Home on the Hill

It turns out the answer to that is 17 1/2 cords. Probably enough to see four fires through the winter.  Some of them don't take much wood.  Loading it and delivering it to the house is fast. It's the stacking that takes time. All the wood isn't going to fit under cover so some will just get stacked and covered with a tarp.  Next years Project list includes extending a shed roof under the veranda so it's all under cover.  A few brisk days with overnight temps approaching freezing  have added some impetus to the effort.  We have had snow on the mountains across the valley by this time.  It is not far away.  There is a certain sense of ease and comfort in knowing this winter's wood project is coming to an end.  Just in time because the electric furnace has been running, on and off, for quite some weeks now to take the morning chill off or warm up the evenings watch infront of the idiot box. Here's the result of trying ...

The sunshine holds, barring several hours lost for trips to Burns Lake for chain saw parts, the Winter Wood project continues. After a new bar and a couple of back up chains we were back up at the pond. Using the skidsteer to drag the logs out to a flat spot for limbing and then "chomping" the logs, moving them to a cutting area where they are held up at an easy cutting height has certainly increased the productivity of the process. One problem we didn't realize we would have is the cows, and their insatiable curiosity. We have to be extremely cautious when falling.  Some of the younger calves follow the logs as they are skidded out.  Jo-Ann is not only in charge of the skidding operation but shooing the cows away. Another couple of days or so and Winter warmth is ours.

Yesterday we started the Winter Wood Project.  Gathering the 14 or 15 cords of wood we will need to get us through the winter.  Last winter like others around here we ended up logging in the snow.  Not the most efficient way to get fire wood.  We have about 30 acres or more of dry, bug killed pine at the North end of the property.  Perfect firewood.  This year we have mechanized the process.  I whack down a pile of trees and Jo-Ann skids them and me out to a landing where she uses the skid-steer's 4 in 1 bucket to grab the trees and lift them up to a comfortable height for a guy with a recovering back to whack them up into blocks.  Way easier than bending over to cut.  The chain lasts a lot longer as it is less likely to touch the ground.  Then she pushes the blocks up into a pile awaiting loading, again via skid-steer, into a dumping trailer for the trip back to the house. The weather is very cool....

Spent the last couple of days, slithering in the mud, inhaling fiberglass particles, getting covered with rusty leaking water, and trying not to catch a house on fire.  Yep, you guessed it.  I'm plumbing.  Nasty job. We think Grandmas has been sitting cold for at least Six or Seven years. Not properly drained, the occasional -30 weather split copper pipes and wrecked a lot of the plumbing. It doesn't look like it was ever done to proper standards in the first place.  Hugyballed.  Poly pipe clamped to copper.  The soldered joints all look like this: And these are some of the better ones.  The elbows seem to split.  And of course the risers.  The 1/2 inch copper lines entering the wall ( which is actually the floor) have all split inside the walls. Thank God for the guy who invented PEX conduit.   Replacing copper and lead solder is pretty easy.  Except for where the connections have to be made where my long handled PEX plier...

We just got our connection to the WWW back.  Our wireless modem had bit the dust and we just replaced it.  Nice to be able to get to the google plex via the kitchen table.  Connecting from the office via cable and radio to a mountain 17 kilometers away just seems like, well, working.  From the kitchen table it's more like the before breakfast or during lunch break. Like most projects putting up the acre of pig pasture fence took a lot longer than I originally anticipated. The Forman was constantly in my face:  Some of my co-workers spent a lot of time napping on company time.  Fortunately company showed up and was immediately pressed into service. This fellow doesn't live very far away, but right now seems more interested in gleaning the remnants of a poor Saskatoon berry crop in preparation for the Winter nap. A lot of wire, but so far no bears have made it in or pigs out.. Some dogs and a cat or two have had a rude s...