Rain...finally

It started raining last night and rained all night and all day today. Still sprinkling tonight. We really needed the rain. We haven't had any significant rain or snow in at least a couple months. Everyone has been worried about wild fires this year.
We're still working on brush-clearing and tree-trimming. Also doing some walking around in the garden and planning for this year. We keep a map of the garden each year and rotate where we plant things. I'll have to order apple and cherry trees to replace the ones rabbits killed this winter. It still makes me want to weep. This time we'll put something around the trunks to protect them over the winter.
I've gotten most of the apples from the root cellar dehydrated now. They look neat, like some kind of weird potato chips! Next I'll start on the potatoes, but it'll have to wait until after my bike trip. They should keep all right. If they sprout, we'll plant them!

Bumble bee

Steven didn't realize he and his bike were dressed alike today! They look like black & yellow bumble bees! This is the hill climbing out of Eureka. The historical marker sign tells about glaciders 15,000 years ago, yada yada yada. I guess Indians wandered through here too, but only passing through. Not a "settlement" type of place. I agree. No palm trees!

We've been outside doing "tree" work this afternoon. Pruning fruit trees and raspberry bushes, and thinning young pine trees west of the cabin. Rabbits might have killed most of our fruit trees. The bark is chewed off pretty bad around the trunks of them. First winter we've had any trouble.

A load of "sh**"

Bryan brought us a huge load of horse manure for the garden! He and Steven unloaded all that with shovels! What a job that was. I helped some toward the end but was mostly in the way.

It's been a weird weather week. Sunny one minute, then swirls of snow coming down, then sunny again, mixed with wind and roller-coaster temperatures.

I've been out on my bicycle most afternoons doing my miles, getting in shape for my bike trip. I've also been piling up stuff I want to take. I haven't packed it yet because I want to keep looking at it to make sure I have everything I need.

Sun or rain?

It was supposed to rain today but so far it's sunny, though there are stormy-looking clouds on the mountains to the east.

We had to go to Libby yesterday on political/government type business. In the 67-mile stretch between Eureka and Libby we only seen 2 cars. Nice.

Gas went up twice this week. From $2.68 to $2.75 and then to $2.78.

Snow???

After having above-normal temperatures for the past couple months, it turned cold and snowed yesterday! I couldn't decide whether to go ahead and enjoy the sight of the flakes coming down, or to sit and scowl at it! Although it snowed all day we only got one sloppy inch, and that's gone today.

There's still snow on the ground up here around the cabin, but there are bare spots too. Very MUDDY bare spots! Down in the valley it's dry. Our 3 miles of dirt road are a generous mix of broken ice, slush, and mud. It takes 20 minutes to drive to the pavement right now. In summer we can drive it in 15 minutes, and in 2-wheel drive, unless it's been raining a lot!

I don't think I'm eating enough to keep up with my training bike rides. The no-sugar, no-salt diet for 1) my blood pressure, and 2) keeping my bad tooth less symptomatic, plus the fact that I don't eat processed foods (especially ones with High fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated fats) makes for less energy for the muscles. Time to increase things, but to choose carefully. More protein, more carbs, without garbaging up my diet.

Other than my pansy muscles and the cold temperatures, the bike rides are going well. I rode to Eureka today and brought groceries home on my bike. Less wind today too, which was nice. Cold air but lots of sunshine.