Labor Day

Labor Day we took some time to go up to drive around and explore the national forest. It started to rain…as usual, so we mostly explored via truck, but it was really pretty. We stopped at a grocery in Estes and picked up some ice cream sandwiches for the ride back. The leaves are just starting to turn a rich yellow. So much earlier than in Oklahoma; I thought for a minute that a branch on our tree was dying, but then realized that several trees in our creek and around the canyon are beginning to turn. It has also become cooler, especially at night, lows in the 50s mostly, with lows of 40s expected by the weekend. It still reaches into the 70s & 80s during the day; I really like this weather.

I’m looking forward to firing up the wood burner this fall. At this point, I figure I’ve only collected enough seasoned wood to last for a month, but hopefully I’ll get enough to burn all winter before things get too cold. I’ve been monitoring the propane tank and we’ve used 10% (since our June 22 fill) on the water heater. I’m hoping to hold off a tank refill till next summer, putting a little from each paycheck into the savings in anticipation. It’s a 500 gallon tank, so it’s pricy when they do fill it up. Also, still need to get a chainsaw to cut up the green wood that I’ve collected from the tree guy.

The electric company came out today and installed a time of use meter, to see if it would be beneficial to us to switch to that rate plan. Not certain we would benefit, since on peak is 6-9 a.m. and 4-9 p.m., both times when we use the most electricity, but we’ll see. They will come out Friday and remove it and give us the results. Now we pay a straight .07/kwh, but the new plan has off-peak at .04 and on-peak at .13/kwh. Funny, the guy commented on the eagles up on our peak, he said they were the biggest eagles he'd ever seen, guess those chicken snacks are doing them good.

Steve is planning to take this Friday off, he has taken so little of his vacation time, that he is starting to lose the days he does have. Hopefully he will be able to get away from work, even if it’s just for the afternoon. He is constantly reading e-mail via his Blackberry; there are times when I am awakened in the night to the chimes of a new message. Sometimes I just really detest technology.