Loud Snow

November 13, 2006 (12:44pm)
35º F, Drippy/dreary, SW wind 5 mph.

Good afternoon,

We had are first real snow on Thursday and boy was it noisy! It came with a lot of thunder. The snow started to fall about 2:00 P.M. and so did the thunder. Both lasted until about bedtime. Normally, if we have thunder with snow, it is a couple of claps and that is all. This is the first time I can remember going on that long. Was kind of spooky in a way. When it was all said and done, there was a 2-3" blanket of beauty outside. Not really too sure how much came down since the ground is still not frozen and the air temperature was a little below the freezing point. The first snow melted as it landed. Suppose I could have had an accurate measurement if I had a frozen piece of something for the snow to land on.

The first real snowfall that sticks, always is the pettiest of the season. This one was no exception. With everything just at the freezing point and the snow being very wet, it sticks to everything. I did go for a walk down the driveway (to check for fallen branches and there was one needing to be moved) and the world was absolutely silent. It is so awe-inspiring for me every time it happens. The woods are white and you can see so much more and farther. At least where the branches are not fat with snow. All of the weeds and small plants are now flat to the ground, making it easier to walk in the woods too. The weeds will stay down, but many of the young trees, &c. will stand back up after the snow melts again.

My trapping efforts are really paying off. After trapping 4 possums, I had to get rid of a raccoon on Friday morning before the snows came. The coon was a pretty big female and rather heavy for a coon. The trap line inside is also working. We have been bothered by a mouse in the house for a couple of weeks. I have been depending on poison to do the job, but Saturday if found out it wasn’t. Really kind of funny. Getting out our snow boots from the closet Friday morning (first time we needed them for the season), I threw one of Margriet’s on the floor and a very large supply of mouse poison pellets fell out! Along with some other goodies from various places in the house where they were missed with the broom. Decided to get the traps out and put them to work. I had a thought (amazing) that looking at the poison pellets, they were about the same size as the curl on the trap bait tray. As it turned out, the pellets fit into it rather snugly. Since the little gray critter seemed to like them, I baited the traps with them. Worked perfectly! Next morning I had the little critter in the trap. Since we have not been bothered by any mouse in the house - for now. Margriet sure was getting some good exercise cleaning cabinets and counters more than once every couple of days though.

I mentioned that I wondered what the price of possum pelts were, so looked the prices up. Found there must be a lot of possum around as on average they are only worth about a buck a piece, with a high of about $1.30 for prime. Coon was a different story though and surprised be some. They are worth about $10.00 pelt. Might think about that if there are good numbers of coon around this year. Doesn’t seem to be as many as in years past though.

While looking for fur prices, I ran across a couple of interesting website from Alaska. One ( http://www.alaskareport.com/webcams.htm ) has several webcams from various places in Alaska. The pictures are awesome! Some of them update periodically, others are still pictures. Any way they work, the pictures are really good and very interesting. Wonder what they will show when the days are more or less dark all day long. Will have to wait a bit for that though. The other site ( http://www.alaskareport.com/gallery.htm ) is mostly of still pictures of the state and what is in it. The series on the Aurora Borealis is most interesting to me. They too are awesome. We see the aurora borealis here, but nothing like these pictures. Would like to experience them in person - someday. I am sure I will be checking them out periodically in the future.

Margriet is building some bread at the moment. She is making some sourdough white bread for the funeral tomorrow (and some for us) along with a couple of loaves of rye bread. Have to try out the new flour we got from the Amish last weekend! The conditions seem to be perfect for baking as they are rising through the roof! Should be nice light bread. Hope so! I know it will be good and there goes my girlish figure again. Suspect it will start smelling really good in here in a while.

We will not be having breakfast with the Bible study group tomorrow as planned. The gals decided it would be better if we set up for serving the food for the funeral and postpone the breakfast to the following week. Doesn’t make much difference - either way the food will be good and plentiful tomorrow. I probably will have a chance to get my hands washed for the month too.
I did get the new virus scanner installed on Saturday as long as it was messy outside and there was a pretty good NASCAR race on TV. The process took longer than I thought it would. Not entirely happy with the results as it doesn’t go into or accept portions of the old program as it was supposed to. Or at least I thought it was. Now I have two to use instead of one. The old program still wants to do some of the things it did in the past, but the new one disabled them. Have to look into that when my head is straight again.

Chatted with Brenda this morning. The sawdust in her head is quivering less than it was, but she is taking advantage of the TLC being offered. She’s no dummy! Arnoud should think about installing rubber doors on the cabinets for future episodes.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><