February 12-13, 2011

Weather

The previous two weeks were brutal. In Fayetteville on the 1st we got a quarter inch of freezing rain followed by a half inch of sleet and 4 inches of snow. The University closed Tuesday through Thursday. Thursday morning we set a record low of -5. On Friday we received another 4 inches of snow and the University closed at 4pm. Though it did get above freezing Saturday and Sunday and we had a lot of melting, I deemed it unsafe to try and get to the farm.

Another system passed through on the 9th bringing more bitterly cold weather and dumping 18 inches of light powder. The state record for a 24 hour snowfall was broken when Siloam Springs recorded 24.5 inches. Clifty and Harrison were reported to have received 24. And then there was the cold -- several new record lows were set including a -18 at Drake field which was an all time low temperature for that location. The University was closed Wednesday through Friday. Fortunately, after the front came through we had clear skies and sun so many of the roads (especially those that got plowed) began melting early.

Saturday's high was forecast to be in the upper 40s and Sunday's in the upper 50s, so I decided to make the trek out. I brought my snow shovel because I anticipated shoveling the road down to the house and barn. (I wanted to get out to check on things, but also needed to get a load of wood for our President's Day weekend trip to Chicago.) Sally and Tender stayed home due to the conditions.

All the roads were great -- they had plowed everything including Rock House and even our county road. (I could tell they used a grader on the county road due to the tractor tire tracks.) From the cattle guard down, however, there was still lots of wet heavy snow. Having seen 4WD vehicles slip in these conditions I decided to go ahead and shovel two tracks. It took less than an hour each way -- down and then back up. It was hard on my back though.

The house was fine (glad I had added the extra insulation last year) and the snow was melted on the south facing slopes that were not shaded. But there was lots of snow on the north side of the house and garage and any place shaded. The road was practically completely clear by the time I left Sunday afternoon -- due to the SE facing slope. I really wanted to get down and see the pond since it looked like the ice was really thick, but I didn't care to wade through deep wet snow to get there.

Loaded Wood

I drove the truck straight to the barn and loaded it up. This wood is suppose to be 18 inches. If it were I could get 4 rows in the 6' bed. Knowing my cutting is not that precise, I put the longer pieces in the first row and the shorter ones in the last row and ended up with 4 complete rows -- wanting to make the most of the trip.

Walnuts

In the hour and half or so before dark I cracked a box full of my black walnuts. I decided I would send these to Amanda, so that evening I picked out the largest pieces of shell only (no need to ship them) and bagged up the rest.

Sunday, last thing before leaving, I cracked another box full for me to pick out. I've still got a little over two bags to crack and pick -- close to 100 pounds.

Burn Cedars

Sunday morning I decided to burn the cedar limbs from the 4+ trees I had cut in December. I had drug these out back and down the hill, now I had to drag them to the fire pit. With the wind strong out of the west I was afraid of scorching my peach tree, so I had to go slow and ended up with the fire east of the actual fire ring. Some of the limbs I threw on the fire were still clinging to snow and ice. They still burned. I didn't finish the job since I was anxious to get on to log splitting, but I did get most of them burned.

Split Wood

I spent the next couple of hours in the barn splitting the large white oak logs I had cut. It went pretty good, but many did have joints that made it difficult. I got about half of these done -- you can see them stacked behind the truck load of wood we are taking to Chicago. These are dense and heavy, and so will make great stove wood.

Eagle/Hawk?

I saw another bald eagle right overhead soon after getting to the house! And Sunday a huge hawk was soaring low (less than 50') right overhead. It's coloring was unusual and it was huge, which made me wonder if it was an immature bald eagle.

January 28-29, 2011

Eagles

We saw two eagles on the way out, one near Clifty and another along Hwy 23. When we got to the cattle guard there was one soaring directly over the farm. I saw a fourth flying over our valley Saturday morning when I had driven down to lop cedars. And then we spotted a fifth over head while laying out on the warm ground Saturday afternoon.

Very Pleasant Weather

It was 60 Friday afternoon and hit 70 Saturday -- amazing for January. After working Saturday I joined Sally and Tender just laying on the ground soaking up some rays.

Fayetteville set a record high of 74 Saturday. 5 days later we would set a record low high temperature of 16 and a record low of -3 Thursday morning!

Fence Repair

My first project Friday was to repair the section of fence that had blown down a few weeks earlier. I ended up having to rip a 2x2 at an angle using my rusty hand saw (held in place by my vice) in order to build an anchor at the post. It sits higher than we wanted since the post stopped at the porch concrete, but with rocks underneath it doesn't look to bad.

Walnuts

After the fence repair I cracked another box of walnuts -- starting in on my 3rd bag. These were smaller than the previous ones and had about a 80% ratio of good nuts to bad. Sally was asking why I bother with all the work when I can just go buy them. It did get me wondering the same question. I figured it takes me over an hour to pick out a cup of nut meat, and I get about a quart of meat per box, and it takes about a hour and half to crack that many. How does Hammons do it for a profit?

Lop Cedars

Saturday morning I went back down into the valley worked the area across Plume creek -- going all the way up to the woods and back down. After that I did a few more on the north slope. I cut 985 and was glad to clean that area up.

Clear Creek

After lunch I went back down to Plume creek with my Stihl to see if I could finish clearing the ice storm damage -- a project started last spring and continued a few weeks back. These are some before and after pictures.

I cut everything all the way to where the fence crosses the creek (approximately where our property line is). I drug most of the limbs out of the creek and piled them to the side. There is one section needing more dragging, but it is close to being able to walk up un-impeded.