Holidays, waiting for mail, and sick mules...

The cold snap that left us without power from the pelton wheel finally ended, and alas, we are still here, not basking in the golden sunlight of a breezy Hawaian evening.  But even so, things are looking up considerably.  The temperatures have been much more seasonable, rising well above freezing during the days, and hitting five or ten at night.  The river has thawed considerably, and stopped making the pained squealing and groaning sounds that seemed more tortured animal than frozen water.  Although the smaller creek running beside the cabin remains frozen solid across, and all attempts to re-start the Pelton wheel have failed.  (Isaac spent an entire morning chopping the foot-thick ice off of the intake trough in the creek, attempting to get water flowing again to the power house: to no avail).  But all in all, the warmer temps have been good, and now we are just hoping for a little snow to push some wildlife down from the higher elevations.

The Wednesday mail plane before Christmas, actually arrived on Thursday because they couldn’t fit in all their stops.  But when it arrived, it brought a full sack of letters and cards and packages from friends and family, a true Santa’s sack from the sky.

Christmas came and went in a fun flurry of decorating the cabin, hauling in the top of a Doug Fir and twining it with lights, baking, making ice luminaries and wreaths, Skyping family at home, and cooking venison roast over a bonfire.  The day was capped off with a lovely hike upriver, looking for tracks on the skim of snow left behind by a minor weather sneeze.  We found mountain lion tracks and otter slides, saw a full curl bighorn sheep ram, and admired the aquamarine color of the river flowing over ice formations.  But when we returned home, we found one of the mules (Bat, as in Dingbat) laying uncomfortably on her side, looking restless and sick.  We suspected colic, and hoping for a mild bout, began walking her for half hour spells, and then letting her rest.  By nightfall she was not looking much better, still laying down the instant you let her off the lead, and not interested in water, even freshly warmed.  A sick mule is a scarier prospect when the vet is a plane ride away, and its Christmas day…  But by 10:30 pm, we went down to check on her one last time, and she was standing, looking much happier.  She drank nearly a full bucket of warm water, and seemed perkier.  We went to bed relieved, and by morning she was one hundred percent.  Phewwww…