Changes in Scenery

I'm back in North Georgia after 3 months in Idaho.  We left "Wydaho" (eastern Idaho and western Wyoming) when temperatures were plummeting and snow beginning to fall at the higher elevations.  By staying 10 days later this year I had hoped to see the Aspen trees with their autumn coloring, but only got to see a few in the Snake & Hoback River canyons as we were leaving the area.  

No one will live in our vacation home this winter.  We will visit for a few weeks and daughter may visit also at another time during the winter months.  Leaving a house sitting alone surrounded by 40+ acres of vacant land causes anxiety.  Our nearest neighbors are 1/2 mile away.  My #1 fear is that field mice will take over the place.  Of course leaving a home where temperatures can fall to -20 degrees can pose some problems also.  Theft is not a worry and I've made peace with the fact that if it ever catches on fire --- it is gone.

Before leaving we purchased additional garage door openers and passed them out to our friends and trusted contractors.  Hopefully, we never get any calls reporting problems, yeah right.  Our contractors are also friends.  One will be using part of our large garage as his workshop this winter.  Both will be completing a wall to convert part of the huge downstairs into a great room.

Our method for deterring the mice population was to use a lot of expanding foam wherever we saw any gaps; filling attic spaces with boxes of mothballs; putting cotton balls soaked with peppermint oil in lots of corners; and sealing all spices and any open foods in plastic containers.  Wish us luck.