Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Another cold and sunny day in Utah

Here are a couple pictures of my new home. These were taken last summer. Picture this with about 3 inches of snow and you'll see what I see.





Would you believe? We may get above freezing if we hurry.

Just this morning, Cindy and I were discussing how much wood we've burned this year vs last year.

Looks like we've gone through almost 3 cords of wood... Guess I know a little about what summer brings. The guy down the road has a firewood permit and cuts enough for several of us. With about10 homes to the section here, I would imagine we can all survive on about 40 cords of wood.

She also let me know it's nearly time to go for hay again. Now, that's an adventure. This fat old lady really huffs and puffs trying to wrestle a 110# bale of hay from the stack to the truck.

Today we cleaned Dusty's stall and corral. That's Cindy's horse. At nearly 3 years of age, it's time to start training him... and he has a really strong "play drive". This could be a very interesting summer.

We still have all four of the lambs. Two have been sold and are waiting to go to market. If the guy who bought them doesn't pick them up soon, they'll be yearlings rather than lambs. We're keeping a one of the full-size ewes and also the little Merino. She's about 2/3 sized and is brown.

Pretty soon now it will be time to think about creating compost piles and then worm beds.

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Posted by Shari Thomas @ 2:03 PM :: (0) comments

Saturday, January 20, 2007

So, where's Beryl UT?

It's in Southwestern Utah.

To be honest, I don't think I've seen Beryl (the town) yet. We're located about 6 miles north of Beryl Junction and as best I can tell, that junction is about 6 miles east of Beryl. I know we're about 17 miles north of Enterprise and about 20 miles or so from the Nevada border.

Our nearest neighbors are about 1/4 mile. We can see them, but rarely ever hear them.

Legend has it that it was named for Beryl, a class of gemstones that include the Aquamarine, Emerald, and Morganite. I've not been able to track that down yet as fact... but it sounds good enough.

Physically, we're officially in the Escalante Valley. Our elevation is just over 5300 feet, so you can imagine, I'm huffing and puffing pretty good. To get to Cedar City (about 38 miles northeast) we go over the mountains (just over 6200 feet). Same thing to get to St. George... that's about 60 miles south.

While Cedar City and St. George are among the fastest growing cities in Utah, maybe even the USA, Beryl is really a ghost town. There used to be a railroad depot, but since there are no passengers, there's no need for a depot. There's still a water tower (symbolic) and a small maintenance office.

Beryl Junction is what most folks consider to be "Beryl". That's where you'll find the elementary school, a restaurant, the power company offices, and a couple of other shops. The official Post Office is at New Castle, some 10 miles east of Beryl Junction.

In a couple of days, I'll get a photo gallery of local snapshots. Then you'll get a better idea of what my new home looks like.

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Posted by Shari Thomas @ 11:24 AM :: (0) comments

Friday, January 19, 2007

Shari's Gone Country!

That's right... I moved a plan up a bit, and went country in December.

One of my Internet associates and I had been discussing and laying plans to join her and the rest of her family in Utah next spring.

Well, after assessing the long-term weather conditions, my personal financial responsibilities, her family's needs, I made an immediate decision to make the move. Thankfully, I already had most of my furnishings in storage.

I left on December 11, 2006 in one of the many drenching storms from late November carrying forward. Sure glad I left when I did, as I was able to outrun the storm, arriving in Beryl, UT ahead of the first of several snow storms and a long time in the deep freeze.

Got here on Dec 13 and have been incredibly busy ever since. Finally I'm able to chronicle the experience.

Now, you may ask... what about Sarah, the "Spinach Fits".. I mean Finnish Spitz? Well, she's loving it here and has her own blog called "The Itchy Dog Blog".

Be sure to grab my feed as this is where you'll be able to keep up with what I'm doing here, both on and off the 'net.

Shari

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Posted by Shari Thomas @ 1:14 PM :: (0) comments