It Takes a Skidder to Make a Driveway

 

Boy, who knew I would ever dream up that blog post title, but it's true. The 30 plus inches of snow left us very little options other than big equipment.




Locally there are a few pieces of heavy equipment set up to deal with large amounts of snow, but drivers unavailable or equipment out of commission at the moment. The Box R Ranch came to the rescue though. Jesse, one of the hands, brought over a huge log skidder with a plow blade on it. I didn't get pictures. I just decided to stay the heck out of the way and let the guys get to it.



 When I finally did go out to do the feeding rounds in late afternoon, I took an extra trip around for pictures.



 I'd say we have a very good start on our snow pack, and there is more at higher elevations. I love the light of dusk, and I love the way the snow dips and rolls, covering the landscape in perpetual soft white waves.



 I can put up with a lot for the beauty it surrounds us with.



 But then again, it's not yet January. Come April, I may be pretty darn sick of the whole thing.

I finally made it to town for supplies on Friday. It was a quick trip, timed around need and storm fronts. I left at 8 and was home two and half hours later. With nicer weather predicted this coming week and the newly dug out driveway, I'll be heading to town for some fun shopping soon.

On the sewing front, I've been slowly working my way through a cotton velveteen jacket.



This is a wearable muslin (Simplicity 2508), for some cashmere blend coating I have. All in all I'm pretty happy with it. I had to shorten the waist and could have added more length onto the hem but a truly short jacket will work just fine for this test piece.



 Of course I'll make other changes and corrections for the longer cashmere coat but I think the fit is quite nice. This pattern offers an endless amount of design options.



 I'm hoping to finish this up today with the hems and buttons.

Before the Christmas holiday I made a very useful piece of clothing following another of the quick and easy patterns from the November Fabric of Vision Swig & Stitch. This one a cowl out of some nice fuzzy knit. I have no clue what is in this fabric but it is warm and snug. The cowl is wider at the shoulder end and narrows up to a funnel of sorts.

 

 This funnel end folds inside and keeps it quite close to your neck.


 A perfect addition to the feeding garb. The back of my neck stays warm and dry, even if I should go under a low hanging snowy branch. My neck and shoulders warm and protected from wind and wet under my coat.

Over November and December I also picked up a couple quick and easy small quilt patterns.



The buoy one was a gift. It was funny but I was designing a little quilt with buoys and low and behold, a sharp pair of eyes spotted this on her travels and picked it up for me.

Lucy is settling in pretty well. She is more energetic and busy than either Stella and Robin. The long legged Jacks seem to be more hyper in my experience, but she is benefiting enormously from our very steady routine. Stella and Robin are teaching her the joys of just chilling out under the covers. Jack on the other hand, is teaching her how to jump the half doors. Those long legs must have springs in them!

Parting shot: See Lucy, this is how it's done.