live. work. dream.

Angelenos are getting all worked up over the rain that’s been falling on Southern California. Yesterday, a tornado warning was announced, and minutes later a small “tornadic-like” formation touched down and blew over a car. The hills are sliding and freeways are a mess. Parents are keeping their kids home from school.

Even though this kind of weather action is mild in comparison to our old stomping grounds of rainy, wet Humboldt County, we’re still glad to be staying in a stick house while riding this episode out.

The Los Angeles area hasn’t seen rain since Christmas. I was hoping we wouldn’t see any bad weather this winter, but it is January after all. When the rain started falling, I had to dig our rain jackets out of storage in the RV. Even funnel clouds and heavy rain won’t stop us from going outside every day. That’s because Wyatt Ray just won’t cut us any slack. If our one year-old puppy doesn’t get three walks a day, he will eat the furniture. Morning, noon and night, he begs to go outside for a walk, and we comply. Dogs are great at getting you to break away from work and into the great outdoors.

One morning, as Wyatt led me on a walk during a heavy downpour, my soaking wet clothes were an unpleasant reminder that the Gore-tex water-resistance on my gear is fading away.

Gear lust started whispering in my ear again; I want . . . I want . . . I want. . .

Time to start looking for something else, like maybe a new Berghaus jacket?

By the time we left our mountain home in between snowstorms, it felt like an episode of M*A*S*H with us bugging out and heading South before getting hit hard. On a side note, a weather report from Red Feather lakes last week said it was -2 degrees back home.

But we did have time to winterize the place, which based on that report, we are very glad we did.

In addition to a few minor exterior repairs, below are the steps we took to ensure our house survives the severe Colorado winter.

Steps for Winterizing Mountain Home:

• Close and/or cover all heating vents.
• Remove all food from premises.
• Clean out refrigerator.
• Remove all ice from freezer and shut off water supply to ice maker.
• Turn heater thermostat off.
• Turn off fuel supply and/or electricity to furnace.
• Turn off fuel supply and/or electricity to water heater.
• Turn off well pump.
• Drain well water pressure tank.
• Drain hot water heater.
• Drain water from and insulate any outdoor hose bibs.
• Drain water from all interior faucets.
• Flush toilets to drain tanks and remove excess water in bowls.
• Plunge out excess water from all waste water traps.
• Plug dry toilet bowls with rags.
• Plug all sink and tub drains.
• Expel water from lines using air pressure, if equipped.
• Lock all windows and close blinds/curtains.
• Deploy preferred rodent deterrence.
• Plug any exterior holes with steel wool to prevent rodent entrance.
• Set nail mats in front of all windows and doors to deter bears.
• Unplug any phantom load items, TVs, stereos etc.
• Provide contact information to neighbors.
• Pray that all is well when you return.

What is a nail mat you ask? We wondered the same thing when we discovered the picket fence looking things with nails sticking out of them in the garage when we bought the place. (See photo above.) Turns out the previous owner made these bear unwelcome mats to place in front of all the windows and doors, with the screws pointing up. Let’s hope they work!

The previous owner also told us he never winterized the place, but he was often up there on winter weekends. We told this to a couple neighbors, and they both said, “He was lucky!” We’ll be gone a few months. And considering this was the first time we ever had to do anything like this, we’ll see if these steps did the trick. Talk to us next Spring.

Back when Lilla and Neal visited us at Jerry’s Acres, Neal suggested that we were in for a winter of heavy snow. His reasoning was based on a news story he had seen about the local Skunk Cactus — or at least he thinks that’s what the newscaster called this weed, and I think that’s what he called it.

Neal mentioned how the height at which the seed pods begin is an indication of that season’s snowfall depth. Based on a recent weather report from home, sent to us by Codie Rae’s people, I’m starting to believe him…

Red Feather Lakes: Snow and areas of blowing snow before midnight, then snow likely and areas of blowing snow after midnight. Low around 14. Wind chill values as low as -5. North northwest wind between 14 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.

Needless to say, I believe we left just in time. Based on the reports we’re getting from back home, we would have likely been stuck there quite a while – if not all winter – had we not pulled away when we did. That, or we would have been digging out the trailer to hit the road.

But we haven’t exactly headed to warmer climes, yet. Our second night here in Fernley, our hose froze. We had forgotten to leave a faucet dripping overnight. Keeping the water moving through the hose will help it from freezing solid and ensure you have running water in the morning. Insulating the hose with foam pipe-wrap available in the plumbing section of any home supply store also helps. As does having water in your fresh water tank as a backup.

How quickly we forget these things after staying put for a few months. I remember first seeing an RVer fuss with a frozen hose at a riverside park in Ashville, NC two years ago and laughing. The other morning it was my turn. After struggling to thaw things out enough to get our water flowing, we have now practiced these precautionary measures I preach. Good thing René hadn’t yet begun her early morning shifts at the Amazon warehouse!

Bonus! Two video posts in a row… At least this one is ours.

But since René mentioned the weather here at Jerry’s Acres and our impending need to head south for the winter – not just once, but twice – I figured I would let everyone see for themselves how beautiful it is here, how much fun we’re having, and just how cold it really is getting…

Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of living in a Georgia O’Keefe painting as much as any good ol’ country boy. And it is nice and comfy in our new home. But did I mention it is only October!

We do love it here, but the road beckons. It would mean one thing if we were settling down here for good. That time will come. But we’ve got our winter home sitting out front, with a lot of miles yet to put under its new tires. And that means we need to get those tires rolling before they are totally covered in snow.

Good thing I was proactive and washed the rig last week. I put roof protectant on that day too, which made it nice and slippery today when I got up there to shove a foot of snow of the roof.

I don’t know how much snow load our rig is rated for, but something tells me that this much snow is not a good thing.

Does anyone have good tips for pushing snow off a RV roof without breaking your neck?

The patio is closed. Hopefully in about two weeks, we’ll be on to warmer climates.

What was that about how it’s almost time to fly south?

I think that boat left without us. This is supposed the first day of Autumn. But I think Autumn got scared, and flew south too. Looks like winter is here.

This is the scene outside today. A winter storm warning has been issued for the next few days. Lucky for us, we’ve got food, booze and Internet. And Wyatt Ray really loves playing all this white stuff.

I’ll never forget the look on his face when we took him outside in the morning. Jim opened the door, and Wyatt’s ears went straight up. His eyes bugged out of his skull. He jumped and romped and spun around and just couldn’t understand what all of that white stuff was!

The Farmers Almanac is predicting a cold, hard winter in these parts. I look outside at our snow-covered rig, and thank Dog that we are in the house right now. The outside temperature is in the low 30s, but it’s warm and toasty inside the house with our fire going.

Time’s a wastin’, we better get moving soon.

Aside from our episode with the drunkards, the Missile Site park felt like the safest place to be during our stay in Greeley. The same cannot be said for the sole tornado fatality from the one that touched down there last year. We were parked in the same spot as that poor soul.

But while we could see the wild storms coming and going all around Weld County, and we had our NOAA weather radio tuned in and handy, it was Pete who gave us the most confidence come time for the daily tornado warning. With his house blown away by the twister last year, Mr. Ambrose wasn’t about to let anyone else be taken by another storm on his watch.

We knew one warning was particularly dangerous when we saw Pete rounding up campers. And we can’t thank him enough for letting us all drive into the old decommissioned Atlas-E Missile Silo he knows so well.

What better place to sit out a tornado warning?

See for yourself in this personal tour Park Manager Pete Ambrose gave us of the Weld County Atlas-E Missile Site:

On the farm in Florida last year, I wrote how snowbirds should prepare for freezing weather when trying to escape just that. Then, when we were getting ready to leave the ranch last August, I wrote about the sudden Colorado seasonal weather changes.

But after hanging out in New Braunfels for nearly a month, I must say Texas has some pretty crazy weather patterns!

Landa RV Park on the Comal River is the first place we’ve ever paid for a full month’s stay. The price was right, but it didn’t include our utilities. So René was actually calculating our kilowatts the first few days of our stay because we had run the air conditioner nonstop. Cooped up writing in the humid heat was unbearable.

But almost the whole following week, we had to run the heater because it was so cold and rainy! Within days, we were warm enough to go tubing again. About a week later we heard a severe thunder storm waring on the radio alerting us to golf ball sized hail and potential tornadoes nearby. That same day, after the clouds passed, I had to change back into my tank top pretty quickly.

I’ve heard it said in many a town across the country, but now I believe that if you don’t like the weather in Texas, wait an hour or so.

Epilogue: Since I drafted this post, we have endured more heat, I scrambled atop our rig to cover our solar panel in a hill country hail storm, we got stuck in the mud after a downpour in Luckenbach, and we have withstood the wind of the Texas prarie. I rest my case.

Here on the ranch in Lake City, Colorado, summer seems to have flown by. That’s because it has.

Locals are saying they can smell autumn in the air. And I can sure feel it when we get up in the morning. I overheard one neighbor say that around this time of year, “you can almost hear the switch flip” indicating the changing seasons – the end of summer, and the oncoming freeze.

Ol’ Perk Vickers even said they once had 30″ of snow on the ground for Labor Day! It must almost be time to hit the road.