So today, we woke to about an inch, maybe two inches of snow on the ground, and light, fluffy flakes falling from the sky. The temperature, according to the pessimistic thermometer (the optimistic thermometer is down by the horse enclosure) read 15˚F.

Twenty degrees above zero is a good temperature. Warmer, and you have snow melt and ice. Colder, and the horse water freezes. So we are hoping it stays as is for a while.

We got just enough snow on the driveway to make it walkable – almost. I nearly fell twice. It wasn’t my balance that kept me upright – it was good luck.

Alys and Ryder in the Demo Pit

I wanted to get the horses out – I was afraid to because I feared that we might slip and fall. I also feared that the snowplow might come barreling up behind us and that a horse might spook, get away from me, run off, and fall on the ice.

Finally, because I was restless, I decided to chance it. I first got Tinni, then got Raudi out. Both, especially Raudi, were glad to get out. I took Tinni up and I showed him the downed cottonwood on the Jim’s Road trail. He was impressed, and also glad that he didn’t have to go any further.

Raudi, who was full of energy, was looking for something to spook at. She thought that she’d found it when we came to the log pile in Pancho’s driveway. She was not overly concerned, just looking for an excuse to expend some energy.

The school bus came from the opposite direction when I was walking Tinni on Sybarite. I knew it was coming because it goes around the loop and drops off one child every day, around 3 p.m. Also, one of its chain-smoking parents was standing on the porch, waiting for his child to get home.

Hmm, I don’t think that cigarette smoke is the best thing for a child with a disability.

Pete went for a walk on Tin Can, our most distant trail on our four-trail loop. He returned and said that at least ten trees were down. We then talked briefly about our building a platform on Hrimmi’s pack saddle, putting the chainsaw on the platform, and the going out and cutting the trees. This looms as a distinct possibility, most likely in the spring. In the meantime, we are going to stick to riding Siggi’s Trail since Peach’s Trail also has several downed trees along the ridge-line.

And so, we have our work cut out for us. I guess that Mother Nature was not, as I first thought, exempting us from her belief that humans have got to get their act together.

Yes, we often purchase things that we do not need, and these items consist of way too much plastic. For a while we made our own tooth paste, but we are back to purchasing the stuff that comes in tubes and then putting the tubes in the garbage.

And we drive places sometimes when we don’t need to.

The list goes on and on. And Mother Nature has ours in hand. We should stop and take a close look at it, and then change our ways.

Next: 12. 1/12/22: Low Energy