When the repairman was here last time, 2 days ago, to replace the “defrost” unit on the heat pump, he gave us an estimate for a new furnace…..GULP
A touch over 6,000.00. O U C H  But if you look at it another way, a few more trips for repairs and we will have a good down payment on the new one. Oh well, it should get us through this winter, and we can get it taken care of next fall.
I am having trouble getting the old posts transfered here in their current form, so guess going to have to retype them, and change the dates to their original dates. Guess will work on that tomorrow.
Later all
January 27th, 2007
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OK, here’s the scoop on water in Utah.
Never having lived anywhere but Ohio, this situation with water in Utah really floored me. In Ohio, when you drilled a well on your property, it was yours to use any amount for any reason.
In Utah that is not the case. When you drill a well in Utah, the cost of doing so is all your responsibility. Wells are deep out here. Ours is 242 feet and is considered shallow. (Ohio’s was 60 feet) You have the cost of the casing, drilling, pump and piping. Cost of all averages 80.00 a foot. Assuming you just paid over 19,000.00 to drill a well, you still don’t have water. Humm. In steps the state. Now you have to pay the state for a share of water.
A share of water is 1 acre foot. You can also purchase any portion thereof. An acre foot of water is the amount of water it takes to cover 1 acre of land with 1 foot of water. To further complicate things, water is designated for types of usage. Irrigation, household, livestock, etc. Now all these areas come out of the same well.
The cost of and acre foot of water varies greatly.  A year ago it was about 500.00 per AF. That is if there is any available in your area. In year we have been here, it has gone up to 750.00 and higher.
If you don’t use all the water, in the opinion of the State, they can take some away from you. Also if you are using more water, again in the opinion of the State, than you have on record, you are issued a warning, and if it continues, a violation. Only having been here a year, we still don’t have a good handle on this situation. Still learning.
More later.
Cindy
January 26th, 2007
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Hey all
Still trying to get old posts migrated to new home. Guess I’m going to have to do it the hard way. (naturally)
Been pretty cold here this last few days again. Double digit sub-zero temps at night and low to mid 20’s during the days.
The birds we feed seem to appreciate the “Free Meal” sign is out. We don’t charge for water with meal either. We are very thankful for bird bath heaters. They work great.
Still chipping out water containers for animals though. We let them set during the day and add water in the evening to keep us from picking out so much ice.
We are already planning where to add the next “frostfree” water spigot. There is one outside the horse “barn” so that isn’t an issue.
The lambs are a different matter. We either have to run a hose to their water bucket, which is a pain due to the length. It has to be taken in every night so it doesn’t freeze. So we opted to using a short length of hose to get us halfway to the lambs and then haul water by the 5 gal. buckets full the rest of the way to their water container. Then we can just take the shorter length of hose inside every night.
I think the next post will be about the water situation in Utah. It is way different than Ohio, so stop back later.
Cindy
January 23rd, 2007
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I am moving my original blog to a new home and a new program. It will take me some time to move previous posts, pictures, and to learn a new program. Stay tuned.
Cindy
January 21st, 2007
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Burrrr….. While we may have missed all the ice and garbage that went thru the center of the country, we didn’t miss the cold.
Our coldest morning temperature at 8AM MST, was -19, (that’s 19 below zero) and that wasn’t wind chill either. It did warm up a little bit during the daytime. I think the morning it was -19 and it got up to -2 .
The fireplace has been working overtime for about 2 weeks. That’s OK though, it takes the pressure off the furnace that still isn’t in tiptop shape. Can’t find parts for it. Looks like a new furnace before next winter. At least it will be more efficient.
What was really fun was chipping out the water buckets for the lambs and horse every morning. The lambs weren’t real bad due to the shape. Its an oval and not real deep.
The horse bucket is a different story. Its a 50 gal. bucket. One morning I felt like I was spudding a hole to go ice fishing. All I could get chipped out was a little hole about 6-8 inches in diameter in the center. I used a wood splitting wedge and hammer to get it done.
Next post I will include a couple pictures of Dusty and the Lambs, and a short story behind them. They are really a big part of our lives out here.
Till next time,,,
Cindy
January 19th, 2007
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The lack of posts wasn’t my fault this time…..PHEW! My Internet connection was lost on Sunday the 7th of Jan. The repair man arrived today. Fortunately, the connection wasn’t beyond being found. It seems that one of our dogs tried to tenderize the cable from the antenna and it was returning a transmit error message. Luckily, since I and still under contract with the satellite provider, there was no charge to replace the outside cable. I am now up and functional, for awhile anyway.
We are supposed to get 8-14 inches of snow over the next 48 hours and when that starts, the signal will be gone again till the atmosphere clears up. Oh well, more trials and tribulations of Country Living. Just grin and enjoy it.
Will update on weather after we get it, and maybe some pictures if we get what they are calling for.
Cindy
January 11th, 2007
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We got about 4″ of snow that was predicted. Temperature this morning was a chilly 8 above. The dogs loved it even as cold as it was.
One very neat thing about it out here is the quiet. I always thought the Island was quiet after a snowfall. This quiet is REALLY quiet. After a snow you can actually hear the quiet. We are about 5 miles from a major highway (Rt. 56) and there is absolutely no traffic noise. Last fall, in the early morning we could hear calves crying (or whatever they do) about 4 miles down the road from us. Wondering what all the ruckus was about we had to go check it out.
We got to the farm and asked why they were so noisy. Turned out they had all been separated from their Moms for the first time and weren’t real happy.
Early mornings in the summer brings a bunch of unfamiliar sounds. Sounds that City Folk never hear. Roosters are a given, but excluding them, there are mules, sheep, horses and strange birds. All these sounds are 2 miles from us at the closest.
There is a set of RR tracks 9 miles from us and every once in awhile we hear a train. All in all, there is no way I would ever move closer to the city than I am out here. I don’t miss all the city traffic, the sounds and the activity.
I guess that’s enough rambling for today, have to go check the fire in the fireplace.
Peace (and quiet)
Cindy
January 6th, 2007
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Cool, we now have heat again. Time for the fireplace to rest for a bit. Repairman got here about 3:00 today. Glad it wasn’t real cold. We are expecting 4-6″ of snow tonight, and the temp. is dropping. It hit 50 today and was beautiful outside. Other than that not much going on.
Maybe tomorrow will bring something new.
Ciny
January 4th, 2007
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This falls into the “Trials and Tribulations” category of County Living. Furnace went out last night. Ho Hum. Those of us that are in the “Over the Hill” group will recognize the name Singer. When I was growing up, mom had a Singer sewing machine. Well, this house has a Singer Furnace. Yup, that’s right, a Furnace. Oh well, I guess that’s called diversity. They still make parts that fit it, but under another name.
I have no idea how old this poor thing is, but it seems it’s ready to retire. It went out AGAIN last night. The furnace repairman has our house plugged into his GPS and can find the house blindfolded. This is the 3rd time this winter it has coughed and gagged.
Enter the Fireplace. Ah, warmth at it’s finest. When the wind isn’t blowing, it will get the living room up to 85 in a few heartbeats. Funny thing about fireplaces in this neck of the woods. Seems like everyone has one. Wood is plentiful on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land and a cutting permit.
Growing up in Ohio with a fireplace, my dad always told me not to burn pine or cedar because it messes up the flue. Always use hard woods like maple, oak, and such. Well Dad, guess what? Out here in the desert, they don’t even know what hard wood is. Cedar and pine are the staples of fire places. Oh well, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Burn cedar and pine, and throw in a good measure of creosote logs for safety.
If you can find hard woods, it is sold by the pallets. Not sure if there is a cord per pallet or not. The price kept me from even inquiring. (IKES) There is close to 3 cords of cedar and pine all split (manually, I may add, Phew) and neatly stacked waiting to be called on. (HELP) A cord of the soft stuff goes for about 110.00 unsplit, and 125.00 split. Another skill learned, how to keep a splitting maul sharp. (sigh)
Guess it’s time to watch for the repairman.
Cindy
January 3rd, 2007
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One of our neighbors (1/2 mile away) stopped by early last spring. She said she just gotten off work so don’t mind the dirty jeans. I asked where she was working. She told us about a sheep farm “down the road” that she helps out at during lambing time.
Of course to a city girl that had never seen a lamb in the flesh, that was something neat. After the proper amount of “oo’s and aah’s” and other conversation that found the words, mom and lamb in the same paragraph, she left. About 1/2 hour later she came back. Only this time she had company. My mom is holding the new bundle of joy
The little guy in the picture is 2 days old and 5 lbs. We named him Taco. He is what they call a “Bummer”. He was the smallest of a set of twins and they didn’t think he would be able to compete for meals with his larger brother, so the owner said “get rid of him”.
The term Bummer refers to a lamb that it’s mother refuses to accept and he “bumms” around to other nursing Ewes looking for a meal. In the technical meaning of the word, he really wasn’t a bummer, but they called him one anyway.
He was bottle fed 3 times a day for about 2 mos. By that time we had 2 more bummers that were a few weeks older than Taco. For you “City Folk” that have never seen a lamb this small, contrary to popular belief, they do not “Bah Baaah”, it’s more like “Maaa Maaa. They have to be the cutest critters ever put on the earth.
We have since sold the 2 older ones, and replaced them with 2 young females. Taco has a couple playmates now, and hopefully this spring we will have a couple more little “Taco’s” running around with their mothers. I am sure this story isn’t over yet, so stay tuned for more.
Cindy
January 2nd, 2007
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Well, here it is 2007, and the start of another year. My the time is flying. Ever notice the older you get the faster time goes by?
It’s a perfect winter day in SW Utah. Sunshine, about 35 and a few clouds in the beautiful blue sky. Had a little bit of fog again this morning and some more ice crystals on the weeds. Just the right temperature outside to stoke up the fireplace and give the poor furnace some rest.
It was pretty neat last night. At 10pm we watched the ball drop in New York and could go to bed and know we didn’t miss it. The difference in time zones is really hard to adjust to. I was raised on EST for 54 years. Now all of a sudden we are 2 hours behind. Even after a year I am still running on EST. Oh well, such is life in the country.
Cindy
January 1st, 2007
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