MountainLife – Page 2 – Random Thoughts

A Joy-Filled Welcome

One of the great things about dogs is the way the dogs welcome us home. It’s always a celebration. It makes us feel great to know someone is so happy to see us again — even though we may have been gone only an hour.

I cannot speak about goats, horses, cows, sheep, pigs, lemurs, guinea pigs, rabbits, ferrets, or ducks – I’ve never had those as pets. I have had cats and for the most part their reaction to our return was, “Oh, were you gone? When are you going to feed me?”

When the dogs welcome us home, it is always with enthusiastic glee. Continue reading “A Joy-Filled Welcome”

Squirrel Revenge

squirrel crime scene — Scene of the crime

Marie and I were sitting on the front steps this afternoon watching the birds at the bird feeder. Marie commented that she put some gourmet bird food (includes nuts) in the feeder, she was surprised a squirrel hadn’t camped out on the thing.

No sooner were those words out of her mouth than a squirrel came hopping along the ground through the trees. He hopped up and climbed the metal pole the bird feeder hangs from and began to chow down. I went out and chased him off.

Marie said, “I should put some cooking oil on the pole.” Continue reading “Squirrel Revenge”

Power Outages Are Just Part of Rural Life

Power outages are nothing new to rural residents. But new technologies have helped reduce the number of outages and reduce the length of those that can not be prevented.

Is There a Good Time for Power Outages?

You would think the least problematic time for a power outage would be in the middle of the night; no lights are on, no one is watching TV or listening to a radio or using a computer – everyone is sleeping. In fact you’d think that a power outage at night would go completely unnoticed. Not so. The small soft noises that a home makes get so ingrained in our subconscious that when they suddenly go away, it tends to wake us up.

Power outages in the evenings are inconvenient; this is when we are likely using computers, listening to the radio, lights are on and needed. Maybe we’re fixing the evening meal in our all-electric kitchen. This turned into a good thing once. Continue reading “Power Outages Are Just Part of Rural Life”

Howling in the Night

“Ticky-tack, ticky-tack, ticky-tack”.

The sound alerted that small portion of my brain that remains on-duty while the rest of me sleeps, “Strange sound! What is that?” Sentry queries Main Brain.

Memories are searched, the reply comes back, “Small-dog claws clattering on the granite-like tiles of the hallway. Someone is up. Must be Kathy.”

“Is that of concern?”

Main Brain, groggy with slumber considers this: Kathy rarely gets up at night. Cochise does, but Cochise’s 90 pound frame sounds very different from 20 pound Kathy as they traverse the short hallway leading to the kitchen for a drink. Kathy often gets up when I do, but almost never before I do. “Yes: this is an alert.” Main Brain swims up through the levels of unconsciousness. Continue reading “Howling in the Night”

Running Water: An Oft-overlooked Convenience

It is often the little things in life, the things we tend to take for granted, that will make you sit up and take notice when they are no longer there. We flip a switch and a room lights up, we turn a knob and water flows, we twist a key and transportation is available to go most anywhere we desire.

But when the engine doesn’t start, or no water flows, or the room remains dark, is when we realize how much we have come to depend on these little “conveniences”. Not all at once though … a brief power outage is a mere inconvenience, but extended power loss will teach you how much you rely on electricity.

When my wife and I got up on Thursday morning, we found we were without water: most likely the bitter cold had frozen a line somewhere. I found I had no water in the workshop either, and Mom was waterless as well. There is a point where the water line comes up out of the ground under the workshop to connect to the pressure tank that feeds well-water to all three buildings. I considered this to be the most likely freeze-point that would affect all three buildings. There is no heat tape on this because it is a strange, Rube Goldberg-like assemblage of assorted plumbing. I reasoned that if I were to inject heat into that area, the pipes may thaw out. A light bulb might do.

I went looking for some sort of portable lamp that had an incandescent bulb in it. It was a longer search than one would think because nearly all of my lights have been converted to CFL bulbs: those give off no heat and would be useless for this task. Finally, in the back of a closet in the workshop, I found a pair on small interior spotlights that Marie had bought at a garage sale some years ago. They were intended to provide illumination above the desk in my office but were never installed. One had a spotlight in it. Would it work? I plugged it into an outlet and pinched the roller switch: it lit up! I grabbed a 50-foot extension cord and headed outside.

There is a hatch in the skirting under the mobile home that serves as my workshop that gives easy access to the plumbing in question. This is good, for “things” live down there: the dogs hear them scurrying about and are fascinated. I know the shop has a problem with mice, I keep D-Con packs in strategic places to deal with them. Once in a while I am in the yard and hear a “thump” as something bangs into the metal skirting from inside. I imagine a pair of young possum wrestling down there, but I have no way of knowing for sure. I have caught Copperheads crawling out from under there as well. All manner of things *could* be down there and the last thing I want is to crawl in there and slither about in that tight, dark cavern. Reaching in through a hatch is much more to my liking.

The story continues …

Routine

They say that human beings (most living things really) are creatures of habit. I know a few people who claim they hate being locked into a routine and would much prefer to live spontaneous and free. Perhaps they’re exceptions to the rule; perhaps they’re only fooling themselves regarding the construction of their lives. As for me: I like routine. An established routine is like a warm blanket that gives me security by knowing where I will be and what I will be doing. Normally. Life is never quite that simple. Perhaps if I were an inmate in a prison, but in life as a free citizen: stuff happens. Continue reading “Routine”

White Christmas

Originally published on December 25, 2010 by SimpleLifePrattle.com

Christmas snowfall tree The house is still quiet, only the gentle crackling of the fire in the fireplace, revived from the embers of the blaze we enjoyed late into the evening as we watched Christmas movies together, and Dolly’ gentle snoring disturb the silence. I gaze out the window at the equally still morning outside.

Small white flakes are falling gentle as goose down, swirling in the occasional soft gust. The tops of things and roofs are just frosted with the accumulated snow flakes, not the ground, not yet. A small thrill of excitement rises in my chest; we have not had a white Christmas since 1981, but it looks very promising this year.

We have in fact had 3 snowfalls this year, one of them pretty heavy – heavy for us; quite minor by the standards of some others – which is unusual. We don’t normally get snowfall until mid January or February. So the odds of enjoying a white Christmas where we are is slim.

To find snow on Christmas day, we must pile into our truck and head up into the higher mountains. Chestnut and Round Mountains rarely disappoint. But to get up and find snow falling outside our window on Christmas morning is a rare treat indeed.

Our mountain; Piney Mountain, does not have the elevation to reach up into the usual snow lines. Elevation makes a marked difference in whether precipitation falls as rain or now. During our last snowfall I took this photo which shows how suddenly this change can come about. An extra 100 feet on this mountain slope changes the topography from wet with rain to snow-covered. It is really quite amazing, and is just one of the reasons we love living here so much.

The single flakes have begun to pair up and twirl like dancers in the air, then the pairs begin to combine as the dancers become more numerous and clusters of flakes whirl and twirl; a nearly infinite barn dance in the air.

The snow begins to stick to the grass now… yes’sir, we are going to have ourselves a white Christmas for sure.

I hear stirrings of wakefulness in the other rooms now. I lay another log on the fire and head into the kitchen to start breakfast.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Riding in the Internet Fast Lane

Please note: this article has been resurrected from many years ago. Service and reliability of the companies discussed may have changed since them… but I doubt it. This is offered as a humorous adventure story, not as a commentary or review of these firms.

We have been looking, longingly, at high speed internet deals for over a year now. The trouble is that there really are few viable options available to us here on our mountain side. DSL is not available and will not be available anytime in the foreseeable future, according to AT&T. There is one local wireless internet company, but they say their towers are at capacity and are not accepting new clients. That leaves satellite, cell phone or cable.

My research indicates that satellite service is not especially reliable (or affordable) in locations such as ours – trees block the signal, or more accurately, moisture in the leaves of trees block the signal as do clouds and fog. We live in a forest. The Great Smoky Mountains are famous for the fog and mists that rest on our mountain overnight. Some are lazy and refuse to get up and fly way at the crack of dawn, so atmospheric water content is an issue especially for sending (uploading) which is most of what I do here. That leaves cell phone or cable.

To be honest, I’m afraid of cell phone companies. I know too many people who complain loud and long about their cell phone bills and the way they were duped into a two year (or more) contract for services that don’t work well. Air time is expensive, and the internet is a major player in our household and business. No, I don’t think a cellular account would suit us at all. That leaves cable. Continue reading “Riding in the Internet Fast Lane”

Hat Man Do – Seeking the Fedora

Doug and his fedora I wear a fedora. No, not a menorah, a fedora: a type of hat — a type of hat that has fallen out of favor with the stylish set among common folk. But it was once a favored hat among most folk, common or stylish. Many of the mountain men depicted on TV and movies wore fedoras. So did gangsters. I think this style of hat captured my fancy first when I saw Indiana Jones. Indy wore a fedora. In fact the brown cloth fedora I wear is an official, licensed Indiana Jones product. Did I order it from some Indiana Jones fan web site or buy it at a fan convention? No; I found it in a discount tool store. One of those Dollar General-like places that buys, at liquidation prices, stuff that regular retail stores haven’t sold and want to be rid of. They were on close-out sale, but even Tool World wasn’t having much luck moving them.

Marie and I were just browsing: we were in this town for another purpose but had some time and tool stores are fun to explore. My eyes lit up when I saw the display; I’d been looking for a brown fedora for a while now. We’d been in all the local stores that carry clothing, they had a variety of hats, some not bad, but not fedoras. Marie quipped about how many places we had searched for a fedora and here we find them in a tool store. I trotted over and started looking through the selection for one my size. Continue reading “Hat Man Do – Seeking the Fedora”