b goes bloggish

I’m grateful that the world keeps presenting me with interesting things.  After this last snow there are lots of bits of the spruce tree outside my living room lying on the snow.  I’ve seen red squirrels around recently, so I blamed them and lo and behold, when I looked it up, in times of scarcity, red squirrels bite off twigs that have buds on them, then they bite out the center of the buds and discard the twig.

I’m grateful that the bank’s appraisal came in at $10,000 more than I’m paying for it.  My realtor called it “instant equity.”  

I’m grateful that I now have a lovely smaller covered dumpster, almost gleeful!

I’m grateful for the show in the back yard this afternoon.  I tossed out a few handfuls of peanuts when I filled the bird feeder, and tossed some sunflower seeds under the spruce tree.  Sure enough, many of the little twigs have buds nipped out, although some didn’t seem to have buds.

I haven’t had red squirrels around much, which is nice, they are like quarrelsome neighbors.  There are two sitting out under the spruce, eating sunflower seeds and yelling at each other to beat the band.  For a while they were sitting about a foot apart and while one chewed and swallowed the other went chattering on non-stop. Meanwhile the peanuts I threw out next to the garden have been greatly reduced in numbers by one diligent squirrel who has been gamely running to them, picking up one and dashing off in different directions to bury them in the snow about an inch down.  If a plant grew in each location they would be scattered all across the yard, I can’t imagine that the squirrel will remember where they all are, or that others won’t loot them.  After a while it started hunting around for nuts buried in the snow near where they were lying and took several to distant places.  Then, a good job done and about 6 nuts left, it was time to stop and savor some left over peanuts for lunch.

I’m waiting for Nancy to call about the negotiations.  I got up early, so it feels like I’ve been waiting a long time, still, it’s only 11AM there.  

I’m pleased that I got the shoveling done, it wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped, because everything that had been plowed had more saturation and needed to be broken up before it could get dug out. I’d been reluctant to go out because there was a lot of gusty wind around, but fortunately the temp being around freezing, it was warm enough for me to be able to take off my coat, once I got going.  Now everything is open.

There’s a big porcupine haunting my winter world although waddling as it does, makes it harder to really haunt.  It’s surprising how high they will climb to grab a meal, I don’t mind it so much in the woods, but I hope it won’t start eating some of the trees near the house. This one was just passing by, going down hill.  There is a crust on the snow, so getting around right now is as easy as it gets for a porcupine. 

Lately each morning starts with the red squirrels. Either the gray squirrels are eating elsewhere first things or they are sleeping late.

It started out clear, with a fresh dusting of snow stretched out beneath blue sky. The shadows stretch long across the pastures and today’s sun will only climb 24˚ above the horizon here at “high” noon. A 24˚ storm is coming over the western horizon, promising 15″ of snow. Temps all below freezing, hanging around 15˚F.

NPR, the wallpaper of my indoor life, sends me twirling in the kitchen, succumbing to the need to boogie in the living room. 15˚F outside keeps me dancing indoors and the music moves me often, thoughts of my adventure adding momentum.

https://bizarro.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/SecretSymbolBunny-242×360.jpg

My Bunny of Exuberance from Bizarro by cartoonist Dan Piraro

Bizarro is my favorite cartoon, reminiscent of Al Herschfeld’s, with his hidden secret symbols you have to search for. I first approach them by appreciating the humor of the cartoon itself, but then the hunt begins as I seek out the secret symbols. My greatest pleasure is when I check the number next to his signature and realize I’ve missed one.

Today was a day for joyfulness. Being unlucky in love, even hopeless, is hard to feel grateful for, but recovering, getting my feet under me again, accepting, are all reasons for deepest gratitude. And hopelessness was the key I needed to finally move forward. But now, with that door firmly shut, I find myself standing at an opening gate, onto a magical new landscape, with myriads of new experiences from white mountain tops to wild flowers so small they are barely able to hold on to their color. And with all of that, family and friends, some still unmet, all opening doors in my new abode, sharing their lives and experiences with me. What’s not to look forward to? To be exuberant about?

Here’s the latest on the Coxcroft effort.  The Ws are spending the next two weeks having the place evaluated, looking at the stability of the slope, septic issues, ground water.  They know what they want to build and will decide if it’s worth going forward. They want the place for a larger year-round home.   So that’s a make or break point.  And will give us information on the general state of the place.

Also, I have someone interested in my house near Augusta, a young couple who are related to my neighbors to the south.  They came by to walk the property 3 days ago. I have 5 acres in pastures around my house and an additional 42 acres of wood lot, but 40 acres doesn’t have near the value of the tiny house lots out there. Still a wood lot is respected out here. The family who owns the piece next to me are loggers, they use beautiful horses in the woods, then they take off for the summer and travel around to the fairs and compete in pulling events with them. They have been a great source of aged manure!

I had a realtor come out today to look at my house, and he will get back to me by the beginning of next week as to how much he thinks I can get for it.  He said nice things about it but he didn’t understand why I was paying so much more on taxes than my neighbor, apparently having little appreciation for the woodlot.  

So that’s it from my part of the woods, the snow (5”) is melting but we won’t see temps above freezing for the next 5-6 days.  Every day I look at the weather, I check Oregon’s.  And drool.  I’m having a great time working on this adventure, though, and am looking forward to actually getting out there.  I’ll let you know when there’s more to know.