Thursday, April 21, 2011
Springtime in Wyoming
Today has alternated between snow and sunshine. It's snowing right now:
Earlier, it was bright and sunny, then snow for about half an hour, then sunny and now snow again. This is very interesting weather!
The picture to the right shows what the wind did to the shed roof last week. A corner of the roof edging came loose, got pulled free and the rolled roofing returned to its rolled state! (It was snowing that day, too.) Last weekend, we flattened out the roofing that was rolled up and then covered it with new rolled roofing. There are about three layers now--keeps the shed from leaking if it loses some of its roofing. However, we have to repair the rip so the wind doesn't take the whole roof off. Wind is entertaining!
These were birds earlier this month eating the seeds out of our yard. I refilled the bird feeders since the snow keeps on coming.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Dogs and other things
Today we have 28 degrees and snow. Yesterday, it was 75 degrees! Gotta love springtime in Wyoming.
3/30/2011
Looks like the dog problem has subsided, mostly because the dogs destroyed everything that was interesting and there's nothing to come back to. The problem is actually quite widespread. A letter to the editor last month said a pack of dogs was threatening school children and the sheriff's deputy was feeding the dogs his lunch in order for the kids to get to school safely. You cannot shoot dogs, even with a paintball gun (guess that would prove Metro is doing nothing about this). So the dogs threaten the kids with impunity. Guess that shows that how high dogs rank in Natrona county--the dogs have higher rights than children.
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| April 3 |
4/2/2011
Spoke too soon on the dog problem. Both dogs were clear up to my house this week. Looks like it's time for a letter to Metro and fortifying the duck enclosure. Maybe an electric fence and a game camera for documenting intruders.
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| April 3, 2011 |
Today we have 28 degrees and snow. Yesterday, it was 75 degrees! Gotta love springtime in Wyoming.
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| April 1--birds eating seeds |
3/30/2011
Looks like the dog problem has subsided, mostly because the dogs destroyed everything that was interesting and there's nothing to come back to. The problem is actually quite widespread. A letter to the editor last month said a pack of dogs was threatening school children and the sheriff's deputy was feeding the dogs his lunch in order for the kids to get to school safely. You cannot shoot dogs, even with a paintball gun (guess that would prove Metro is doing nothing about this). So the dogs threaten the kids with impunity. Guess that shows that how high dogs rank in Natrona county--the dogs have higher rights than children.
I am getting some ducklings in about 6 weeks. If the dogs come back, it seems likely I will be posting pictures of dead ducklings or the feathers that are left. It's really impossible to keep a 50 lb dog out of a duck pen. I am considering a surveillance camera (game camera) because if I can prove the dogs killed the ducks, Metro will destroy the dogs. The only way that can be avoided is with a very sturdy pen, with a top, and the dogs don't get another chance. Someone passed a law on "vicious dogs" which contained the rule that dogs killing anything outside their yard makes them vicious. It was supposed to stop pit bulls and rottweillers (Metro afraid of these dogs) but it actually does far more. I don't think people would have approved if they had known what was going on. Even Game and Fish is complaining about dogs killing wildlife. The dogs can be shot for this, but since dogs are gods here, it's an iffy thing to do.
Otherwise, things are normal for spring here. It's supposed to get to 65 on Saturday, then a high of 33 on Sunday. Love that springtime weather. Here's a picture of the dusting of snow we had on the 21st:
Friday, February 25, 2011
Destroying property at will
Today we revisit the rights of your neighbors to utterly and completely destroy your property using a dog or a cat. You know those "dog at large" laws. Complete joke. It's not like that million dollar money suck called Metro is actually going to do anything about a dog ripping and shredding things on your property. I have no idea why they get paid in the first place. Giant doggy condo for destructive creatures that people use to commit vandelism. So, move to Wyoming and watch your neighbor's large dogs destroy your property with the blessing of your government and waste your tax money at the same time.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Freezing cold, snowed in and it's sooooo beautiful
Can someone explain to me when retirement came to mean living in a freezing cold area, snowed in for weeks? When did it become heaven on earth at 20 below? When did watching hundreds of dollars of building material blow across the prairie become so funny? There is certainly no concern for the environment in this practice. Please, someone explain why wealthy retirees love living in complete tech comfort (tv, cell phone, internet) out in the middle of nowhere. It's certainly not roughing it. It's very expensive. As one ages, does the idea of pretending to be tough and independent become appealing? Is this a Bear Grylls thing? Telling everyone you are a survivor and conquerer while living in luxery hotels at night? I have to be honest, if this is retirement, count me out. I have no desire to start a cult following on the frozen prairie. Nor did I move to this state to be sucked into someone else's prescribed life style and keep them company in their old age. What have Americans become?
Feb 2, 2011
It was reportedly -35 degrees (some reports put it at -48 degrees) in Nirvana last night. Go Nirvana.
Feb 2, 2011
It was reportedly -35 degrees (some reports put it at -48 degrees) in Nirvana last night. Go Nirvana.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Winter has arrived!
December 15, 2010
We finally got around 6 inches of snow. Casper is still 10 inches behind in snowfall for the month of December. It also is much colder--single digits at night and upper teens so far today. Feels more like winter is supposed to.I have a couple of pictures of the snow:
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Gone but not forgotten!
It looks like much of the US is sharing in the wind phenomena we experience much of the time. Last Sunday, the skeleton of a new bank building was blown over by high winds. Gusts were well over 50 mph. I didn't see any reports of semis blowing off the road, but that is common also.
We had our first snow yesterday. It has been a very mild fall--I just gave up on the garden last Friday. I'm looking forward to actual winter.
10/12/10
I see it has been a long time since I updated this page. Things have been busy with gardening, hunting, going to the cabin, etc. And with a craft fair coming up, I am behinder than usual! Garden is pretty much done and hunting season has only 2 days left. We ended up with 3 deer and 2 antelope so far. I have one deer tag left.
Life has been pretty quiet here. We made it out to the ranch about three times. We went on opening day for antelope season and were not happy with the hunters. We had two driving across our land (one shot and antelope, gutted it and then drove off over more of our land) and one we told they were not to drive on our land. Later, a neighbor called and had a bullet hole in his shop from careless hunters. At times I think Game and Fish has lost control of hunting here--hunters were driving all over private land, camping and parking on the roads, etc. Hunter Management areas were supposed to help, but I think it just made things worse because the hunters that see antelope near the management area feel free to drive over any land between them and the antelope or deer. It's very frustrating.
It has been cooling off a bit--only in the 50's today. I am so hoping for winter soon!
I am waiting for animal control to come get their trap with a skunk in it. We had it to catch a stray cat, but caught a skunk instead. The trap is within 20 feet of the front door and the skunk can see anyone who walks up the sidewalk. He was asleep most of the day, but it's clouding over and cooling off and he is waking up every so often. If they don't come soon, I will have to cover him with a tarp or something so he doesn't know whether people are around or not. We trapped 2 or 3 others earlier this year.
That's it for now. Maybe I can add more later and some pictures!
We had our first snow yesterday. It has been a very mild fall--I just gave up on the garden last Friday. I'm looking forward to actual winter.
10/12/10
I see it has been a long time since I updated this page. Things have been busy with gardening, hunting, going to the cabin, etc. And with a craft fair coming up, I am behinder than usual! Garden is pretty much done and hunting season has only 2 days left. We ended up with 3 deer and 2 antelope so far. I have one deer tag left.
Life has been pretty quiet here. We made it out to the ranch about three times. We went on opening day for antelope season and were not happy with the hunters. We had two driving across our land (one shot and antelope, gutted it and then drove off over more of our land) and one we told they were not to drive on our land. Later, a neighbor called and had a bullet hole in his shop from careless hunters. At times I think Game and Fish has lost control of hunting here--hunters were driving all over private land, camping and parking on the roads, etc. Hunter Management areas were supposed to help, but I think it just made things worse because the hunters that see antelope near the management area feel free to drive over any land between them and the antelope or deer. It's very frustrating.
It has been cooling off a bit--only in the 50's today. I am so hoping for winter soon!
I am waiting for animal control to come get their trap with a skunk in it. We had it to catch a stray cat, but caught a skunk instead. The trap is within 20 feet of the front door and the skunk can see anyone who walks up the sidewalk. He was asleep most of the day, but it's clouding over and cooling off and he is waking up every so often. If they don't come soon, I will have to cover him with a tarp or something so he doesn't know whether people are around or not. We trapped 2 or 3 others earlier this year.
That's it for now. Maybe I can add more later and some pictures!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Catching up
August 6th
Summer continues to be HOT! There are also afternoon thundershowers, but it remains fairly dry. There was some phenomenal wind a couple of days ago with dust blowing 20 feet in the air! The warning sirens went off--but people did not understand that the sirens go off for both tornados and severe thunderstorm warnings. We just had "brief, heavy rain" and "strong, gusty wind". It's tapering off now.
We have not made it to the ranch lately--too much home repair. We went and helped Dorothy move her stuff to her new storage shed and on one trip discovered the wind had tried to blow over the outhouse, which is tied down. Not good. Now we are trying to pull the cargo trailer down and have no luck getting it hooked up. We pulled it before....
I'm putting in a couple of photos and that's it for now.
July 17th
Summer arrived and the cool is all over! The past week, we exceeded 90 degrees and it's for cast to be that warm most of next week. The wind has varied dramatically, kicking up in the afternoon and occasionally accompanied by light rain.
We've been catching up with house repairs so have had little time for road trips. Now that it is hot, I have time to catch up on inside stuff, including cleaning and sorting. I am at that "too much stuff" stage--time to reduce inventory. I don't want to end up buried by my stuff!
After the shower install (which included building a stub wall, replumbing, reusing and modifying shower doors), the entry door gave out and we replaced that, then fixed the closet door so it closes for the first time in years. Life in the fast lane!!
July 7
It remains cool. Yesterday, I had a quilted flannel shirt on while weeding the garden. The high reached a shopping 57 degrees! A slow warmup is on the way, but we re not sure for how long.
Pathfinder Dam went over the spillway this year. It's really a sight to see. This hasn't happened in over 20 years!
July 4
Woke up to peas sized hail and 46 degree temps this morning. Once source mentions the possibility of snow above 9000 feet. Such a nifty thing!
July2
It's kind of like summer here, at least the last few days. It has hit the nineties for msot of the week, but a cool down to more normal temps (low 80's) is said to be on the way.
June 17
There have been some warmer days after a very cold weekend. In typical Wyoming style, the furnace was running on the 15th in the morning and in the afternoon, I turned on the swamp cooler.
This is the busy time of the year. Since it is still raining, the mowing is more frequent (but still only once a week or less). Since I mow over an acre with a gas push mower, it takes a lot of time to mow--1 or 2 hours a day at times. It's good exercise.
June 10, 2010
It's quite cool here now--64 degrees. It is predicted to be even colder this weekend. I am looking at ways to warm the garden for the corn and bean rows. The corn is starting to come up, but with the weather so cold, it won't grow much. Beans have still not sprouted.
I am putting some black plastic down to see if that helps with warming. I have had trouble keeping weeds down. Weeds grow even when it's cold. If the weather dries out (we have had rain nearly every day for a week ) I will return to weeding and adding the plastic. It was on sale and I just bought a little to test how well it works.
I laid out the garden in "plots" marked off by string. Then I made a chart so I wll know what came up. So far, much of what I planted has come up except for beans, as noted above. I added three protable cold frames made from plastic (clear) and 1 by 2's. Maybe that will work.
Summer continues to be HOT! There are also afternoon thundershowers, but it remains fairly dry. There was some phenomenal wind a couple of days ago with dust blowing 20 feet in the air! The warning sirens went off--but people did not understand that the sirens go off for both tornados and severe thunderstorm warnings. We just had "brief, heavy rain" and "strong, gusty wind". It's tapering off now.
We have not made it to the ranch lately--too much home repair. We went and helped Dorothy move her stuff to her new storage shed and on one trip discovered the wind had tried to blow over the outhouse, which is tied down. Not good. Now we are trying to pull the cargo trailer down and have no luck getting it hooked up. We pulled it before....
I'm putting in a couple of photos and that's it for now.
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| Storm |
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| Dust before storm |
July 17th
Summer arrived and the cool is all over! The past week, we exceeded 90 degrees and it's for cast to be that warm most of next week. The wind has varied dramatically, kicking up in the afternoon and occasionally accompanied by light rain.
We've been catching up with house repairs so have had little time for road trips. Now that it is hot, I have time to catch up on inside stuff, including cleaning and sorting. I am at that "too much stuff" stage--time to reduce inventory. I don't want to end up buried by my stuff!
After the shower install (which included building a stub wall, replumbing, reusing and modifying shower doors), the entry door gave out and we replaced that, then fixed the closet door so it closes for the first time in years. Life in the fast lane!!
July 7
It remains cool. Yesterday, I had a quilted flannel shirt on while weeding the garden. The high reached a shopping 57 degrees! A slow warmup is on the way, but we re not sure for how long.
Pathfinder Dam went over the spillway this year. It's really a sight to see. This hasn't happened in over 20 years!
July 4
Woke up to peas sized hail and 46 degree temps this morning. Once source mentions the possibility of snow above 9000 feet. Such a nifty thing!
July2
It's kind of like summer here, at least the last few days. It has hit the nineties for msot of the week, but a cool down to more normal temps (low 80's) is said to be on the way.
June 17
There have been some warmer days after a very cold weekend. In typical Wyoming style, the furnace was running on the 15th in the morning and in the afternoon, I turned on the swamp cooler.
This is the busy time of the year. Since it is still raining, the mowing is more frequent (but still only once a week or less). Since I mow over an acre with a gas push mower, it takes a lot of time to mow--1 or 2 hours a day at times. It's good exercise.
June 10, 2010
It's quite cool here now--64 degrees. It is predicted to be even colder this weekend. I am looking at ways to warm the garden for the corn and bean rows. The corn is starting to come up, but with the weather so cold, it won't grow much. Beans have still not sprouted.
I am putting some black plastic down to see if that helps with warming. I have had trouble keeping weeds down. Weeds grow even when it's cold. If the weather dries out (we have had rain nearly every day for a week ) I will return to weeding and adding the plastic. It was on sale and I just bought a little to test how well it works.
I laid out the garden in "plots" marked off by string. Then I made a chart so I wll know what came up. So far, much of what I planted has come up except for beans, as noted above. I added three protable cold frames made from plastic (clear) and 1 by 2's. Maybe that will work.
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| grasshopper invasion |
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| Hail on July 4th |
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| Pathfinder Dam above the spillway |
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| Pathfinder Dam looking like a waterfall! |
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