Jan 15-16, '10

We didn't get out the previous weekend since it had snowed mid-week and the high temperatures were like 10 and 12 degrees. Sally had 10 and 11AM appointments in Harrison with Ted, so we met at the farm. She got there just before me at about 2PM. It was a bit dreary -- 50s, cloudy, and damp. I couldn't talk Sally into any outside activity, so Tender and I drove down to the pond to clear the culverts and lop cedars.

Beaver
The pond still had a good thick layer of ice, with only clear spots being around the culverts, at the other end where the creek comes in, and on the south side where the spring exists under the water. The culverts were only dammed up about a third and easy to clear. I thought I would check on the Beaver, so took my loppers and started working around the pond. Their den was almost black, as they had covered it in old wet leaves it looked like came from the bottom of the pond. The disturbing thing I found were three runs, beaver highways, heading up the hill. I followed one and found they were going up there to cut trees. Good oaks and hickories. They were decimating the area. I later told Sally I could put up with them damming the culverts, but not with cutting all our trees. Hell, I've spent lots of time planting seedlings. I think I will try and find a trapper.

Lopped Cedars
Working in the small old pasture areas behind the pond, I lopped about 1200 cedars that afternoon. Tender had a great time just snooping around.

Walk to Pond
We were pretty lazy Saturday morning, but late morning decided to walk to the pond. We scared off a deer right in front of the house near the spring box. At the bottom of the hill I talked Sally into walking across the pasture. I had brought my loppers along and took out about 250 more cedars on the way down and back. At the pond I showed here the beaver runs and described the damage they were doing above.

Walnuts
I finished cracking the walnuts I had at the farm. I am now down to one bag, maybe 45 pounds stored at the house in town.

Ice Storm Cleanup/Cedars
Sally was ready to head back to town after lunch, while I took my Stihl and Poulan and loppers out. I first tackled broken (ice storm) cedars and Chinquapin Oaks up past the swing. I also cut and loaded some pretty good hickory limbs that were down the other side of the creek where the road first levels out. Man, that hard wood really dulls a chain quickly. Then I went to the last pen below the barn. I lopped some pretty good size cedars all the way down the pen and then back up, about 150 total. I then took the Poulan to cut the larger cedars, burning a whole tank of gas and not finishing. I guess I will have to have a burn down there because there are so many of these and their skeletons will hang around a decade or longer.

Heaters
The pilots were on when we got there, but a couple of hours after turning up the one in the core of the house it went out and I couldn't re-light it. I tried several time Friday night, and once it re-lit but soon went back out. I just don't understand what is going on with it. I got it re-lit before bed and left it turned down all night. It was still going Saturday morning, but went out later in the morning after it had been turned up. Before I left about 6pm, I switched the two heaters (again) and re-lit the pilots. (I had gone to Lowes the weekend before to get an electric heater we could use to supplement the propane ones, but they had sold entirely out due to the arctic blast we had endured.)

Dec 31, '09 - Jan 2, '10

Brad and family didn't get to make it up, so Sally and I and Tender spent New Year's at the farm. It was gray and cold Thursday, but clear Friday and up until we left Saturday morning. Daytime highs were about 40 and night time lows about 20. The full moon behind the clouds New Years eve was pretty cool with a flock of geese sounding off overhead.

Walnuts
I cracked walnuts for about 45 minutes Thursday and again Friday. I think I have about half of the 108 pounds cracked now, with half of those picked out. A quart of those went to Chicago with Sarah after Thanksgiving and another quart to Denver with Amanda, and I've got about a pint. Now I have about that much cracked that need to be picked out. The picture is of my current cracking station. It's just the right height to get on my toes with arm straight and come down on the Hinkel to break those hard nuts. A gloved hand around the nut to catch the fragments, a quick check to see if its bad, and then drop the pieces into the box.

Entertainment
We watched Benjamin Button. Amazing that they can make something so absurd seem real. Was surprised that it was based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

We had three Saduko challenges where I copied a 4 star puzzle and we both worked them at the same time. I won all three of these, but may be ahead by only one on the number of times we have done this overall.

Friday night we played Scrabble for the first time in years. We really needed a dictionary since my spelling is so bad, and I got by with a few incorrect words we checked after getting home.

Pond

I could tell the pond culverts were dammed again, but didn't bother going down New Year's Eve. But we all got down there New Year's morning for a walk. This picture is after I cleared the north culvert. This ice had formed overnight. I was somewhat surprised there was no ice on the pond the following morning.

Burn

Since the ground was still wet from the rain and snow received during the week and the winds were calm, I decided to burn the rest of the cedars I had cut and gathered NE of the house. It went faster than I expected. I spent about 2 and half hours before lunch and another 2 hours after lunch and was done. It was nice to get that area cleaned up.

Heaters/Condensation

Early Thursday evening the pilot went out on the heater in the core of the house, and I couldn't get it re-lite. The house was the usual 55 degrees when we got there, and so we had turned both heaters up. This was the heater that had been in the living room and that I had swapped with the other one while I had it at Anderson's due to its pilot going out. Ben had said he had an identical heater but he couldn't keep it lite because of the oxygen sensor, but in the three times I've taken them in due to this problem no one has ever mentioned an oxygen sensor. They only go out while we are there, and it seems usually after being cranked up to raise the temperature of the house and they are working hard. I did get the pilot lite before bed and it never went out again, though I always worry about that happening while we aren't there and the pipes freezing. Sally doesn't like the smell of the house when we first arrive and is worried about carbon monoxide, though our detector has always shown a very low 'high value'. I'm thinking of getting an electric heater we can use while there to reduce use of the propane heaters.

We've also noticed a condensation issue around the outside edge of the floors and on the old windows, once the house has warmed up. I thought running the dehumidifier full time would solve this, but it did not. I even placed a small fan to blow into the corners of the bedrooms, moving it around, and it did help. But the next day they were still damp. We've also noticed the bottom of Tender's bed gets damp from condensation -- I presume due to his added body heat while laying on it. Maybe it was just overly damp this week.

Eagles

I'm always on the look out for Eagles this time of year. I thought I saw one on the drive out, but wasn't sure. Didn't see any while at the farm, but saw 5 on the way back. One flew low right over the car.