February 9, 2014

We had not planned to come out this weekend because of the 4+ inches of snow from the Sunday before, followed by a week of bitter cold and more light freezing precipitation (snow, sleet, and freezing fog). Eureka Springs schools were out the entire week, as were many others. The University closed for one full day and two half days.

Showing

My plans changed when an Amarillo couple saw our ad and wanted to come out and see our place. They were going to be in Norman, OK on Saturday so they had planned to drive to Eureka Sunday, see the place on Monday, and drive back Tuesday. I made arrangements to be off work and staid in touch with them. But the forecast for Monday was more snow and more sub-freezing temperatures, though the highs Saturday and Sunday were in the upper 30s. I was somewhat worried about the road, but figured it would be fine at least through Sunday. Plus, why have a showing in a snow storm. So I talked them into coming straight to the farm on Sunday, and that is what they did.

I arrived about 12:30. Though the upper road was clear, I decided to walk down the hill to check out the entire road. There was some snow where it entered the woods due to a few pines south of the road (need to be cut), smatterings of snow on down, and then at the bottom where it turns and levels off there was quite a bit. But it was all soft and almost clear on the up hill side, so no problem driving down. I even drove back up to the top just to make sure. There was lots of snow in front of the house(shaded by the pines), on the north side of the house, and on the north side of the garage.

The couple arrived right on time, near 3:00. She said the house seemed larger than she expected, based upon the pictures. I had given them the blog address, she had read much of it, and asked questions based on some of my postings. They said it was very beneficial. She even wanted to check out the Loveable Loo (I believe that was a first). After looking through the house we walked out the bluff to the eastern border, around to the barn, and over to the spring. We only had to deal with a little bit of snow. My impression was that it is not right for them, but you never know.

Fire Wood

We have burned lots of wood this bitterly cold winter, and were almost out. So I loaded all the rest I had cut, split, and stacked in the back of the barn into the truck. It made exactly a truck load. The picture shows whats left, nothing. In the summer of 2012 I had a double row of logs 5' high between the first two supports, and a single row between the next two. I've got to get started cutting and splitting next year's supply.

Walnuts

Having about 45 minutes before my guest were to arrived, I cracked a big bowl of walnuts to take back to town and pick. There are lots more I have stashed in the rabbit hutch that need cracking. (Of course the cracking is much faster than the picking.)