Posts from the ‘Pets’ category

We love our woodstove

By “we”, I mean Bob and I…Karl would be happy if the thing stayed stone cold and the heat off… I didn’t always appreciate a woodstove. When I as a young teen, my dad decided to put a woodstove in our basement to provide supplemental heat. Being a mechanical engineer, the project was exhaustingly researched, the stove acquired and installed and then the fun began – getting wood. It was fun the first few times…

After spending 13 years in sunny California, when I moved to Montana and back to a four season climate, one of the things that I wanted was a woodstove in my house. All my houses have had woodstoves or converted fireplaces. And even though it is messy and work getting wood – I don’t cut, but I do split, stack and move it around – I do love both the heat and cheeriness of a woodstove going.

In this house, the stove is a Vermont Castings Vigilante, circa 1977.

It is fairly small but in this little house, I have to be careful I don’t get it running too hot. All stoves have their idiosyncracies and outside/inside temp affect how they will burn. The first year, the first time I closed it up to burn hot through the night, I woke sweating -the entire house over 80 degrees. I have since learned how to (mostly) manage it to keep it comfortable, but occasionally it gets away from me…

When the cat is “sunning” himself in front of the woodstove, particularly when it is from a distance on the ottoman, it is a good sign that maybe it is time to let the fire die back a bit…

Karl prefers the coldest spot in the house, right in front of the slider with all that nice frigid air seeping in.

Bob and I, we love our woodstove.

A little sunshine on a Sunday morning

This morning was clear – stars and the full moon lit our early morning “down the driveway” walk. Despite being -6, with no wind and dressed for the occasion – it did not feel that cold. I love moonlight shining through the woods and we had our usual dawdle back – me on the driveway and Karl on the east property perimeter.

The sun rose and the temperature with it, climbing to near zero by 10 a.m.. I might have waited for a bit more warmth, but 10 is our usual morning walk time and Karl was pestering to go, so I suited up and off we went. I took my smaller (and older!) camera, despite the temps, but it got too cold quickly. I did get a couple shots before it refused to operate..

A bit more snow on the mountains, but not as much as I expected to see. The Swan Range curves around to the north, close enough that my property was in a wind shadow for the cold wind that was blowing out of the North-Northeast. Along a corridor through Columbia Falls and Kalispell, the weather info showed winds high enough to cause the wind chill to be in the -20’s. But even on our walk there was not even a breeze high in the trees – it was quiet, sunny and beautiful.

Karl and I played a little snow soccer when we got home. I warmed up a bit inside and then went back out with camera and tripod to see if I could get a photo (quickly!) of Karl and I…. I call the procedure “the Karl and Ann rodeo” …

Thanks to a timer that will click off a number of shots after a delay, I not only got the story, but both of us almost facing the camera…

For my next trick, I will try to get the Ann, Karl and Bob Christmas photo…this usually takes the better part of a day and ends up with me needing a nap…

It’s cold

I snowshoed, Karl walked and ran – twice – early today. The temperature was dropping so fast that I knew it would be too cold (for me!) to do a long walk before long. In the interest of staying alive and keeping my nose and all my fingers and toes, I don’t do even the short loop walk when it is below zero… it has a few steep ups and downs – more risk of twisting an ankle or something and at the very cold temps and wind chills things can go from a funny accident to an ordeal or worse quickly. I will follow Karl’s “perimeter” walk on flat land very near the house for the next several days. Soccer and stick games will work also. Poor Karl! I believe he is feeling comfortable for the first time since his winter coat came in!

Karl will have snow on his nose until Spring….

It is apparently cold enough to use the dog bed on the front porch. But not yet cold enough to move the tail in front of the nose – maybe tomorrow.

I drove just down my road a bit, to the ridge that overlooks the valley to the west and the mountains behind and north of my house.

It’s cold.

Routine

Routine rules in my house. Much as I’d like to believe that I am spontaneous, the truth is that I, Karl and Bob go through the day in a fairly established pattern. And I don’t get tired of it or bored. I look forward to all of the parts of the day that follow our little schedule.

First thing on getting up is to fill Bob’s food bowl. He paces back and forth across the table where his bowl sits, meowing and sometimes yowling if I’m taking too long between bed and food. I am a quiet person – no tv, rarely music – prefering the sounds of the outside or the crackling fire inside… I get the cat his food!

Karl waits until sometime after he has heard me turn me on the coffee maker – I have a grinder combo machine – it whirrs into action sounding like it is tearing itself apart and then settles to gurgling through its cycle. I hear Karl getting up, a morning shake and then he ambles in for a greeting, rub and treat. We all retire to the sunroom for a bit of quiet time.

Bob’s turn again as he now wants to go outside. He is smart about this. He makes the commotion – scratches at the glass of the door, rolls on his back meowing piteously, but then waits on the front porch for Karl to do his perimeter patrol. Karl takes a path about 50 yards away from the house – all the way around – sniffing, watching, an occasional woof of warning that it is his yard – then he settles in front of the house, on watch, waiting for me. Bob takes his cue and goes out to attend to his rounds.

When Bob returns – to his food bowl for second breakfast – Karl and I head down the driveway. Karl jumps up when he sees me with “walking” implements – pepper spray and now in the dark, a flashlight. He seems so excited. His excitement is what got me thinking about our routine this morning. He jumps up like we are going on the grand adventure every morning when I come out for that first walk. We walk together down the driveway and then he takes a left across the front of the property. He spends some time in the corner in a stand of trees and then heads along the east border of the property in the direction of the house. I walk back along the driveway, keeping an eye on his neon blue lighted collar through the trees as it progresses northward. We both take our time – he doing what dogs do and me just watching, listening, feeling the breeze or the quiet or looking at the sky.

It is the same, yet different, every day. It is beautiful – I love it also – I walk down the driveway and back (350 yards round trip), in the dark, as my dog walks part of the property border. It takes all of 15 minutes – nothing compared to our daytime walks. It seems extraordinary how enjoyable this is every day in all kinds of weather. The routine is the same, but the subtle nuances of sky, trees, wind and even smells – they are always unique.

It is the same with the moon, the mountains and the lake. I walk the same paths, see the same views, but the feel, the time, the view – the enjoyment of the everyday beauty and simple routine is different everyday.

… and then there is Bob…

… his routine when Karl and I are enjoying an early morning walk? – Bob takes advantage of an unmade bed like nobody’s business!

*Moon photos are from last evening (12/2/08) – waxing crescent moon.