I was driving home after dark one winter night having just finished cleaning a home that is one of my regular jobs. The drive takes me along a road that is only 5 miles or so from a small town at one point, but due to the mountain shapes, there is no cell service for a couple mile stretch. It's a winding road with lots of hard corners. Anyway, I came around one of those cell phone service lacking corners and there was not one, but two cars who had been traveling toward me on the opposite side of the road, totally buried in the snow bank on my side of the road. Like many smaller country roads, there's not really a shoulder, so this means they are both nose down over the few foot drop off. Resting the front corner of their cars against a barbed wire fence, and nearly into a little creek that flows along that road edge. Obviously both drivers had spun out on the same slippery patch and I don't know how they had avoided hitting each other. One of these cars was a pretty new Audi with a middle aged couple inside. They were just sitting inside looking totally helpless. Doing nothing. The second stuck rig was a little larger SUV, also pretty new with a single male driver. He was outside, attempting
As you know if you have been following life here in Fy Nyth for any length of time, Burley adores the snow! He loves winter, and I think must believe that summer is this odd little time of year when his wonderful snow melts temporarily. If you have seen some of our backpacking trips in the summer, you probably remember him searching out any snow patches left high in the mountains and racing right to them to roll in and do belly slides on. But right now he doesn't have to search at all to find snow. We are just wrapping up the second snowiest
As the snow continues to deepen, more and more wildlife start to use the cleared and shoveled pathways all over the area because it makes it so much easier for them to travel. So more things travel up or down my lane and past my house. So here is some more captures from the game camera yesterday. Pardon the photo quality, game cameras do not have the resolution of my cameras I normally use. But they do capture things like this which is neat! Burley and I were out shoveling snow at a different house at the time, but when we'd got up in the morning, I saw this family was napping in the edge of the woods behind the house. Anyway, here's what happened while we were out. First mama moose strolled by
The snow is steadily deepening around here. And Burley and I are enjoying watching every flake fall! We've been having fun snowshoeing through the woods among other things. Now that it is deep enough to not catch the snowshoes on every little bit of unburied brush and twig. For those of you who enjoy watching snowfall without having to shovel it, here's
It's only mid November, and while my area, as you probably know, is cold and snowy for much of the year, this one is currently getting off to a nice deep start! While I won't know what the whole winter will bring
Just some quick glimpses into what we've been doing around the tiny house lately. The good part of the way I've chosen to live for years now is that my normal life is apparently pretty close to what people call quarantine. 🙂 So other than not being able to workout in the gym a couple times a week, my life is pretty much the same as normal. And for this I feel very
Hello from Burley and I who are still very much enjoying things like long snowshoes through the woods! Thanks to our good friend Beth for snapping this great shot of us together on the last snowshoe she joined us for. Around here winter is gradually turning into spring. The snow is still quite deep in most areas, but a few cleared spots that also face south have melted out and become mud.
I hope you are all doing well and getting to do something you
Over the past few years I have really enjoyed watching the birds that frequent the woods around our tiny house and the feeders. I have to thank my good friend and fellow tiny house dweller Moose for giving me a bird feeder he had when he moved. The little birds that started to visit it inspired me to create the current bird feeder setup I have. (It's so far been bear and squirrel proof! Check it out if you are interested - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0zylzSISwE) There were birds around before for sure, but I didn't get to see so many or watch them as up close. Watching and listening to the many little feathered friends is so much fun, plus they do a lot of work for me. Constantly patrolling the garden in the summer for any little unhelpful bugs that might be trying to take over, searching out the larva and eggs over the winter, and eating a lot of mosquitoes! They are great neighbors to have. And the time to enjoy watching, photographing, and listening to them is one of the many things I enjoy about living a slower paced life, much of which has been made possible by my tiny house. So I thought it would be fun to share with you all some
Up to the first of January, this winter was running a little below average snowfall. Of course long term averages are made from higher and lower years. As you can see in the above photo, heading into the new year the snow around the house was not very deep.
Then at the begining of January, it started dumping. It snowed almost every day for the first half of the month, and actually broke records for January snowfall totals. Which has brought us up to about average for the whole winter so far. Anyway, I thought you might all enjoy photos of
We've been very much enjoying winter around here! Many miles of snowshoeing through woods and along rivers have provided delightful glimpses of beautiful things in the natural world.
The snowpack, the amount on the ground, is always changing with new storms, well below zero weather that sucks moisture back out via sublimation (frozen water turning directly into vapor without melting into a liquid first), or a warmer day with some sunshine that helps compact all the layers from the various storms together as the snow settles. The snow fall totals are a different measurement from snowpack, generally measuring the amount of new inches that have fallen once a day before all the above mentioned effect have much time to act on that new snow. At the moment this leaves the mountain above me reporting over
As I mentioned in one of the last posts, we've been doing a lot of snowshoeing recently. And as discussed, I have found modern style snowshoes to be pretty ineffective for actually moving through deep snow. I've pondered for several years if I needed a new-to-me pair of snowshoes and if so, what would best fit my needs. I have found over time, this is a good process to work through to be sure I am going to acquire an item I actually need or want and know I will use for sure. I don't have time or space in my life for things that don't fit that description, so I don't want to waste any money or energy on any of the trillions of items in the world that I do not need or want and know I will use for sure.
So, when I'm thinking through something I might want, unless it's something I already had that is totally worn out, broken, and unrepairable, and needs replacing with the same item, this is what I usually do. Think about, do I need this? Almost always the answer is
With lots (more than 11 feet in the mountains above me since January first alone!) of snow, Burley and I have been enjoying quite a few snowshoes through the woods. I love being able to float over the deep snow, the quiet of the winter woods, and
As you probably know, I really enjoy the flowers surrounding my house, garden, wild in the woods, and seeing their beauty all summer. With our long winters, there are many months of the year with no flowers growing outdoors here. So, I do some winter decorating with
So as you may know, this winter has started out unusually dry. We've had a few inches of snow several times, since late September. And overall cold temps, down to -10F. Actually setting the record for the coldest October in the area. But even when it's cold, when the sun comes out and you have dry air, the snow just evaporates. It's called sublimation - the process of a solid turning
Hey all! I hope you area all enjoying your winter or spring. Which ever you are having. Sorry it's been a while if you are only following me via the blog. That's a long story which I'll elaborate on in a minute.
First a look back at what the snow looked like around here in the middle of last month.
Then, after a very low snow year for most of the winter so far, it finally started to add up. Now it's looking more like a normal winter around my place.
I've also spent a good bit of time out trying to capture some good wildlife photos.
And I think I managed to get some. Like this beautiful mother and baby bighorn sheep in front of Sheep Mountain.
Or this pair of pregnant elk sparing over some kind of disagreement. They stayed balance on their hind legs for a long time. I'd never seen that before!
And then some little birdies came by for two days (and I've not seen them since) that I'd never seen before. After getting some photos, I looked them up and learned this is a Pine Grosbeak.
Tracked down a few mountain goats.
Check out the amazing color detail in those feathers!
I went on some hikes and snowshoes with Grizzly.
Isn't she just a gorgeous dog?
So other than all that, I haven't blogged much because I've been spending a lot of time working on videos. I feel a bit torn about that because I don't much like watching videos. I'd rather read personally. But on the other hand, I started this blog to share useful information with others. And, when I look at the amount of people I can get information too, Youtube wins hands down. Like in all the years I've been blogging, a little under 800,000 views on the blog. Now admittedly, that is a pretty huge number. And way more than I ever dreamed would be interested when I started this.
But... when I compare that to what I see on Youtube (mostly in the last six months whereas the blog's been going for years) it's a huge difference. Videos have somehow racked up over 2,000,000 (yeah, two million) views with over 11,000,000 minutes watched. Now talk about numbers that blow me away! I thought there might be a few hundred folks interested when I started this. So that's just crazy!
If there were unlimited hours in a day, I'd just do both. But somehow, I only have 24 of them in each day. So... do I put more of my time into the thing I prefer personally? Or the thing that reaches the most people? I don't know the answer. For now, I'm trying to do both as I am able, but I've certainly put more time into video than blogging recently.
Meaning, if you've been following me on here, and don't want to miss anything, please know there is also stuff (as in info, updates, wildlife, etc) to be found on my Youtube channel! https://www.youtube.com/fynyth
That's all for now, and I promise I'll try to get blog posts back up a bit more frequently.
This is the 4th January I've lived here in my tiny house. And all of them have been different. I thought you all might enjoy some comparison photos. The first year, and now this year have been less snowy than average. In between, one year was pretty average, and last year was way above average.
My first January is above. When I was still parked just downhill from my current location and before I stained Fy Nyth grey to better blend into the woods where I live.
My second January when the winter was pretty average for here.
Then there was last January. The year when Wyoming received more snow than any winter since recording started!
And then we have this January. With it's way below average snowfall. I guess that's how you get averages! How average is your winter so far?
Well this winter continues to be odd, weather wise. While much of the country has been under a much colder than normal spell, it's been the opposite here. Several sunny and somewhat cold days, and then back to warm and grey.
Like it was 38 F. last night and rained all night long. Poured. This is the middle of January. Normally at this time of year, it's more like -30 to -40 F. So it's almost 80 degrees warmer than normal. That's pretty crazy. Now today it's snowing some, but still unusually warm.
Despite the relative warmth, with all the grey days and the short daylight hours, this is the time of year my generator gets used. So here's a look at the how I maintain and care for this little workhorse. And a comparison between the Champion generator I use, and the similar sized Honda that I do not own, but have used on occasion.
And then some of the downsides of life here. Just to clarify, this may not be a video for everyone to watch. Yes my goal here is to show real life off grid with all it's ups and downs, not provide a "reality tv" fantasy world.
Like all animals, I do think skunks are beautiful and amazing to watch! When I first posted this, some people were very horrified. I didn't realize how many people were not familiar with wild skunks as skunks have lived everywhere I have ever lived. I wrongly assumed most people knew things that were basic knowledge to even a young child when I was growing up, but I do understand that many people have different background and experiences and should probably not assume anything is known unless I thoroughly explain it.
The main issue is not that it got in the dog house, or under the house, in particular, but that it was here at all. A wild skunk that is approaching people and houses in the daylight has a high chance of being sick with rabies which is fatal and for which there is no cure one contracted for either humans or animals. Totally aside from the nauseous and eye burning smell they bring with them. And I should have clarified that.
And as much as I love wildlife and observing nature, the sad thing that most people don't realize is that most relocated animal die anyway, usually a longer and more painful way. I see this a lot around here sadly with bears and many smaller things being relocated. They put the animal down in some other animals territory and it's usually killed by the previous resident. But the people it was originally having a conflict with don't have to look at it happening, so the general public feels better about it. :( As someone who loves wildlife and spends thousands of days in the wilderness observing and photographing, it's pretty sad to watch.
But with that all resolved, Grizzly and I are back outside enjoying the snow. Though it still really stinks outside! Hopefully in a week or so, that will finally dissipate.
And taking drives to photograph the mountains and wildlife. Like bighorn sheep.
Of course, none of the big rams would turn around and look at the camera, but this little girl halfway did. Grizzly handles wildlife drives very well. She enjoys looking out the window, and is very alert when we find wild things, but sits quietly and watches.
I hope all of you who are getting really cold weather are staying safe, and I wish you could send it this way!
