Friday December 19 2008

This is a photo of a fire near Big Sandy Lodge with smoke jumpers parachuting in. I am standing in front of the lodge on the shore of Mud Lake. We fed the firefighters 3 meals a day for over a week and there were lots of them - maybe sixty or eighty.

Guess I better catch up the blog, or you'll be wondering what happened to me. Friday morning Joe woke up at his usual early hour and found that the water in the house was totally frozen up. Figured the best thing to do was call James in GA, and let him go the proper route to getting someone here. He called the seller's realtor and said to get someone up here in an hour or we’d get our own plumber. A nice man from Bridger Mechanical soon came and went down in the crawl space and checked things out. He had to go to Sand Draw for a while and in a few hours was back with most of what he needed to get our pipes fixed. By that time the water had started running thank goodness and no apparent leaks. He insulated the pipes that were showing and put heat tape on them where they came under the foundation. He thought that was where they had frozen. There are some open vents that are letting the wind and cold come in and those need to be closed and insulated. Hopefully this solution will be good for when it gets to be minus forty. It was only one degree this morning. Apparently there was no permanent damage to the pipes. ..... I’ve had about enough stuff going wrong for sooo long. Probably more stress than anything.

Took the car to the repair place. By evening I called and they said he had put it on the computer and nothing was wrong with it. I talked to the mechanic and he said he did find it was a little hard starting when it was cold and if I wanted he would put in a new fuel filter and some spark plugs, but he couldn't work on it until Monday. I decided to leave it there instead of going to get it and take it back again on Monday. At least it won't be a major bill.

Before the plumber left I had to get the carpet swept where the new desk and file cabinet would set in the living room, and clear enough room for the furniture delivery guys to work in the dining area and studio. Before noon the truck from the furniture store arrived and they brought the desk, a table for the studio TV, and a couple more chairs. They also brought a new table top for the dining table so hopefully now the leaf will work properly. They sure had to lift and yank to get it open and closed and I told them that I wouldn't be able to do that - the table is very heavy. Also way too big for two people to leave the leaf in. Finished the vacuuming, in fact mopped the wood floors 3 times, with Raven still finding mud to track in. I decided to quit mopping for a while.

It was snowing flurries off and on. Joe went out to the ranch to feed the cats so I hoped he wouldn't get into a storm where he can’t see the road. But he did fine. He loaded up his snow machine into the bed of the truck and brought it back so he could continue to go to the ranch when he wants and feed the cats. I went to the clinic at 3 p.m. to get the picc line flushed. I don't have to wait long and they get it done quick. Then went to the grocery store and was in there for about an hour and a half. I felt like I've been overdoing things after just getting this tube in my arm, so am just going to rest for a few days, and get to bed early.