Merl' and I, staying cozy inside!

Just when 'all' the snow had melted, we got hit with another cold storm!

Again, only a thin layer, but still .. winter is approaching ..

 

 

It did even get a little colder than two weeks ago:

Brrrrr!

I didn't go for a very long walk, but did brave the cold to climb the hill and have a look-see around the plains ..

 

The only wildlife I saw were some footprints in the snow:

Which, for a change, I was happy about because as I mentioned in the last blog, it is hunting season and Miriam, Marian and Sam (our client) have been up bright an early almost every day, to try their luck.
I've changed my walking routines to trails that stay closer to the house, and donned a bright orange vest ..

                    

        

I should be clearly visible, don't you think, especially against this snow!
That's Sam on the right and as much as he looks the part, and as hard as he tried, he didn't even see an elk, let alone shoot one!
Marian on the other hand ...

Yep, she got an Elk cow. I didn't go and watch them bring it in, and certainly not how they butchered it, but I went in and took a peek after it had been hanging in the barn for two days.
Looks like any butchered animal I guess, not too gross ..

In the meantime Hunter and Ronnie worked hard on getting the kitchen cabinets installed and the counter tops cut in the four days they were here.
This was my view from the back window for the last couple of days.

You have to admire Hunter for working out there in the freezing cold, with that cold granite and on top of that with that cold water that the saw needs not to overheat!
And these guys are from Louisiana, where it's still in the 80's!

They were troopers, all of them! 
Carrying the cut counter tops inside was a job that needed every able body, and even us women pitched in to keep the slab from crashing down when it finally got lowered on the cabinets.


 

But it was all worth it in the end. Will you look at this beautiful kitchen!



Like I said, I love that green color for a (country) kitchen, and the brown granite I think goes very nicely with it ..



The 'butcher-block' table got painted the same color and came out very nice too, and the pots-and-pans rack that has been re-hung on the other side of the stove this time, adds nicely to the feel of 'country-kitchen' too ..

Anita, Ronnie and Hunter have left by now and after seeing them off to Boise on Sunday, Sam and Pat came back for a few more days of R&R (and hunting) before they'll leave tomorrow.

Joe is still working with us, although he did disappear for a few days this week to 'help out a friend who's mother had to go in for surgery'? ... we're not quite sure if that was completely true, but he's back once again and working hard so we're just happy to have him!

In the meantime, Merl' is guarding the Home-front. 
He seems a little 'off' lately, just sleeps a lot, a little awkwardly bunched up, but still eats OK and his sugars are fine, so I'm not to worried.
I think his pancreas is bothering him a little, but who knows it might be his teeth again, or it's just all the activity and strange people that are around at the moment and with these temperatures I'd stay inside too!

I've had a few days off, because with so many bodies in the house, I'd be only in the way and there's not too much I can do at the moment.

So, I've done some puzzling (time for the pumpkin-puzzle!), reading and blogging, and even a little spinning, which had been ages!

And since I'd come across this gingerbread-mix in the store, I decided to give it a try. 'Tis the season!

                  

It's not bad, but a little bland, even with the cinnamon frosting I added on top. 
Next time I'll add some more spices. And maybe some pecans ..

OK, there you have it. Enough for this week, me thinks!

We can't say we have a boring life now, can we?

It is getting too cold for the cows and calves to be up here, so they were wrangled up this week and moved down the hill to pastures next to the Snake River.

I still find it a thrill to see the cowboys (and girls) work the cattle with the dogs. It's really amazing!

It all looks so idyllic, but it was a really cold and windy day that they did this, and I didn't envy them at all .. 

I just took pictures from behind the window of the nice and warm and cozy RV! Giddy-up!

Than on Monday we had one really warm and nice fall day again, when the temperature reached a balmy 66F!

It so happened to be our 'down-the-hill' day so we enjoyed this beautiful day playing a nice round of golf. Who knows, it might be the last day we can, if the weather turns for real!

It was very windy though! I wasn't exaggerating here (too much), it really was that hard to get the flag back in!

By the way, we had a little hick-up with the truck this week, at least, with one of the tires. We found it flat one morning, so James changed it out and we brought it down the hill with us.

It turned out to be a faulty valve-stem. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that Les Schwab, the tire shop, replaced it for free and even installed it back on the truck! Apparently it's their policy, free flat repairs!

My walks are rather quiet now the cows have gone. There's still a lot of deer around, but I hardly come across anything else at the moment. A few tiny mushrooms (usually growing merrily on pats of cow dung!)

         

I discovered an old apple tree down at Brust creek, that carries small apples. 
The best ones are on top though, I'll have to try and shake them down one of these days, before the frost will get to them.

They're rather hard and sour but they might be good for pie. 

I did made an apple pie by the way, but not with these apples.

And guess what? It's baaaaaack .. the white stuff, I mean!

Temperatures rapidly went south once again, then it decided to rain and somewhere during the night that changed to snow!

We woke up to 27F (!!) and all this ...

That's a temperature-drop of 39 degrees in 2 days!

And off-course this was the day Ronnie and Anita and Pat and Sam had chosen to bring us the cabinets for the kitchen and bathrooms!

Because of a broken waterline in Wet Gulch that they had to take care of, they arrived a day late but they did make it up the hill! Just very slowly and carefully ..

Over the course of last week James and Joe had already prepared the kitchen area.

The one stud in the middle was removed and replaced by two ..

So the kitchen cabinets can sit in between and don't have a pole sticking out of them.

I love the green color! And the beadboard!

They'll be here for a couple more days, to install everything and to (most importantly) cut the marble slabs that will make up the counter tops.

The slabs are sitting in the barn and are very, very heavy so James is very, very happy that he has lots of 'bodies' to help him cut and move them!

We also finished the bedrooms, the common room and the bathroom in the basement and moved some of the furniture in ..

I think it came out very nice!

 

The tile is in and grouted  and the toilet and shower are functional ..

                                     Just in time for company!

Progress is also made in the foyer. 
The drywall is all in and as of yesterday muddied and structured, and the floor (that we found some spare boxes of in the shop) has been extended into the new hallway.

               

 Still a lot of (mainly detailed) work to be done, but it's starting to look very nice if I say so!

Now hopefully the snow will melt in the coming week and we won't get any more, because it looks like we are going to stay here until the 21st to finish up, before we leave.

♪ Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow .. ♫

And there it was .. the first snow! Wow, in September! That's the earliest we ever had any, I think.

It lasted only two days but it sure was pretty!



It snowed of and on for hours though, and when it finally stopped I climbed the hill that overlooks Joseph Plains:

The truck got a load ..

                       And the awning too ..

Just a couple of inches but it gave us some idea of how the winter will look like up here!

Sorry, I guess I couldn't stop taking pictures ..

The temperatures really took a nose-dive for a couple of days, barely above freezing during the day-time and at night we even had some (high) 20's!

As luck would have it, we had just finished installing a little 'upgrade' on the RV, one we'd thought and talked about doing for a while, but still hadn't gotten to yet.

It involved cutting three holes in the 'belly'-panels ..

After which three small electric heaters (mounted to an aluminum base) were inserted.
Voila! Floor heating! How awesome is that? 
Of course it was put to the test only two days later during the cold spell, and it made a big difference in the inside temperature. 
Especially that of the tile floor, which before was always freezing cold on the tootsies, but felt much better now!

Quite a lot also happened in the house this last week.
The new hallway to the bathroom has been dry-walled, as well as 'Ari's' bedroom closet:

In between the kitchen and the dining room, the trim was carefully taken off the (weight-bearing) beam, and new holes were cut for the two new studs that are going to be installed, instead of the one that's holding everything up right now.

By the way, we have a new helper once again. 
Alan quit after a couple of days, supposedly because he had to take care of some unexpected personal business, but I think the job was a little too much for him, being 70 years old and all.
Fortunately Joe, who has helped us before, was done with his summer job and had time to come up.

Some of the old cabinets and the sink that came out of the demolished kitchen, were moved to the laundry room, which was sorely lacking a washing and folding area .. much better!

 

And as of  two days ago James has started to tile! 
He's working on a small entree area in front of the outside door in the suite ..

.. and the bathrooms of the new suite as well as the one in the basement.

  

I tried my hand at cutting tile, and to my surprise I kind of like it and didn't do too bad (still have all my fingers too!).

Rosie really got into hanging out with us ..

       

She loved to be inside the nice and warm RV during these freezing days, and was even claiming a lap every now and than ..

What a sweetie-pie .. yes, both!

Unfortunately the ranch hands wanted her back over in their bunk-house, since they are suffering from a severe mouse infestation, so she was moved back there today.
Well .. we'll see if she'll decide to stay put this time, or if she will try to walk back over to us again, like she's done twice before .. we're going to miss her ..

Anything else I forgot .. I think I covered it all .. maybe some more comfort food, like this 15 bean and ham soup, made in my trusty IP of-course!

This is so good, I could eat it every day, especially when it's so cold outside, but I could do without the 'tooting' that you do for several days afterward!
And with that little bit of  'TMO' (too much information) I'll end this post ..