authentic murk

Daybreak

We've had a bit of a storm, with heavy snow, downed limbs, power outage, and so on. Would you like to see a few snaps? They aren't much to look at, but they are quite accurate in their degree of murk.

I'd made a trip to the feedstore and gotten all the feed unloaded shortly before the predicted storm. And I've been getting the wood in for weeks, so no worries there. And lately I've been tackling the odd bit of fence-shifting and gate-adding with an eye to Winter access...in short, I was feeling pretty darned smug about this predicted storm!

Sunrise

(Really - it's behind that big oak, see?)

Which is why it is so baffling that I neglected to do one thing I always do: fill several 5-gallon buckets for a reserve water supply. In fact, I was tucking the goats in early and with extra grub on Wednesday when I suddenly thought, "Wet snow. Branches will come down. I'd better head back inside and fill those buckets before we lose power." And as I reached up to turn out the light in the workshop, the light went out.

The view in one direction

The view in another direction.

(I think you can imagine the rest.)

So, it's been two days of kettles on the woodstove,

melting snow to keep the goats supplied with water.

A black goat, very well disguised.

Melting snow for water may sound romantic,

but personally, I find the Rugged Pioneer Effect wears off pretty quickly when it's my own darned fault that I have an extra task to do.

It was nice to have such easy access to clean snow, though;

I filled the kettles dozens of times just by leaning out the door.

Didn't even need to put my boots on.

Piper helping collect the mail

after our driveway was plowed:

This box - light but big - was quite a challenge!

I don't know who was more proud of her success,

Piper or me.

 Late this morning, utility workers from all over the Commonwealth

upped stakes from their encampment at the end of my driveway.

I had trudged down to thank them for their efforts in my area,

long before my power was actually restored.

I do not envy them their work!

But I also will not miss the flashing lights from the trucks

reflecting off my ceilings all night long.

Bizarre dreams.

 

 Sunset

Back soon, hopefully with brighter images!

~~~~~