I'M A SNOWBIRD.

Absent these pages for two weeks was due to buttoning up my Oregon place for the coming winter. With back to back holidays, it made sense to close down.  A sign in the library had a "snowbird" book sale. I had heard the term in Yuma when we ran into gobs of Canadians and Alaskans.


Aha! Now I learn I am one.

 I had a repair scheduled on my brand new dishwasher and it was a simple fix on the third try. But my major job was to clean up the 5th wheel I bought for Doug to live in while he built the house. His stuff is now in boxes in my trunk. The windows and blinds are clean, the rug shampooed, etc. The RV consignment guy was a bit hesitant about putting it on his lot.

His son came by to look at it and ended up driving it away with a damp rug. I placed newspapers down for him to walk on. And within an hour he had closed it up and was driving away.

My van is tucked into the southeast corner of the building to get as much heat and shelter as possible. The carport will have to wait until next spring.

In past winters, I turned off the breakers to the well and went about my business. I must have lucked out. I had a sand filter installed on Saturday and the plumber told me Oregon is expecting extreme weather and the breakers will turn off the heating elements inside of the well house. He told me the holding tank can rupture in a deep freeze. I followed his advice, turned the water off at the well and drained all water in the house, closed down my frig and left the faucets on. The mini-split heat pump keeps the house at 52 degrees while I'm gone.

I'm becoming an expert on maintaining a house in a damp climate near a stream. I didn't have presence of mind enough to take enough pictures like I used to when I was blogging on the road. I did take insurance photos of the entire house and furnishings, though.

DON'T WE ALWAYS COMPLAIN ?

Incomparable beauty. It snowed in lovely drifts, melted a bit and then continued to pile on the white stuff until it reached about a foot deep. I plunged into clean, undisturbed surfaces to the mail box, and through the yard, quite fascinated by changes wrought to ordinary views. A perfect day to stoke up the wood stove, and hunker down to a project one never has time to do. I wrote a couple letters; examined a half finished scrap book, but couldn't finish it without a copymaker because the storm also brought a power outage.

Managed to fry a couple eggs and heat water for tea on top of the wood stove. While it was pleasant and relaxing, doing without power for five hours is unsettling. It presses home our dependence on computers, electric lights, tools and appliances. Even the gas, on-demand, water heater didn't work without its electric thermostat, nor the portable phones we have that plug in the wall. Hmmm! We're so connected.

In Calaveras County, Bear Valley Ski Area will be gloriously happy, as I was at first. I'm done complaining, I'm just glad the power is back. (And I give Jim a bad time about being a weather whimp.)

WIND, RAIN, AND SNOW ON OAK TREES MAKES YOU WOOD RICH AND COLD

Son Doug called me this morning to warn me an 80 mile long by 40 mile wide weather system was headed our way. Oh, Joy! Didn't we just have enough snow to quality for exemplary weather? Jim insists that we saved all this weather just for him! Together we carried in a load of wood for the stove, then he fired up his vehicles to make sure the batteries stay healthy. It IS cold and windy.
Inside, he huddled into a sweatshirt and gloves and declared he would not go out again today. Can't say I blame him. This is unusual weather even for Murphys. The snow is supposed to stay at a higher elevations. Oaks keep their leaves and do not do well with a heavy wet snow. Then a good hard rain saturating the ground, and fifty mile an hour winds? Possible heavy tree damage. I have multiple wood piles about the place from past tree disasters. I maintain the weak trees are already gone. I have nothing left to lose. Then I pray its true.
Truth be said, we have no control over old man weather, so enjoy or curse. Its all the same.

PARROTS FERRY, NEW MELLONES, DROUGHT AND THE WEATHER

Some of us love weather. There is just something about the bluster and change that winter brings; the winds of March and the bursting greens of spring with hot summers to follow that makes you feel alive. But...not so for Jim. He likes the 74-80 degree weather pattern and if HE were to control, it wouldn't change. He is driving to Murphys in his motor home as I write and I haven't warned him that the weather report is predicting snow-OH, NO, SNOW-down to 2,000 feet. He hasn't been rained on in 8 years, or some such! Haven't a clue what will happen if the white stuff actually touches his skin. Yikes!
But, you know, the drought is upon us and we need that water even if it comes down as bits of ice. I took a picture of the Parrots Ferry Bridge over New Mellones. The red dirt shows how low the reservoir is and how dismal the future for Calaveras County and California in general, if this dry trend continues.
Soooo, I've got wood for the fire, I'll mull some wine, light the candles, and cook up some South of the Border Stew. Ahh. Stave off the chill. But, I think I'll hide the thermometer just the same.

ABOUT NOMADS AND WEATHER FREAKS

Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars, so, the story goes. Married women tell tales, (its universal,) about men being terrified of running out of toilet paper. My guy has no such peccadillo. A true snowbird, he, instead, is terrified the weather might turn cold and he could actually experience rain!!. He diligently reviews the weather channel and drools over a good weather report. (See his tongue hanging out?) He puts a T shirt on every morning, and resents it if he has to change to sweats. That, and, now that he is down to about 5,000 plastic bags, its possible he could run out of them. He is avoiding California where they may be passing a law to charge consumers a clean-up fee for each plastic bag they use. O’ woe. What can I say! I, the Greenie cheer, while he scowls.
I do love to have fun at Jim's expense, but on a more serious note, I wasn't quite sure I understood the nomads that are part of the RV culture. The book, Back Roads America, has a statement by the author that defines Jim, so I will repeat it here. "I had grown attached to my nomadic existence, wandering the highways free to go anywhere, passing in and out of people’s lives with the impermanence of a weather front. Each day brought novelty-the narcotic of the traveler, and I was hopelessly addicted."
Adios Amigos

OCEAN TO OCEAN BRIDGE AT FIRST LIGHT

In the Northern U.S. when it snows, the white coverlet erases all faults and provides beauty. Here in Yuma, especially in the poor part of town, water is scarce and people don't have lawns. The dirt blows, they still crop dust here and the air quality is suspect. But, in the early morning light, all hard scrabble is erased and the half light provides beauty just like the snow.
We traveled to the Ocean to Ocean Bridge at first light for this photograph of the historic Yuma Crossing. This bridge was built in 1915 as the first bridge that allowed travel by car from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean by the southern route. Early morning moonlight reflects on this narrow section of the Colorado River. In territorial days, even without a bridge, this was one of the only places to get across this wild and raging river, which is now tamed to a low flow. It's just a trickle by the time it reaches Mexico.
The weather is beautiful, Jim the snowbird is chirping a happy song and all is well on the western frontier.
Saw, and recommend, A Civil Action, with John Travolta, which we saw last night.

Weather Cheated and Tamale Rich

Jim is feeling cheated because his winter home, Yuna, (he's a snowbird) is cold instead of warm. He is tired of wearing sweats and wants to get into sleeveless t-shirts and shorts for the duration, especially since he is skewing his winter to return to (brrrr!) cold Murphys while I have surgery in February. We all have our comfort levels and 65 degrees is definitely not for Jim.
But, its okay, the friendly weatherman is forecasting 70 degrees in a few more days and then the Rambler will be out and about without shivering. I keep telling him I've got weather Karma. Its a fact, wherever I go, I bring the sun shine with me. Well, sort of. I know we've been smiling a lot. I guess that qualifies for sunshine.
Dental work yesterday gave me a new smile and if that isn't a reason to celebrate, I don't know what is.
So tonight, we'll spend happy hour at the America Legion so I can try my smiling voice on Karioke. But, not before eating another wonderful dinner of home made tamales via Lydia. If you are in Yuma, you should call her and she'll make them special for you. The best I ever tasted, really. Call 928 388-1577