Growing Things

 

There are things growing all over the place at the farm! When we were home back in late January for a weekend, I had discovered the emergence of some buds.

This past week, they were making appearances all over the place.

And the daffodils are blooming. I love daffodils. Who can help but love those first bright rays of brilliant yellow after weeks of brown (or in some cases, white) on all surfaces?

While Malcolm was working on clearing the hedge out of the fence lines last week, I did some clearing of my own. Someone planted a lot of English Ivy around the house and it's lovely...

....but English Ivy is kind of like Privet Hedge, in that it knows no boundaries. And I wondered what it might be smothering. So I started ripping it out of a flowerbed last week, and made all sorts of discoveries. It was keeping so many treasures captive beneath it's weighty vines!

There were dozens of bulbs trying to come up through it, as well as several shrubs, and though this Lenten Rose was able to grow and bloom through the ivy, I'm sure it will by happier now that it doesn't have to compete for space.

There are other things growing around here too.

Fancy is at 8 months now, and her baby belly is making itself more noticeable.

It is sometimes lopsided, which makes me laugh. It's probably just the way she stands sometimes, but I like to think it's the baby laying on one side or the other. Let me pretend.

I think her official due date is June 13. That is 330 days from her last breeding. But according to her breeding records, her last two foals went around 345 days, so it could be later. It's going to make guessing how to be off work a little hard, with such a broad window, but I'm determined to be there for this one!
We're considering working clear through the next two months with no break at all, and then possibly taking off nearly all of June, maybe coming home a week into June and staying through July 4th or so. It shouldn't be a problem, especially since we no longer need to take off several weeks for haying like we've done the past two years. We'll just take off several weeks and use them to play on the farm and wait for Fancy's baby. I can't wait!!!

Boy or Girl? Her last two were colts, but this is a different stallion. I've only had one foal from him, and that was Gemma. It will be interesting to see what we get this year, and I'm in touch with Dawn's new owner, and looking forward to hearing from her when Dawn foals in early June. It's going to be so hard here in a few weeks when everyone else starts having foals on the ground and I'll still have weeks to wait!

Even without a foal around, we still have a baby on the farm.

I think he will always be the baby. I think he thinks so too.

He still comes running to meet me at the gate, and he's still impossible to photograph unless there's a fence between us. It's because he insists on being right next to me if I'm on his side of the fence. I used to think I was special to him, but recently I heard from a couple of neighbors who were going on and on about what an "incredibly friendly horse that black one is" and I soon realized Sky has been kissing up to everyone on the street. I felt a little bit betrayed. I wanted to be his special someone.
I know he doesn't turn down anyone with a cookie and from what I hear, several neighbors are passing them out to my little herd.

I've been on the phone a lot over the past week or so, and I think we've narrowed the search down for a trainer, as well as a new romantic prospect for Fancy.

So we're back on the road for a couple weeks, and then we go home for a break toward the end of the month.
Our plans are to enjoy the hopefully fine Spring weather, do some work around the farm, drop Sky and Ringo off at boarding school, and go meet Fancy's prospective suiter and his owners.

Hope the coming days go by quickly. I'm looking forward to being home again! So much I want to be doing, and sitting in the truck is not one of them right now! I'll have to content myself with day dreaming until we get there.

Getting to Know Redbud Farm

in September

Things are kind of brown and winter drab here at the farm right now, but there are signs that Spring is quickly approaching.

We went home for about a week to take care of some trucking stuff. It was nice to be home, and even though a little cold snap came through while we were there, we still took the time to do some work outside. And there were a couple of nice days before the chilly weather returned, which made it more enjoyable. Now that things are settled and unpacked inside the house, we are enjoying exploring and getting to know Redbud Farm a little better.

After my "house tour" post, I told you I'd come back to give you an outside tour of the farm later on. I expect you'll be seeing plenty of it over the months and years to come, but here is a quick walk around the place.

 

The house, as I told you previously, was built in 1915. I expect Malcolm and I will be spending many summer afternoons in the shade of our porch, enjoying the sound of the creek and the birds, and a cool glass of sweat tea. We are still very much in love with our house.

We love the rest of our property too. We don't know much history about the buildings on the farm. We don't know how old they are, but it's clear that they are not new, and we suspect a few of them may even be as old as the house. They are all going to be project buildings.

This is the big barn. It sits between the house and the small pasture that runs down to the creek. It obviously has some issues. We debate back and forth on what to do with it. The reasonable thing would be to just take it down and rebuild, but I cringe at the thought of doing so, and Malcolm still goes back and forth on it himself. What we'd like to do is try to salvage the center section, but it would be a pretty big, and probably expensive job.

It is a neat old barn, even with the sagging and brokenness of it. We have a resident ground hog that has made his home beneath the barn floor, and in the hay loft we have a barred owl that roosts during the day. We've seen them both several times, though I haven't had my camera handy when they made their appearances.

I still hold out hope that one day down the road we'll be able to tackle the job of saving this barn. But it's not high on the priority list, and so we'll continue to watch it sag for a bit longer while we tend to other things.

Like pasture.

We have a 10 acre farm that has been neglected for a while. While the house was being loved and repaired over the past years, the rest of the land and buildings were unattended to. There is some fencing but it's over grown and in disrepair, and what there is of it is no longer worthy of the title "fencing." On our first day on the property, our neighbor walked down and offered the use of his pasture. We were over whelmed by his generosity and God's providing a solution to a delima so quickly, even before we'd given it much thought really. So our horses are next door keeping his pasture cleared for him, and enjoying being the neighborhood pets (apparently the neighbors all around are buying horse treats and making offerings of apples and carrots, or so I hear from them), while we work on getting our pastures ready.

Years ago, people planted a shrub, called privet hedge, as landscaping. You might be familiar with it. It can be a lovely, ornamental shrub. It can be a huge headache that wants to take over the world.

It is growing on all boundaries of the property, among the trees, and along all the fence lines that are sort of in existence, and it creates an awesome privacy fence as it gets well over 6 feet tall! But it also happily encroaches on every square inch of land that you don't watch closely. As in the picture above, it is trying really hard to take over the world, creeping off the property line and into the woods and pasture. It's even poking it's nasty head up here and there in the landscaping around the house. I hastily pull the random sprigs of it up whenever I find them trying to take root in my gardens and landscaping areas.

 

We have the one large pasture on the hill behind the house, and then two smaller pastures, one behind the house, and the one behind the barn that runs down to the creek. It was terribly over grown on the fence lines and well out into the pasture. Doesn't look like it in this picture....

...but Malcolm got out this week with the bobcat and started clearing brush and hedge off the fence line. The result was impressive. He more than doubled the size of the pasture, just by clearing out hedge!

He also worked back into the woods, what used to be shaded pasture that had turned into scrubby wooded mess. But now with some cleanup, and then smoothing the ground back down, we should have some nice shaded pasture back here.

We'll also be having a HUGE bonfire at the end of the month. Anyone want to come roast marshmallows?

After pastures are repaired and fenced, we'll be moving on to the building projects. Right now there isn't a building large enough to pull the truck into, so that will probably be the next project. We are thinking about taking down this old machine shed...

...and building a large barn that will fit the truck, but we want to build it to look like it is one of the old farm buildings. We'll probably do board and bat or something like that, and use an older style of barn design on the exterior so that it looks like it belongs.

And after that, we'll tend to the other smaller building needs.

There are 4 other smaller outbuildings. The woodshed/garden shed/catch all building by the house needs upkeep. It's a neat building though and we plan to stay true to it's current style and design. The previous owners did a lot of landscaping around it and put in a chain link dog pen on the back side. I love the plants they chose, and the dog pen will make an awesome chicken yard once we get a top put on it to keep out the hawks. So we think we'll try to reconstruct this building within the current space, so that we don't hurt some of the unique landscaping that's been put in.

Speaking of chickens....

...the old chicken house, complete with concrete floor. It's pretty much a useless structure and a little far gone for help. We'll probably be taking it out completely. See that door on the far end? That would be our two seater out house. No joke! And we're high class here! We have concrete toilet pedestals with wooden seat covers! (and about 1000 crickets and spiders, and the roof is off of it so you and your creepy crawly company can admire the stars while you see to business.)

There's an old grain barn that is neat. Somehow I've managed to not get a picture of it. We'll have to fix that. It's actually in pretty fair condition and as we look at it, currently being used as a tool storage building for Malcolm, we both can see it renovated into a little guest house, or play house. I think it would be neat to make it into Malcolm's gun house with all his reloading stuff and such. But if he won't claim it, as he seems reluctant to do, I have no problem taking over. It's going to make me a BEAUTIFUL little sewing/craft play house! He better speak up soon if he doesn't want me to move forward and stake my claim on it.

Though our buildings are in need of some serious TLC, I still love them. It's a frustration to me that they are so far gone, because I despise the thought that we are going to tear them down, after they have survived so long. But it's impractical to try and salvage them all. So I've made it my mission to try and save at least part of the big barn, and sacrifice the others.

I don't have to cross the creek to go visit the horses, but I like to. It's easier to just walk on the road, but I like to cut across the pasture and wade through the creek with my waterproof boots on.

It is about 1 1/2 feet deep at our crossing with a nice sandy/pebbly bottom. I envision hot summer afternoons wading in cool water. It should be pretty cool water as the creek is spring fed from somewhere across the road. I'll have to take my nieces wading with me this summer. We'll hunt for crawfish (Malcolm and Dad found a fist sized one earlier this winter), and pretty pebbles, and have fun splashing each other and getting good and wet and cooled off.

In our exploring and walking around the property, we keep making discoveries. As with all old farms, things were tossed aside when they were no longer needed or wanted, but they weren't always hauled away. We have found some interesting things hiding in all that privet hedge I was telling you about. Back at Christmas, Malcolm was working with his tractor on a patch of brush, and discovered an old fuel tank, the remains of a Sears manure spreader, and then later he pulled this out of the brush to show me.

It has a huge hole in the side of it, which was disappointing to me. It would have been neat to set it up somewhere. It's tempting to do so even with the hole. I could grown some pretty flowering vine on it or something like that.

There's some old farm equipment lined up in the pasture behind the house that we've got to haul off or at least move.

Treasures tucked in every corner, or at least treasures to some of us. Even if they have no use, they are still historically of interest.

We have other treasures too. There are these four fruit trees.

By the time we bought the property they had shed their leaves and there was no trace of fruit left on the ground (probably thanks to our resident herd of deer), so we have no idea what they are. I'm leaning towards thinking they are cherry. I know they are not apple. But we'll have to wait for warmer weather and baby fruit to know for sure.
There is a huge pecan tree in the back yard and I'm hoping it will bear plenty of nuts to share. This past year, I suspect the squirrels carried them all off because we only found a handful on the ground.

There are also these two trees...


...which were loaded with these tiny speckled berries in September...

...which the birds had managed to devour by the time we got moved in. I have no idea. Mom has no idea. In fact, I haven't been able to track down their identity. A cousin suggested perhaps they are Autumn Berry, and that's the closest thing we can come up with. Any other suggestions? The fruit is about the size of large chokecherries.

I can't wait for things to turn green again. There are traces of green in Tennessee year round, but the full out green that means warm weather and beauty has arrived is just around the corner and I can't wait. Spring Fever has hit I think. There are signs all over of bulbs emerging. I have daffodils blooming among other things, and I fully expect that giant Redbud by the house to be blooming when we get back home in two weeks.

There is a lot of work to be done on Redbud Farm to get it back into shape, but it will be a fun project, and with the coming of Spring, we both are looking forward to being outside and getting our projects underway.

Every time we pull up to our yard, returning home from being on the road, I feel so overwhelmed by how blessed we are. This place has surpassed all my years worth of day dreams about having an old farm house and living on a farm.

So Long California



Back in September, unexpectedly, we found out we were on our last trip to California. We were actually on our way out of the state. And it was actually only an hour after learning Malcolm's grandfather had passed away, that we were informed we were no longer welcome in California. It was a traumatic day, you might say.

At first, we were more than a little disturbed. We were already in the midst of an upheaval as we were preparing to leave the ranch and trying to figure out where we were going to go and how we were going to get there.

And then CARB (California Air Resources Board) drops the bomb on us and denies us entry to the state. In fact threatened to write us a $1600 ticket, but settled for a total banishment if we would leave right away and not come back.

We were disturbed because, as I noted before in a previous post, about 70% of our loads were going to or coming out of California, or working us to one of those loads. So to suddenly learn that we won't be going there, we were rather concerned about the potential for disaster with our income. First and foremost on our minds was what this was going to mean for our loads. If we can't go to California, will there be enough good paying loads to keep us running with Northwest, or were we going to be forced to look elsewhere for our loads, something we really didn't want to do. We are very attached to Northwest, our brokerage firm.


Mt Shasta near Weed, CA

The reason California kicked us out:
Several years ago, California started passing laws regulating emissions from vehicles. At first it was just nuisance stuff, like passing a law forbidding truck drivers from idling (letting your truck run while parked). Spring and fall it's no big deal, but temps in California get high in summer and when your sitting in a fiberglass box, well the interior of these trucks get pretty hot without the truck running. Not to mention freezing in the mountains in winter.
There were other things they decided we had to do too, and then a while back they started weeding out the older trucks. If you get around trucks close enough to read the stickers on their door, you'll start noticing that some of them have a round sticker somewhere around the door that say Certified Clean Idle and has a picture of the state of California in the background.

The sticker gives evidence that the trucks engine meets CARB emission standards. The only way to have that sticker is to buy a new truck or do a $20,000 upgrade on the engine of an older truck. Our gray truck was a 2010 and had the sticker.
They set up a schedule for compliance and each year moved forward in the age of trucks allowed in. Our new truck is a 1999. We new, when we bought it, that we'd have to be out of California by the end of 2014. But that was ok because it fell into our plans to be off the long roads within a year and working locally around the ranch.
What was hidden in the tiny tiny print, that we missed, was that in order to keep trucking in California till the end of 2014, you had to have your truck registered with CARB by March of 2012. Not only did we not know this, but we didn't even buy the truck till April.


the hills near Los Banos, CA

So when the CARB officials set up at the Sacramento weigh station and pulled us around back, we didn't realize there was going to be a problem. When they told Malcolm to rev the engine so they could watch the exhaust, we thought it was odd. When they asked Malcolm to get out and open the hood and then started getting ugly with him and accusing him of lying to them about not knowing he wasn't supposed to be driving the truck there, and on and on and making nasty threats of big fines and such, we were flustered. And then they dropped the bomb and told him that they could right us a ticket for $1600 but instead,  since we were headed out, if we'd leave right away they'd not write the ticket, but that we were not to come back into California with this truck, and if they caught us in there, there would be hell to pay.

So we left and didn't look back.

a train winds through the mountains east of Bakersfield, CA

Except to wonder how we were going to make a living without California.

Our broker was less than pleased to hear the news. I won't repeat his exclamations. But then, after he vented, he said we'd work something out and they'd just start shopping for long haul loads in other parts of the country. He promised us we'd figure something out.

After the initial shock wore off, we started feeling better about it. Honestly, we never liked going to California that much. In fact we complained about it a lot. Of course, once you realize you'll not go to a place again, you start thinking of all the things you did like, the drives you enjoyed, the places you liked to eat, the scenery in special places, and you start to feel a little sad that you'll never ever go to those places again.

the dry deserts of southern California

Things have worked out so far. Since September, and of course we took off quite a bit of time for the move and for the holidays, we've been doing well for the slow time of the year that it's been. We've had some slow weeks, but it's hard to say if that's because of the California deal or because this is just a crappy time of year for freight. And listening to our friends talk, we're thinking it has nothing to do with California. All our trucking friends are complaining about too much sitting and too low rates. Next month is the month that things start to pick up, and then we'll be able to determine to what extent this will have changed things for us. But just judging from the past weeks, I don't think it's really going to have that big of an effect.

traffic jam in the Sierra Nevadas near Donner's Pass

Now, changing gears a little bit:
You know, back in September when we were working on finding somewhere to live in Tennessee and planning our move, we were both facing the likelihood that we'd not be seeing nearly as much of the house. Living in Montana, we were getting the occasional loads that passed us by the house over weekend and holidays and it was nice to get those unplanned home times. But we only went to Tennessee when we asked to go. I can only think of one time when we stopped at my parents for a weekend because we happened to be passing through in the last 5 years.

Given past experience we did not expect to see the house often.
And then we got kicked out of California.

I'd call it one of those situations that we, as humans who can't see the big picture, look at and think is a really bad thing.

But God, who knows what the future holds, knows what's best. And looking back, I would never have thought being forced out of California was a good thing.
But as it turns out, one good thing has come of it. Because we don't go to California, we're getting more loads that head east. In fact, since we moved to Tennessee, we've passed by the house on a load 3 times already, and been able to stop for a day or two. I wonder if perhaps allowing us to be banished from the west coast was God's way of providing for us to be able to still have those random weekend trips home that have always been such a balm to our road weary souls.

We went back to work January 10th, after a lengthy Christmas and New Year break. We've been home two weekends since, one in particular that was unplanned but provided me the chance to say goodbye to my grandfather, who passed away a few days later. If I'd been driving the west coast, I would have missed that. Those two weekends at the house were the breaks we needed to get rest to heal from our illnesses, and to mentally recoup from life on the road. Those random breaks are what help us to stay out for 5-6 weeks at a time, or longer. So I'm glad that we didn't lose them after all, as I had feared.

God provides for all our needs and more, and He does it in ways we never expect, even in allowing things to happen that we think can't possibly be beneficial to us. In the long run, they are, and He knows.

I don't miss California.
 

Crossing the Line

Yesterday we crossed the Mason Dixon line. Perhaps in our modern age of few who care about history, many of you may not know what I'm referring to. But for us historians, especially those of us who are southern historians, the Mason Dixon line is well known.

 

The Mason Dixon line has played a role and symbolized many things in its history, but for me, crossing the line means I'm either entering "enemy" territory (the land of the yankees) or coming home.

 

We've crossed the line three times in the past two weeks. After 5 years of hardly ever going into the northeast, we've had two trips in two weeks into eastern Pennsylvania. Last week we went to Allentown, and then reloaded at a little town north of there and so far east that I spent the afternoon watching the Delaware River and glaring at the New Jersey shore with dread.

 

We used to run in New Jersey and into NYC and beyond, back in the beginning days of my driving. I don't have pleasant memories of that period of driving. If you, my dear reader, happen to be from that area, I hope you won't take personal offense. There's plenty I'd like to go visit and see in New England and the Northeast. But in a truck, it is a miserable experience.

And also don't take offense to my calling your part of the country "enemy territory." I think a small part of all us southerners thinks of you that way, but for the vast majority (myself included) it's just a phrase. We harbor no lasting hard grudges and hateful feelings towards you. The war ended 148 years ago.

 

So I sat glaring at New Jersey because I feared we may soon see the day when we have to cross the Delaware (it will be easier than when Washington did it now that we have bridges and such) and travel around in those tiny states with tiny roads and way too many cars.

 

But not yet, and according to our broker, not any time soon or ever unless it really really pays. 

 

After loading, we hurried south to the Pennsylvania border, back across that symbolic line. Then 13 miles through Maryland, 22 through West Virginia, and then a couple hundred through Virginia into North Carolina, where we delivered the next day. And it was all in the dark and I didn't get a single picture. I was disgusted, because I could have actually blogged about that. Something new. Something different. But hard to capture in the dark.

 

So last Friday when we got a load from Texas to Hazleton, PA, I figured I'd just been handed a second chance. We loaded Monday morning in Texas, and we crossed the Mason Dixon line around 10:00 Tuesday morning.

It was soggy and 35 degrees with light flurries falling.

Which changed to heavier flurries the further north we went.

 

One of the neat things about driving around in the northeastern states is all the history. I mean the really old history. And I understand that it's not really old compared to European history, but as far as American history goes, this is where we started. This is old history! 

 

When I think of Pennsylvania, I think of incredibl barns and houses (many of them built of all rock)...

...lots of dairys and farms....

...and some tight squeezes because these towns were established a long time before cars, and especially before trucks of our size.

Shippensburg, PA established 1730

Southwest of Harrisburg, there was a backup on the interstate and we found out in time to be able to jump off and go around it on the side roads. Turned out, it probably didn't save us that much time. Between having to slow down to go through Shippensburg, and also slowing down for the other traffic on the roadway...

....we didn't make that good of time. But the scenery was enjoyable and so I didn't mind.

 

Back on the interstate we crossed the Susquehanna River at Harrisburg...

...and from that point I-81 moved into some really hilly terrain. Also the snow had picked up considerably and we were once again slowed down by slow moving traffic and a number of snow plows that were out doctoring the roads.

Our thoughts were that it would be best to get to Hazleton and get unloaded and back south before the temperature started dropping for the night. We didn't quite make it, as by the time we left Hazleton it was dark and had restarted snowing in random spurts of hard wet showers of big fat flakes. Traffic was really slow heading out of the mountains. Right about the time the snow would let off, there would suddenly be this incredibly heavy fog bank that forced traffic to a crawl. This happened over and over again until finally we got back down out of the hilly country and to Harrisburg. From there it was smooth sailing into Virginia.

This morning we're loading in Timberville, VA and heading on a short load into North Carolina.

 

The last two times we passed through Virginia, it was dark. So I enjoyed the scenery this morning. The Shenandoah Valley that I-81 runs the length of is really a beautiful part of the state. If we can get loaded and get going before too late in the evening, I'll try and get some pictures.

 

As to why we're crossing the Mason Dixon line more often, and why I expect to be seeing more of this part of the country...

 

California kicked us out and told us not to come back.

 

Frankly, our feelings weren't that hurt. There are some things we'll miss of course, but California has just gotten to be a pain to deal with (again if your from that part of the country and reading this, please don't take personal offense). But since September, we've been banned from California, and since coming and going from that state made up about 70% of our freight, well....it's changed our loads and regular stomping grounds around a little.

 

I'll tell you about it later.



Long Time Gone

We didn't get lost. We didn't fall off the side of the road. In truth, I'm not sure what happened other than January and the beginning of February were rough weeks. Malcolm was sick with whooping cough and as a result, we're just now getting our first nights undisturbed rest since Christmas break. And right about the time he started showing signs of recovery, I came down with a week long fluish thing.
So heap exhaustion on top of a period of lagging interest in blogging, and I just let you slip. I apologize.
Even now I'm not feeling real motivated, but I had three friends contact me (within a two day period) via the blog to ask if we were OK and what was up with our being a long time gone.
And so I figured I needed to drop in a note to say I'm a long time gone, but not gone forever. And I didn't want y'all to worry and how touched I am that you cared enough to notice. I lvoe my blogging friends!
Illness, winter time blues, and such are the culprits, but they will all be clearing up soon.
We take a break in March. I'm looking forward to being home, spending time with my horses, and exploring what all is growing and blooming there. And I just bet I'll feel more interested in blogging after that, when I have some new things to share.

So hang in there. I know I've not felt like blogging, but I also know I'm not ready to give it up. I'm not leaving you yet.
 

Racing the Storm in Arizona

We had a load to Indiana which we delivered last Tuesday. It's been a while since we had a load on that side of the country, unless we were trying to get home to Tennessee.

After delivering we had a wait till the next load came in, but it didn't take too long. Just long enough to give us time to eat and take a nap, which was appreciated after driving all night.

Wednesday morning found us even closer to home, as we delivered in Guntersville, AL, about 90 miles from the house. It was hard to turn west instead of east, but it was too early to go home for Christmas break. So we headed to Flagstaff, AZ with a load of chicken meal for a pet food place.

Three things of concern with that load. The delivery appointment wasn't till Friday evening, which would leave us sitting in Flagstaff for the weekend with no load. Also, we'd be arriving on Thursday afternoon, and sitting for a day with nothing to do till we could deliver.
And finally, Flagstaff was supposed to be getting a snowstorm Thursday night.

Normally that particular place is difficult to get an appointment changed, but luckily this time they worked with our broker and allowed us to deliver on Thursday at noon, which meant some hard driving to get there. We didn't exactly get good fuel mileage, but we did make it on time. And we dumped that stuff out and high tailed it north to get ahead of the storm.

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous going north towards Utah. Highway 89 scoots just east of the Grand Canyon, and you get to enjoy a taste of what it might be like if you were to go on over to the park, which I will do one day! It was late afternoon, with an amazingly blue sky, the perfect light for photography, and the way it was hitting the red rock cliffs....well, it was just perfect!

We've been on this road before, almost always going south, and almost always in the dark. So it was a real pleasure to drive through here in the daylight and see what all we've been missing.
We'd been missing out on a lot!

I've known for some time that I want to come back to this area as a tourist one day. I think that's going to have to happen pretty soon.

It was almost all straight roads, until we came to a sharp turn and then started climbing into the sky.

And we didn't feel like we'd climbed that far, but a look back at the valley floor make it clear we'd come up quite a ways.

Once we crossed the hill the land leveled out and we were on a plain of sorts. There was hardly any indication that there had ever been any canyon walls or stone spires.

We drove till dark and a little after, crossing over into Utah. We were tired. It'd been a long hard drive to get to Flagstaff in time, and since it was 53 degrees and we felt like we'd gotten far enough north that we shouldn't have problems with the snow coming in, we parked and went to bed.

When woke up at 6:00 the next morning, we discovered that we'd made a mistake. We hadn't gone quite far enough north. There was about 2 inches of snow on the road, which normally wouldn't be that big a deal, but we had some hilly country to go through, and, an even bigger issue, our trailer was empty. That's about like pulling around a big sled that has a mind of it's own. The load is what helps give us traction on slick roads and without it, things can get interesting. We were spinning tires and sliding around a bit, but we made it over the mountain and onto I-15 where we found nearly dry roads for the remainder of the trip.
We weren't completely problem free at that point. We'd picked up about 1000 pounds of snow and ice that was stuck all to the trailer and the frame of the truck. Malcolm and I got out and beat on it with a hammer and scraped with a hoe, trying to dump the weight off. We were on our way to load and carrying around 1000 pounds of snow meant we'd get loaded shy a 1000 pounds of product and get paid less. Fortunately it was just hovering at freezing and so a lot of our snow fell off be the time we got to the shipper.

We're leaving the shipper in Utah now and will be delivering in North Carolina in a few days and then going home for the holidays. By the time you read this, I'll be a home visiting family and playing with the horses and sitting in my favorite chair in front of our fire. I decided to do a few posts in advance and schedule them to post next week, since I don't have internet at home.

So this will probably be the last you hear from me till we go back to work after the turn of the New Year. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas surrounded by your closest loved ones and dear friends.

In case I don't manage to get back on here:
Merry Christmas! And may God bless you all in the year to come!