Full Tilt

This last week with the nighttime temps dipping down into the very low 20’s, it was easy to get into a winter mood.

I spent several days raking the big leaf maple leaves that had coated the driveway with nearly a foot of golden hued carpet while alder and black walnut leaves mash under tires on the county road. You may ask why it took me several days, it is because with the cold weather we also had the brisk Columbia River Gorge East Wind (yes all Capitalized).

The CRGEW is known for its tenacity of lasting for a week at a time, blowing garbage cans from one neighbor to another even when neighbors are nearly a half mile from each other, ruining every kind of hairdo, cooling body temps no matter how many layers one has on, and making most people cranky in a persistent kind of way as they discuss the current chill-factor caused by the wind.

I like using the lightweight Truper brand rake for those platter sized maple leaves. Find more info by clicking on the picture and shop as you would normally do. By clicking, I get credit for directing people to the affiliate site and may make a small commission if you purchase anything without a cost to you. Prime and other codes work with the link. Thank you for supporting my stories 

The first day of sweeping I had piled the leaves on the far side of the woven wire fence that surrounds the bull pen, that night the wind dried out the leaves and sent them airborne over and through the fence and right back into the driveway and yard. That CRGEW caused the trees to give up their leaves then swirled them. Sweeping would clear a path on one side of the driveway while causing a mound on the other side. Or when one pile was accumulated, a gust would come through and send the mountain back to a wide swath of carpet. I believe I swept the exact same leaves for 5 days in a row before I finally was able to crush and pile them into a non-moving, rather large heap that the five yearling bulls then used as a lounging area that helped keep it held in place until the winds subsided.

But enough of the leaves, I also was finally able to get the rototiller unstuck from the wet spot in the garden where it had sunk in September and froze into place in October. It is now safely stored under cover in the shop until I need it in the spring.

The ground under the lawn dried out enough to get a final go over with the mower. Most of the garden hoses that fill the bull pen, show barn cows, the nearly ready to butcher critters, and newly weaned animals un-thawed enough to drain and roll up for storage (through winter weather we only pull out one at a time when needed to fill stock tanks to avoid frozen hoses).

All manner of cold weather gear has been brought out of storage and is competing for space in the garage along with our bay-full of firewood bundles. It feels like fall has left and winter has already set in.