January 1, 2018
And this is 2018! It’s hard to
believe that another year has passed but here we are and I love the quiet way
we started out the New Year although I do feel for the kids back in Staunton,
struggling to keep the animals fed and watered in the extreme cold. Gabino works three, twelve-hour days at
Target distribution. On the four days he
is off, it’s relatively easy for him to make sure that all is taken care of at
the house in Staunton. On the days he is
away for 13 plus hours, the responsibility is left to Alissa. When the weather was nicer, it wasn’t a big
deal, because all the chores could be completed in thirty minutes or less. However, now it’s a lot harder. The ice in the watering troughs was so thick
that she couldn’t break it. The hose was
frozen even though it had been drained.
Fortunately, the hose bib itself was not frozen and she was able to use five-gallon
buckets to haul water to the three Herefords, a young bull calf, and a Herford
x angus calf that we have in a back field that don’t have access to the
fountains. The horses and goats also
have to have water. In addition, the
fountains had frozen up and she had to bust the ice on them. This is a good experience for Alissa and
Gabino and will help them know whether they really want to try to farm for
themselves in the future. However, I
can’t help but feel badly that they have to deal with the animals in the
extreme conditions, knowing full well how hard it can be. Meanwhile, in Laurel Fork, we are trying to
keep the old farmhouse warm. The propane
furnace is running a lot to keep up with the 9 degrees we have outside right
now and we have a fire in the fireplace.
I am thinking that getting that woodstove in the basement to supplement
needs to be done sooner rather than later.
We are warm and safe but it’s just a whole lot different than the
toasty, draft free, well insulated house in Staunton heated entirely by our
wood boiler. There we can combat the
psychological affects of the cold by simply turning up the temperature in the
house and being toasty warm because we always have plenty of wood to burn and
it really doesn’t cost that much more to heat the house when it’s colder
outside. We found out real fast that we
aren’t going to be able to leave the washing machine in mud room/enclosed back
porch area where the former owners put the hook ups when they renovated. We figured it wouldn’t work and found out
today without a doubt it won’t. So, we
will be moving the washing machine to the basement sometime in the next few
days where it won’t freeze up. We did
leave the house for a while today and attended an auction at our favorite
auction house in Galax. Our friend, Al,
was up with his son Eli and went to the auction with us but we all left early. We knew the prices would be high on things
and didn’t expect to be able to buy anything.
We ran by the grocery store while we were out as well. We try to plan it so we don’t have to make a
special trip for groceries since it is about forty minutes round trip for us to
get to the nearest real grocery store.
(There are places closer like Dollar General and a gas station/general
store but the selection is very limited other than basic necessities and the
prices are generally high.) Mike and I
talked about how quiet New Year’s Eve was here with no traffic, no sirens, and
no fireworks. The only sound we heard
when we stepped outside was the creek and a screech owl. It was perfect.
January 3, 2018
This cold snap has shown us just how ill prepared we are here in this
old farmhouse for these type of conditions, at least under the standards that
we are use to living. No matter how much
the propane boiler system runs, it just can’t keep up with the cold. We have been working diligently to seal off any
place we feel a draft…..windows, doors, and such. We have hung blankets over the exterior doors
we don’t use and stuffed insulation around the basement door. We never made it above 65 degrees in the
house until yesterday after I spent the afternoon canning apples in the
kitchen, cooking our supper in the oven in cast iron skillets, and keeping a
roaring fire going in the bedroom all day.
We actually had the temperature up to just over 70 degrees in the main
part of the house last night when we went to sleep. It was about 85 in our bedroom and we laughed
about it being “summertime” in our room.
As the fire burned down during the night and the temperature dropped
again outside, the house cooled back down to around 65 in spite of the furnace
working overtime. I got up around 4:30
and stoked the fire, put some more wood on it, and got it blazing again. It’s toasty in our bedroom again at around 70
degrees, but cool in the rest of the house.
Still, there are no complaints on my part. We are safe and warm, although a bit cool
from time to time. We will just have to
keep plugging away and see how we can be more efficient and conserve heat here
in this old house. The extreme cold has
kept us from working a lot outside but we have had plenty to do inside. We moved the frozen washing machine from the
enclosed porch to the basement and Mike got it set up. That was a job but I
couldn’t help much other than moral support.
We find that what we need in Staunton is usually in Laurel Fork and what
we need in Laurel Fork is usually in Staunton.
That was true again yesterday as we did not have a hand cart to move the
machine. Mike put it on a rug and he
pushed it across the floor to the steps that lead downstairs. I was worried that the machine would not make
the turn at the landing but Mike said it would just fit. He moved it down the steps, one step at a
time. It wasn’t easy getting it turned
at the landing, but eventually, he got it, and finished taking it down the
second set of steps. After it thawed, it
seemed to be no worse for the adventure.
We got this machine off Craigslist for a bargain. It’s an old agitating, top loader washer and
I love it. I will never return to a
front loader again. The front loaders
simply don’t get close clean, take forever to run, and I don’t like the fact
that I can’t let clothes soak. When your
clothes get as dirty as ours do, an agitating washer is the only way to
go. I was happy that the old machine
still worked once we got it thawed and moved because it’s getting harder and
harder to find those old agitating washers.
The kids have been having a time of it back home. The water froze at the hose bib and the
tractor wouldn’t start. Gabino is going
out multiple times a day to break the ice so the cattle and mini horses and
goats can drink. He needed to put
another round bale in the feeder but had a hard time getting the tractor
started but eventually was successful.
They are going through a lot of wood to keep the boiler going and the
house warm, but they are comfortable and doing well. We are so fortunate that they agreed to move
into the house and keep things going for us there. Folks like to come to their own conclusions
and make up what they don’t know and there have been some assumptions that the
kids had financial difficulties and had to move in with us. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The kids graciously agreed to move because it
benefited us. They rent out the home
that they own and they pay us rent for living in our home in Staunton. The situation benefits us all as I provide
child care when Alissa is working and going to school and she doesn’t have to
drag them out to go to a sitter as they can just stay in their routines at
home. We all give and we all receive the
benefits from our multi-generational arrangement. Of course, it also provides it own sets of
challenges, but I feel that mostly it provides benefits to all three
generations living in the home. Without
their help, we would not be able to make such a smooth transition to our SW
Virginia home. Their involvement means
that we can work here on getting the outbuildings and fencing in place before
moving the animals which is a real blessing.
January 5, 2018
We, like much of North America right now, are just trying to stay one
step ahead of the cold weather and also deal with the unexpected situations
that arise because of the extreme temperatures.
Maybe they aren’t so unexpected, because we just expect cold weather to
be difficult, but they are the problems we hope we can avoid and sometimes are
not able to do so. We really can’t
complain, and we are not, because we realize how blessed we are to have safety
from the brutal cold and to have all our physical needs met. We did anticipate the issue with our washer
being out on the enclosed porch but had hoped that we wouldn’t have to move
it. We were not too surprised when we
did. What I didn’t anticipate was my
refrigerator/freezer going out that also sits on the enclosed back porch. I am assuming it may run properly if moved to
a warmer area of the house but it is old and could have just decided that it
was done. Knock on wood, my vintage
refrigerator in the kitchen is still going strong. I have to defrost it every six to eight
weeks, but it just keeps on keeping on.
Everything I had in my refrigerator freezer on the porch was thawed out
and slimy and everything in refrigerator compartment was frozen. I had to throw out a lot of food and that
makes me sick. I wish that I had hogs or
chickens here in Laurel Fork to fee it to, but instead, I will just have to
dump it in the compost pile and let the birds and wild animals feast on
it. My only consolation is that in this
cold weather, maybe they will feel like they are being especially blessed. I
think Mike was up most of the night trying to keep the fire going in the
fireplace. We found that by shutting off
the areas of the house we are not using, covering up doors and windows that
were leaking or radiating cold air, and by keeping the fire going along with
the propane boiler system, we can mostly keep the house around 68 degrees. At night, when we sleep, we lose ground and
the temperature drops down in the house so that it takes us until late morning
to get the temperature back up to a comfortable level again. With single digit temps last night and the
wind chill below zero (with each gust driving that cold into this old farm
house) I am sure it took constant tending to the fire to keep the house
comfortable last night so that we didn’t lose too much ground. Once I got up at daybreak, I took over
tending the fire and have been letting Mike get a few hours sleep. He has been the one going out and cutting the
dead wood around the house, splitting it and bringing it in so that we have it
to use. He doesn’t seem to mind and has
been really sweet about it. I have to
smile because the original plan was that we would just use the propane so that
it wouldn’t be necessary for him to cut wood.
We do miss our outdoor wood boiler in Staunton that works so efficiently
and is so economical to operate. Putting
one in at the farmhouse in Laurel Fork was not an option because we are not
here all the time to keep it running and a wood boiler has to be constantly
tended. If one is going to not use the
wood boiler, then all the pipes must be drained each time it is left and with
our traveling back and forth so much, it just wasn’t practical to put in a wood
boiler as our primary source of heat. We
will be looking into options for wood heat in the house. The fireplace has burned well. The flue draws well and the fire burns
well. We think there is probably another
fire place in the living room (the currently used fireplace being in the
bedroom) that backs up to the one we are using.
We are pretty sure the folks who renovated the farm house covered it up
and put gas logs there. We may try to
uncover that fireplace and put an insert in there eventually. We also will probably look into installing a
wood stove in the basement or, at the very minimum, put in a wood
cookstove. I have dreamed of having
another wood cookstove every since I had to leave mine in Alaska. A wood cookstove in the basement will not
heat the house but it will go a long way to help. And of course, a big issue is simply just
finding the drafts and filling them as well as insulating everywhere we can
find to insulate. Mike really doesn’t
like cold weather and he is use to having a well-insulated and well heated
house. I’m just so proud of how he has
tackled the things that arise with the old farm house and together we just move
forward. My entire life I have mostly
looked at the things that arise as an adventure. I think my grandparents instilled that
attitude within me. They were the ones
who moved to Alaska the first time when I was just five or six years old. Their stories were full of adventures and it
didn’t take me long to understand that their approach was what made life either
an adventure or an obstacle. Their
influence or their genes (or both) instilled in me that attitude and that quest
for seeing each situation as a scene from a story that could be written as a
tragedy or an adventure. The
circumstances remain but how the story is written depends on us. I am forever indebted to my maternal
grandparents for their influence in my life.
Our little mountain farm is eerily quiet this morning. I am just not use to having no cattle around
and today is the first day that the farm is vacant of anything but the wild
animals and birds that make it their home.
The neighboring farm has had beef cattle on this property for a number
of years, and we made arrangements with them to have the cattle out by the end
of 2017 so that we could work on fencing and move our own cattle here in the
summer of 2018. As the year came to an
end, the neighboring farmer’s son in law who actually owns the cattle
approached Mike about just buying the small herd. They came to an arrangement on the price and
Mike agreed to buy them, but we didn’t intend to keep them on the property in
Laurel Fork. Mike’s nephew has been
wanting to get some additional cattle and decided that he would buy the herd
and put them with our combined cattle on the home place in Verona. Yesterday the wind was blowing something
fierce and the wind chills were below zero but it was the only day that Matt
and his friend could make the drive from Staunton to pick up the cattle, so
they arranged for the neighbor to corral the herd. I did not bother to go out in the bitter cold
as there were four men who were perfectly capable of getting the cattle
loaded. I did hear later that the first
of the cattle went on the trailer with ease but the second group and the second
trailer didn’t go so well. There is a high-strung
Angus cow in the herd and she got all worked up and they had quite a time with
her. She was one of those cows who can
be quite dangerous when she feels pushed in a corner. They eventually got her loaded and the cattle
made there way back to Verona without incident.
For now, I will just have to enjoy the mules across the road and wait
for my cattle to be moved later in the year.
January 6, 2018
Our time here in Laurel Fork for this trip is winding down. When we return to Staunton tomorrow, we will
have had seven full, uninterrupted days here at our South West Virginia
home. We have had to deal with the cold
and have found the house to not be as winter worthy as we would have liked, and
have spent a lot of time bringing in wood and tending to the fire, but it has
still been an amazing week. When we
began looking for a little place just to spend an occasional weekend, I wanted
what I termed “an artists retreat” where I could lose myself in reading and
writing without distractions. This week
our home here has been just that. Our
already poor cell phone service has proved to be even more incompetent. Our limited internet service has been even
more limited. The quiet has been
welcomed. I took advantage of both the
fire and the slower pace to play with my cast iron dutch oven yesterday by
cooking a blackberry cobbler on the open hearth. That was fun.
It had been a few years since I had last used it on a campfire when we
were camping along the river at the back of the property where Mike’s mom
lives. I’m definitely out of practice
and the fire wasn’t ideal because I needed less flame to offer the best cooking
scenario but Mike kept insisting on adding more wood to the fire because he
wanted to keep the temperature up in the house (which I completely understand)
so I just did the best I could with the current situation. If I had been able to set the dutch oven
actually over the coals and then heap some coals on top, I would have had a
more even cooking scenario. Since I
couldn’t do that, I put the dutch oven in front of the fire where there was
plenty of heat and rotated the dutch oven from time to time so that it would
cook evenly. I was pleased with the
final results. I only had a small part
right around one edge where the crust got a little extra done and the rest of
the cobbler was perfect. I removed it
from the heat towards the end and kept the lid on so that the cobbler continued
cooking and got done in the middle. I
was happy with the slightly browned crust on top and the consistency of the
cobbler. It was nice to know that I
still can cook on an open hearth, even it was something simple like a
cobbler. I guess we will venture off the
property today and go to our favorite auction.
I’m not much interested in going today but Mike has been sticking around
here for days and probably needs to see some other faces other than mine, so I
guess we will go. I would still much
rather stay here, keep the fires burning, read books and write but I will
probably enjoy the outing just as much as him once I get started.
January 7, 2018
We are headed back to Staunton and to the routine that we have kept
since last March of the back and forth between our two homes. Christmas gave us a bit of a break from the
routine but it’s time to gear up and finish up.
I have mixed emotions because this next semester for Alissa is the end
for her as far as her Master’s Degree is concerned and it’s the end for me of
almost five years of watching grandchildren.
Of course, I will watch them in the future, but the plan is that it will
not be weekly and will not be on a routine schedule. I have been so blessed to have this time with
my grands. It has been incredibly hard
with three the same age and a 5 day a week schedule in the beginning when they
were infants, but I am so thankful for the time we had together. I am looking forward to not being tied down
to a weekly routine of child care after May, but there is so much I will miss
about being able to spend so much time with our Little People. The next five months bring a lot more
transition for us and for the farm. I
just have to keep reminding myself to take one day at a time and enjoy each day
without being anxious, fearful, apprehensive or even allowing eagerness and
anticipation for what comes next to rob me of today.
We ended up not going anywhere on Saturday and that suited us both just
fine. It was just so incredibly cold and
we couldn’t justify going out in the extreme cold to travel 40 minutes one way
to sit in a drafty, cold building to attend an auction. Instead we just worked to keep the fire
burning and the temperature up in the house.
When I look back on this past week, our week was consumed with just
trying to stay warm in the drafty farm house, but it was an adventure and a
time we will never forget. This morning
it was two below zero outside when I got up but by afternoon it was in the
20’s. It felt so much warmer compared to
the single digits and wind chills below zero that we have been experiencing.
We made our way down the mountain roads to Buffalo Mountain
Presbyterian Church this morning. It
always feels like we are coming home when we walk in the door. I hope we never lose that feeling. There were only 18 of us there this morning. Some of the older people just didn’t try to
get out in the cold and I can’t blame them.
There was a carry in meal after the service and I brought along food and
we stayed for that. Never have I been
anywhere that I actually wanted to stay for carry in meals, but I love visiting
with the people there after church and getting to know them. After the meal, we worked to take down the
decorations in the church left from Christmas and get them put away. Some of the larger decorations were carried
to a door at the back of the kitchen and when we went through, it was basically
an unfinished storage area that had been dug out under the front part of the
church. There at the front, we could see
the foundation of the rock church sitting on a huge boulder, not visible above
ground, but massive and visible from our vantage point underground. It was just amazing to behold.
When everyone else left and it was just Mike and I and Allen and Ginny
Childress, we stood for several hours in the kitchen and talked sharing all
kinds of stories and experiences with one another. It was such a nice time of sharing and I
especially enjoyed the stories that Allen told about his grandfather, Bob
Childress, the man about whom the book was written that I mention so much in my
journals, THE MAN WHO MOVED A MOUNTAIN.
I asked Allen if the book was an accurate depiction of his grandfather
and the events that took place and he thoughtfully shook his head yes. He said, “It’s hard to believe that things
changed so much in such a short period of time, but they did.” Allen told us how the church had been built
in 1929 completely by volunteers, how everyone in the community had come
together, how people had brought field stones they gathered to build the
church, and how the scaffolding was built strong enough and wide enough that a
wheel barrow full of rocks going on way could pass a wheel barrow coming back
for more rocks. He said two young boys
per wheel barrow would move the stones, one at the front pulling and one at the
back pushing an estimated weight of 400 pounds per trip. In one year’s time, the church was built from
the ground up. Just an amazing testament
to what a group of people can do when they all have the same dream and a
testament to the man whose example and encouragement brought these people
together.