Shoveling Snow?

 Don't you love the snow shovel?

It's a Caterpillar D6N LGP.

It also works as a dirt shovel.

With the sunset in the background.... Isn't it romantic?

(Please ignore the burn barrels in the foreground.  That negates the romantic sunset.)

I'll Huff and I'll Puff....

We had a blizzard yesterday.  By blizzard I mean horizontal winds blowing snow all around us.  Eastern Colorado blizzards are not at all like the Idaho blizzards we've experienced.  In Idaho the snow falls vertically and when it's over you end up with lots of snow on the ground.  In Eastern Colorado, though, the snow "falls" horizontally and except for the drifts, there is usually little accumulated snow on the ground.  That's the kind of blizzard we had yesterday.  The wind was blowing at least 45-50 mph yesterday and all night long.  This morning the news reported that the wind was blowing 41 mph.  Church was cancelled because the Branch President and his family couldn't make it to Church.  That means the rest of us who live out of town probably couldn't make it in, either.  Since about half the families in our congregation live at least 10 miles outside of town, he cancelled Church.  Since we had a free morning, after we watched a Church video with the kids, John and I went for a ride to take pictures of the drifts.

The garage door hasn't been installed yet so we have a tarp over the opening.  It was in jeopardy of ripping off the nails so we barricaded it with plywood and heavy totes and boxes.  It helped so the wind didn't rip through the tarp.

The front of the house.  You can see the tarp in the garage.  The pickup has been parked in front of the suburban so the wind would go around the garage and not blow the tarp off.  You can also see the snow blowing around the house.

On the road next to the house... we can ALWAYS see the pine tree and the shop from the kitchen window.  For most of yesterday, the pine tree was either a faint shadow or we couldn't see it at all.  The shop is only 1/4 mile away from the house.

The shop is the silver building on the right.  The big drift is just behind the supply room.  That is the pine tree that we can always see from the house.

A big snow drift.  You can see a horse trailer on the left and the semi on the right (above the mirror).  There is a pickup in between the trailer and the semi.

A different view of the picture above.  From the right you can see the jeep and the semi and a tiny corner of the pickup.  The horse trailer is to the left of the pickup and then a shed.

 

You've all seen the pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge in the fog... where you only see the tops of the bridge?  That's what it reminded me of when I saw the electric towers in the blowing snow.

The snow is only blowing close to the ground.  It probably only blew for about eight feet above the ground and then you can see the blue, blue sky.

The tree line at our neighbor's house.  Those little trees are 4-5 feet tall.  You can see how deep the drifts are there.

Just another picture of the neighbor's front drive.  They won't be going to church today either, haha!

The neighbor's house from about 1/4 mile away.  You can see the blue sky above and the swirling, blowing snow down by their house.

Just another picture that shows the blowing snow near the ground.

A picture of our house from 1/4 mile away.

Another picture of the blowing snow.  You can barely see the electrical poles in the middle of the snow.

Above and below - I tried to get a picture of the snow swirling around just north of the house.  You can't see it very well, though.

The drift outside the man door to the garage.  You can see the footprint from where we stepped out.  You can also see a couple of icicles at the top of the door.

This is a window in the master bedroom.  I have no idea how that happened, but it is the only window that has a clear circle and snow all around it.  You can see the icicles in the shadows.

The window well on the east side of the house.  It's full of snow.  This is just under the master bedroom.

The south side of the house, looking west. You can see the two holes where the window wells are.  (The shop and pine tree are in the background.)

A picture from a basement window (same window as above - the back of the two).  This one caved in.

Same window as above, looking up to the sky.  You can see where the snow caved in.

The other window of the two on the south side of the house.  There is less snow in this one because it didn't cave in.

Looking up from the window well - I stuck y head out the window so I could get a better picture of the snow.

Within about 15 minutes of taking all these pictures, the wind stopped and it is perfectly calm outside.  The snow is beautiful against the blue sky.  It is supposed to be above 40 degrees today and warm up to mid 60s by Thursday so it will probably all melt soon.

Just call me the drug pusher...

I think I'm ready to go home ... wherever that is ... I think we are all allergic to Limon.  I have seriously spent more time at the doctor's office here than any other place we have ever lived.  Today I was there with two of the kids.  Leslie ended up being diagnosed with a UTI and is on an antibiotic for that.  She seems to be following in Kelly's footsteps, but that is another post entirely.  

Christopher has been complaining for the last three weeks, off and on, about a pain in his left thigh.  This morning, JJ came down the stairs to tell me that Christopher couldn't get out of bed, his leg hurt too much.  After helping Chris get dressed, I carried him down the bed and deposited him on the couch.  Moving his left leg even a little bit hurt so much that it was hard for him to lift his left leg off the ground even a couple of inches so I could slip his pants on.  I called the doctor and got him an appointment at 10 a.m.

We had to borrow a wheelchair to get him into the doctor's office.

After the initial exam, Christopher went for xrays.

How Leslie entertained herself while we were waiting for the xrays.

The diagnosis:  transient synovitis.  I've read a lot about this today and still don't completely understand it.  The bottom line is that it is unexplained pain in the hip.  Some websites say it is a type of childhood arthritis.  All agree that it is painful and mostly harmless.  There should be no long term effects and it should go away in a month or so.  Ibuprofen for the pain and crutches for the walking (at least for the next few days).  They also took two large vials of blood to run tests to rule out anything more serious.

Between all the doctor visits, illnesses, and some other things that are going on, it might be time to move back to a less "toxic" environment!

House Part 13: Cracks and Septic

The first few pictures are of some of the cracks that happened when the house was transported.  (When I talked to the finisher today, January 6th, he said that there are actually fewer cracks in this house than he usually sees in houses that are set over a basement.  I was surprised since there are a TON of cracks.)

The next set of pictures are of the septic system.  I won't bore you with the details (mostly because I don't remember all of them), but it needs to be said that this septic system was designed with a six year old master toilet clogger in mind, and his two year old accomplice.  There are lots of clean-out places to make it easy to service.  Nothing says "I love you" like a working toilet!

The pile of dirt they removed to put in the septic tank.  It is in the ground over 10 feet deep.

The trench leading out to the leech field.

The drain pipe line.

From the roof.  You can almost see the septic tank in the big hole just below those pipes on the left.

Another view of the septic tank area.

The water trench from the well (above) and the water entrance into the house (below) as viewed from the roof.

The trench from the electrical pole to the side of the garage.  The trencher is parked in the middle of the road to keep people from driving over the ditch.

250 feet of electrical wire to go in the trench.

The water line in the garage as seen from the roof.

House Part 12: Lotsa Pipes

This next set of pictures are the plumbers installing the plumbing in the basement.

Where the downstairs bathroom will be.

The floor drain in the storage room.

Pipes ready to connect to the upstairs sinks.  From left to right:  Kitchen, laundry room and master bath (and lots of trash).

The next two are the plumber getting things plumbed for the garage.  There will be a partial (almost complete) kitchen in the garage.  It will be so great for canning parties!

For the garage sink.

Where the water pipes enter the house (kitchen window is above and dining room doors are on the right.)

The trench for the septic system.

Where the septic tank will sit.  (Greenish-blue pipes mean septic system/sewer pipes.)

The beautiful, like-new couch we found on craigslist for $50!  It's kind of red and I LOVE IT!