Home on the Hill

We've had a few snow falls so far. Nothing that stuck. But it was time to get the chicken operation battened down for winter. We put double heavy duty plastic over the tractor and covered in the run with some plywood I had kicking around. The "ladies" seem to like the new picture window in the run. I also installed a thermostatically controlled heater in the coop. It's insulated at the bottom so should stay pretty warm. The main thing I have found is that it needs to be dry. So we have six inches of straw in the floor and in the run. I haven't put any straw in the tractor part as we just moved the tractor to a new "port" and they seem to be enjoying the grass and seeds in a new bed. They have scratched the old bed down to the dirt. Almost ready to plant. I am not sure what the rotation should be but it won't be happening during the winter. I can change the straw, of course, and put some in the tractor if they get it down to earth but movi...

Spent most of yesterday building some lumber storage racks in the storage barn. It will make storing lumber a lot more efficient. Now I just put it in piles on pallets on the floor. And that takes up a lot of floor space. It will also make it a lot easier to get it when it's stacked. I have a lot of old barnwood and rough cut lumber that is sitting outside and I want to get it in and properly stacked so that it is out of the weather. And I can get at it without shoveling snow. I had to go to the hardware store in Fraser Lake to pick up 17 lbs of spikes. $70 bucks later. Before I get going on the storage project today I am off to Tom's to get another load of wood. This time I am going to use the skid steer to load a dumping trailor. Should be a lot faster than hand loading my little trailor.

Of the Birch variety. Finished getting all the leaners down. This birch got hung up on a little fir. Fortunatly I didn't have to cut the fir down. Kinda like being in a guilotine and pulling the rope on yourself. We managed to pull on the end and it came down so that I could cut it up and pack it off to the side of the road. I will be cutting that one up for firewood. Another fall project done. Ready for the grader and winter when ever it decides to come in ernest.

I love this picture Jo-Ann took. We've been having foggy foggy mornings lately and this is a great example of one. It's Sunday. I am being lazy. It's 11:00 am and I am still drinking my morning coffee. But lately I have been feeling like a human doing rather than a human being. Just a little frenetic trying to get the pre winter chores done. Really when I step away from the "2do" list and look at what really needs to be done it isn't a lot. There just are not that many "A's" on my list. Just a lot of "B's" and I suspect most of them are "C's" in costume. OK. One rant. We got some videos from the local outlet. Actually we have two. Combined the wouldn't make the first row at your average lower mainland outlet. Anyway I have noticed an annoying trend in the movie, or is it video industry. I picked up what I thought was a copy of the " Transformers ", only to find out in about two minutes of watching that i...

Our Driveway. Spent yesterday cutting down all the "leaners" from last winter. They are the poplars and willows that were bent from the snows of last winter and haven't straightend out. Given any kind of snow this winter they will be back on the road so time to get them out of the way. I want to get them cleared before the road gets graded. The easy part is cutting down the trees, the harder task is getting them off of the road. Fortunatly the skidsteer has a clamshell bucket and that makes lifting the trees and pushing them to the side of the road easier. The real pain is all the little pieces. Only one way to get them.. I had a couple of hundred feet of leaners down when Walter and Audrey showed up with a horse trailer. The were rounding up the last of the cows.

Way! The day after we finished putting the silage up and covered it with a huge piece of plastic we watched as some ominous looking weather moved in from the West. We could see it moving in from the tops of the western hills down the valley below and then up to our place. At one point it was snowing at Grandma's, just a few hundred feet above our house where it was sleeting. Fortunately, nothing stuck but it is sure a reminder that I had better get the place ready for snow. The hoses need to be drained and any extension cords need to be brought in. I ruined one I had left out last year when I plowed parts of the driveway with the skidsteer. I want to get the garage cleaned out so I can put the skidsteer in it. Last year when it got cold I had to put canvas over the skidsteer and put a heater inside before I could get it started. I also learned that leaving ladders on the slope side wall of the shed is a good way to ensure they will be unusable until spring. And then well into spri...