B-R-R-R-R!

It’s cold. Below zero cold. Not unheard of here at the eastern edge of a high desert, but cold non-the-less.

On Friday the 28th we took a trip to the lot. We wanted to see how much snow was on the ground and pick up a load of firewood we had staged on our last visit. Temperature topped out at 11 degrees F with a north wind blowing gently but steadily. It was cold! We had the 3 dogs with us. They thought the outing was fun, but did spend some time in the car while we got our work done. Much warmer in the car, after all.

We loaded our wood in the trailer then headed up to Pam’s Pavilion Point to check out the wintery view.

We brought a load of firewood home. It will be cut up and donated to a cat rescue agency.

Winter view of South Park from Pam’s Pavilion Point

We are using the above photo as our current screen saver. Pam says it makes her cold just to look at it. With temps at 11 degrees and a wind blowing, it was on the cool side.

Pam and the dogs near Pam’s Pavilion Point.

Most of the lot faces south, and there was not much snow in most places. Even in more sheltered areas the snow was not much more than 2 – 3 inches deep. We have more snow at home! Note Blondie is in her winter coat. With her short hair she is the least adapted to cold weather, so Pam puts a coat on Blondie before Blondie ventures outdoors for any length of time in temps like these.

Now the work really starts.

Saturday we cut the firewood into lengths and stacked it up along our driveway. Below is the result of our hauling and cutting. We plan on delivering the wood this Sunday.  (After all, if there’s wood in the trailer, how can I load my snowmobile?)

Firewood cut and ready to be loaded and delivered.

Overall this was a successful, if short, trip, We are moving firewood off the lot and developing a sense of where the snow is distributed on the land. One problem on the way home: an accident toppled a power pole over the main road from Fairplay to Breckenridge. Traffic was already backing up so we turned around and took an alternate route home. This detour took us an hour longer, but we drove through some areas we hadn’t visited in several years (like Leadville) so it wasn’t a real big issue. Waiting for hours for the road to clear with three dogs — and no restrooms — was not an option.

We aren’t sure when we will get back to the lot; I may plan a solo trip in January. Little work can be done due to the cold and snow cover, but we can continue to monitor the snow load and perhaps work on clearing the rest of the driveway route. It all depends on how much more snow South Park will see in the coming weeks. (It turns out the proposed driveway route had the most snow of anyplace on the lot. Go figure!)

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!