August 23, 2023: And on it goes

Whodda thunk: Methane-belching-Reducing Cows?https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/climate-friendly-cows-bred-belch-less-methane-2023-08-08/

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The heat finally started to break about a week ago; still hot, but not quite so demoralizing. Got out of it one day with a lovely 5-mile hike south of Pagosa Springs. Shady, steep, lots of water. Leche Creek is apparently an old stock trail from the 1800s, although it sees fewer visitors these days.

We’ve had a few brief rains so far, enough to wet things and put 100 gallons in the cisterns. A couple weeks ago, a bunch of wildfires popped up in the area (over 25 according to the Forest Service), most around Pagosa Springs/Wolf Creek, but one 20 miles west of us on Jicarilla Land. The smoke got bad for one day, but then moved north. The recent isolated showers have helped, so we hope that no more will blow up. Been thinking of the people in Hawai’i. 😔

Alan got everything hooked up on the hot water heater, but alas, it would not ignite. Tech support thinks it’s a bad motherboard, and sent some new parts. May also be related to altitude. Luckily it’s still under warranty. We waited 3 weeks for the parts, which arrived yesterday, so Alan is gearing up to get back to it. Will hot water ever run? We don’t REALLY miss hot water as much as it may seem. We have it in Pippin for showers, and it’s easy enough to heat water on the stove for dishes and such. Mostly, we are just excited about having showers in the house (what a concept!). Fingers crossed. It has been an endless saga.

Alan’s birthday happened, as it tends to do every year this time. We celebrated with some fun gifts and a quick trip to Denver and Ft. Morgan to visit with family. Do you know what the picture below is? Check it out: www.briping.com

The lamp below that is made of 100% mycelium. It gives a beautiful soft reading light.

Waiting for the heater parts to arrive, we’ve been doing other projects: I’ve reseeded 2 areas of the yard that were destroyed by backhoe and dogs, and they are doing well. I planted a mix of drought-resistant native grasses and flowers, clover (to add immediate nitrogen), and low-grow pasture grass. Eventually, it will become a wild-looking mass that should be able to handle running dogs.

Another major thing to check off is finishing the rainwater catchment system. The pictures below show both cisterns under construction. Water comes off the roof, goes through the bug filter (the boxy part of white pipe), then fills up the pipe that goes straight down. Once that is full, water then diverts to run into the cistern. The purpose of the long pipe is to capture the first runoff of rain, the stuff that most likely has bird poop, dirt, or dead bugs. (It can be emptied by opening the cap on the bottom after each rain.) The rest of the water that goes into the cistern is clean, although we also filter it when pumping it into the house. In total, we now have about 2700 gallons of potential drinking water. Once we know it’s working well, I will likely paint it.

(Amazingly, just moments after writing the above, Alan put the last touches on connecting the downspouts and it started to rain! I ran out to catch this picture as it started. Right this minute, water is flowing into the cisterns. Every drop is so precious here, we celebrate it all.)

In addition to making some progress on stucco work, We finally got the new cover on the old shed. It was quite a process, but it is tight and, most importantly, dry. It is Alan’s workshop. Once the hot water is up and running, finishing this little space will become the next priority: putting a wood front wall, door, windows, and a floor. We found a local sawmill that cuts rough lumber, from which we hope to buy a load soon to build this and some of the kitchen remodel.

We’ve really been enjoying hiking in the Humphries, which I have mentioned before. It is only a few minutes from here and is usually empty, other than for elk and deer. You can walk cross-country (off-trail) for miles without any prickers or thistles (which the dogs love), and the landscape is hilly, going between meadows, and oak, aspen and Ponderosa forests.

The heat cramped the dogs style: too hot, even for them, to play or walk outside between 10am-6pm. I think they were depressed. More recently, with the slightly cooler temps, they wake up waiting for the magic word:”walk”, which sets off frantic barking, whining and jumping. There are other triggers: “hike”, “out”, “play”, putting on sunscreen, putting on boots, putting on their collars, filling a water bottle, etc. etc. These are outdoors-motivated dogs!