Polar Vortex

These are two words that I have come to hate recently. Last night was my first night back in my room since last Wednesday. I have been house sitting for my boss since last Thursday night and this bitter cold (wind chills in the –15 to –25 range) are really tough on older homes. I awoke Tuesday morning to no water in the whole house even though I had been letting the water drip to try and prevent a freeze-up. I got to spend time with Thea too, walking her and feeding her. She is a very sweet and obedient dog and about the same age as Boomer. Since I haven’t seen Boomer in three months, she was a nice stand-in for a few days to give her some lovin’.
The cold and ice is tough on the alpacas and they don’t like to come out of their shelters when it’s bitter cold or snowy. I had alpaca duty Monday morning and as I was opening the gate so Cindy could pull the Kubota into pasture 2, I slipped on a patch of ice and fell hard on my back, whacking my head a little on the ground. Cindy poked her head out of the Kubota and asked if I was ok and after getting up and moving various body parts, determined that nothing was broken. I had a headache for the rest of the day and my low back and hips were achy but it seems that the many layers of clothing that I had on, absorbed the shock to my body. As Cindy said, “ You fell really even.”
Mariah’s physical therapy is progressing and yesterday she stood for about 20 minutes on her own. The sling and pulley are working great to take the stress off of our bodies to pick her up. She will need to get to the point of being able to get up on her own to have any quality of life, as an alpaca, so that remains to be seen if she can regain enough muscle strength to do that.
Finished more mug rugs and a scarf. I love the colors in the scarf, purples and pinks (although I’m not a pink person). It’s made from alpaca yarn so it will be super warm and soft.
We have a bunch of workshops coming up in the weeks leading up to my departure. Today is our spinning workshop. Friday we have a alpaca showing workshop where we learn how to prepare your alpaca for the show ring, what the judges are looking for and ring etiquette. Next weekend is the nuno felting workshop, which I’m looking forward to. It was part of the three day workshop last weekend but the whole event was cancelled due to low enrollment. Lots of fun, educational events coming up.
Linda dropped our rig off at an RV repair place, near her, to get some items taken care of before we hit the road again. When I was home for a few days end of October, I had put some Stabil in the gas tank to get it through the months of sitting. As soon as I did that, there were really strong smells of gas in the rig; so much so that it was setting off the carbon monoxide detector. I chalked it up that maybe I had gotten some fuel on my clothes but I had been really careful and it’s not a sloppy job to take a little container and pour it into your fuel tank. Turns out a mouse had chewed a hole in our fuel line, right near the manifold,in the engine compartment. The guy at the garage said that Linda was extremely lucky that it didn’t catch fire on her way driving to their shop. I will thank the cold weather and short drive for that miracle and Linda having an angel on her shoulder. The reason that our furnace hasn’t been firing is that the computer board is shot so that’s another $295. I hated to answer my phone cause every time the guy called from the garage it was ka ching – ka ching. I guess that the final bill will be close to $1000 but our home will be safe and ready to hit the road.
The car, with its’ new engine, is acting up and is in another repair shop in Chambersburg. It’s getting 10 miles to the gallon and skipping and bucking so that needs to be checked out. We are really hoping that it’s a little tweak and not a big repair. Keeping our fingers crossed. Say a prayer to the god of all things mechanical for us, if you would please.
For more positive news…Today it will be in the 20’s, which will feel immensely warmer than it has felt in the last two weeks. Hope everyone is staying warm and safe. Enjoy the rest of your week, wherever it may find you.