was a blast.  Miki's belly skimmed the snow, and he had his snout buried, snuffling for voles, for much of our walk.  I let Race off-leash, and he must have run a mile in five minutes, racing around our 12 acre field randomly, just for the sheer joy of running.  When I called him, he came right back, skidding to a halt right in front of me, snow flying in all directions.  He looked so happy!  Even Mo'i clearly enjoyed walking in the snow.  He's not up to running and leaping any more, but he walked and snuffled all over, and didn't want to come back inside for 10 minutes or so...

Christmas progress report...

Christmas progress report...  Yes, my lovely bride makes me work on Christmas day :) 

I installed some shelving in a closet for her, and then started to install a bi-fold door on that same closet.  Progress came to a complete halt, though, when I discovered that I needed a 7/16" drill bit, but didn't have one.  For some reason the set that I purchased has a 3/8" and 1/2" bits, but nothing in between.  The size is important in this case, as metal parts have to fit snugly into the hole.  So we paused that project until today, when I'll go get a new bit from Lowe's (I'm assuming they're open).  I also need to make another important purchase: a snow shovel!

I started another interior project yesterday as well: setting up a shared temporary office for Debbie and I in one of our upstairs rooms.  We're going to have cabinetry made for Debbie to have her own office in this room, but it will probably be several months before we can have that finished.  It will also be (at least) several months before my new office on the second floor of the barn is finished.  So we're setting up “shop” on some folding tables.  The first step was to move our Internet connection to that room, and I got that all working yesterday.

The first job this morning is plowing snow.  We've got about 7 or 8 inches of fluffy snow on the ground, and it has stopped falling.  I want to get that off the driveway before anyone drives on it, and compacts it into ice.  This will be my first actual use of the tractor and snowplow; a good test.  Then I'll be off to Lowe's, and back here to finish the closet door and get the office set up...