Spring, when will you arrive?

Old Man Winter will you please pack your bags and head south?  I have spring things to do and it is way too cold and snowy to do them.  But the main reason, I am running out of dry wood for heat.  Since I don’t have a back-up heat source, I need the outside temperature to warm up.

But I did notice this huge log, I mean huge in girth log that I’m not sure when it was cut, so it must be dry wood, though at the moment it is frozen in place.  The girth is much larger than my saw blade.  I can only think of two options:  A) call someone who has a larger saw to cut this baby up, or B) try it myself.  

Well of course I was going to try it myself.  I wasn’t sure how it would work, but given the sunny afternoon but too cold and windy to prune, I gave myself a tank of gas to see what I could accomplish.  Let me restate that I really wasn’t sure how to tackle this, another item that should have been learned sometime – how to effectively use a chainsaw.

I didn't quite get a "before" shot, but this is pretty close.

Did I mention that it is a good sized piece of wood?  I finally figured out that using a combination of chainsaw, wedges and splitting maul, things progressed rather quickly.  

 

And this is all that remains for another day.

Not bad for a couple of hours of work.  This wood should last me another week.  Will the temperature finally warm up by then?

 

At least it has been sunny the last few days and extremely windy.  Loads of power!!

Winter driving skills?

Why don’t they teach winter driving skills?  When another snow storm was heading for us, and the forecast said 8-12 inches, the man with the tractor told me to take the full size 4x4 pickup home.  His only advice was don’t bury it!  Good thing, actually, before it had even started to snow, my driveway already had some good drifts blowing across it.  I probably wouldn’t have made it in my car.  Back to winter driving skills, I do what works:  drive really fast and hope to stay on the road while busting through drifts.  If I get stuck (as long as it is not in the ditch) I usually carry a scoop shovel, scoop some snow and manually push my car out.  Yes, push it out, (I've had a lot of practice in this) there is something to be said for lightweight cars. 

So we had about 6-8 inches of snow, but of course 8-18 inches was sitting on my driveway.  I walked the drive – yep, pretty deep.  I didn’t need to go anywhere, but kind of thought the tractor and blade would show up, sometime, but they never did. 

The next day, I had to get out, and early.  With trepidation, I called and was told my drive probably wouldn’t get done today, but I had 4 wheel-drive.  Not really knowing the capabilities of said vehicle, I asked if it could tackle 8-12 inches and was told, don’t break anything…go through the field instead.  You know, I kind of like “waiting to be rescued”, the responsibility isn't on my shoulders.  That’s a lot of pressure – don’t break anything. 

So, I put the snow boots on, had snow pants, stocking hat, gloves and the scoop shovel in the truck ready to go, just in case I found myself walking.  I used my only winter driving technique – drove fast and decided to opt for the path of less snowfall, through the field.  (It’s kind of nice to have 80 acres to choose from).  With palms sweaty, I made it. 

I asked many coworkers about the capabilities of a full size four wheel drive pick up.  I was told 8-18 inches shouldn’t be a problem.  How come vehicles don’t have that sort of capability written on their sticker?  With a driveway like mine, it would be good to know… how does a Jeep compare to other all wheel drive or 4 wheel drive vehicles? How much different is a small sized pickup versus a full size?  A general rule of thumb would be nice.  Do you think dealers would allow me to test drive – only in the winter on my driveway?  Depending on the snowfall it may take a few years to finish my research.

With my new found courage and the knowledge that driving to my house is mostly downhill, I decided to try the driveway itself when I came home.  It was a wild ride, 18 inches was more the norm and yet I still made it.  The drive out the next morning really showed how deep the snow was, but I made it again.

The man with the tractor finally showed up and was rather impressed with the capabilities of his truck, or was it my driving?

Snow Day/Blizzard

Snow day and/or blizzard.  There are subtle differences.  Both usually mean that I won’t be going anywhere, or anywhere far.  Yes, I finally believe it is time to invest in a four wheel drive vehicle.  My car has gotten stuck twice in the past week.  One day it wasn’t even snowing.  The man with the tractor is getting rather annoyed.  But I keep thinking of mpg of four wheel drive versus my car.  Hard to stomach, so I think I will wait until summer.  I mean it is March already and the snow has to end sometime, right?

My morning always starts out the same.  My dog wakes me up by 6am because he is ready to go out and remind the world that this is his territory.  I put on my “smoky clothes” and boots to check and fill the outdoor wood stove.  I usually can fill it at 6am and again at 6pm or later and that is it.  As I head out the garage, I always check the battery status – or in this case voltage.  I have mentioned that the voltage really doesn’t tell me much, but right now it is the only gauge I have.   
With snow forecasted for today, the chance of much solar is slim, my only electrical hope is that the wind will kick in (which means I will be snowed in for a much longer while).  In order to gain as much solar as possible, I grab the long handled broom to “brush” the snow off the solar panels.  There is no way around it, I usually end up with most of this snow in my face and down my boots.  Usually it eventually melts off, but the quicker I can get juice flowing the better I think.

This morning I avoid walking the driveway because there is no way after 5-6 inches of snow that I will be going anywhere today.  Instead I surmise that I won’t need to start the generator, won’t need much electricity during the day anyway and this way I can wait to see if the sun comes out or the wind picks up. 

At 10:30am it is still a calm but unrelenting snowfall.  The temperature is around 30 degrees and so to ward off cabin fever, I strap on the snowshoes and head out before the forecasted wind begins blowing.  It is a beautiful hike through the woods.  This has to be one of the best kinds of snow day – where one can actually go outside and enjoy the snow rather than being cooped up inside because the windchill is way below zero and there are gale force winds. 

However, there are merits to a blizzard…I have loads of power.  The wind turbine is working overtime and it will continue into the night.  It might not mean much to you, but it makes all the difference to me.  I can vacuum, do laundry and even watch some tv at night.  On a calm snow day like today, I have plenty of natural light during the day so I can get odd jobs around the house done, if I have the ambition, but nothing too spectacular.  And nighttime usually comes early.  Is it too horrible to wish for a little wind?