Snow. And more snow.

We got snow over the weekend.  A lot of snow.  Tons of snow.  Gads of snow.  I ended up clearing twice.  The main driveway I did on Friday since I was originally supposed to go out  visiting people over the weekend, but they cancelled.  That was my first experience with my new snowblower though.  

When I started cleaning on Friday, it was about 10 inches.  

The snowblower has a feature I missed; it has the "power steering" meaning you can disable the drive to an individual wheel to make it steer better.  

I have come to the conclusion that the discharge chute system on this snowblower is worthless.  I ended up just manually setting it , the lever that does it doesn't go all the way.  It also doesn't go very high, limiting the discharge range.

I made two passes and then noticed this.  It is leaking drive oil.  I didn't check that before I started, so I am hoping it was just overfilled or something.  I did have problems with it stalling out (meaning the wheels stopped) even in 1st gear in a few spots going uphill though, so I will have to keep an eye on it.

It also has a problem with the lock for the Auger.  The plastic clip that locks it when the drive is enabled is loose/broken, so it locks and stays locked regardless of drive status.  I figured out how to unlock it though.  

It was pretty quick though.  This unit is 28" wide, not 24", and those 4 inches saved me a whole pass up and down.  

The snow is still in the pretty phase of the season, though this storm might be the end of that.

I happened to notice Friday night that the snow glowed with my Christmas lights.  It was kind of neat.  

Saturday I woke up to 17" (measured on the slab.  It was still snowing though.  I think our total was about 20", since when I took a break, there was another couple inches on the stairs where I started.  It was above freezing, so it was melting down too.  

While thankfully I didn't have any major problems, large swaths of NH and VT lost power (and many are still without it as I write this).  I got a few blinks and a couple of surges, but that was it.  All I had to deal with though was random branches hiding in the snow.  The snowblower doesn't like them.  

One thing I noticed when I cleared on Friday was that I never set the skid height, so it dug up some rocks.  I fixed that for Saturday.  It still scraped rock a couple of times, but no shear pins broke.  

Did I mention we got a bit of snow?  The bank at the road was taller than the snowblower.  

So overall I a bit underwhelmed with the new snowblower.  It started second pull, and it doesn't bog easily, even with 20" of heavy wet snow, but I think that is more of a problem than it sounds.  You have to go really really slow with it because the first stage is slow.  This also limits the discharge distance since you can't fill the second stage to throw good.  My old snowblower would just barely not clear the edge at the wider part at the top.  This one had no chance.  Perhaps I am being a bit unfair since this was a really abnormal wet and deep snowfall (more on that in a second), but my first impression is that while it is an upgrade, it isn't as big of one as I had hoped. If it wasn't wider, I don't think it would be faster.

It was sticky wet stuff too that held itself up pretty well.  Usually when clearing my truck I just swipe out some underneath and it falls off.  This stuff was well adhered though.  I undermined almost two feet and it still didn't fall.  Impressive.  

It completed the curl on the carport.

My truck bed was full too.  Extra weight!

As per the usual, I tried to do the slab with the tractor.  It didn't go well, my tractor wasn't heavy enough to push that much so I had to scoop it and dump it.  But fortunately it could drive over it.  I don't think the tractor was faster than the snowblower when I cleared the slab though.  It was amusing when I dumped the bucket and the snow came out form-fitted to the bucket though.  

I made an oopsie when I was shoveling up by the house.  Hopefully things melt off enough that I can fix it, though it probably tore the silicone up so it won't be sealed anymore.  Oh well.  

But I got everything cleared.  It looks cleaner than it was because it was melting down, it was upper 30s and sunny.  

Naturally though, as soon as I finished, it started again.  Ugh.  It didn't really accumulate though. 

I went to a Yankee Swap Saturday afternoon, and didn't do much else.  Sunday was pretty lazy.  I finally got around to unpacking the temperature controlled outlets I had bought.  One of them came in broken.  

Hopefully this allows me to not use the heat pump which randomly doesn't shut off.  I haven't been getting a lot of sleep because it is 65 when I go to bed, and then I wake up at 2AM because it is almost 80 and I am parched, then when I wake up again it is back to 65.  They seem to work just fine though.

With only one of these I will have to leave one space heater on low and just hope the other one can make up the difference, but it should hopefully stabilize the temperature in the house.  This is the one that is currently temperature controlled.

The other one is just on low at the moment.  

I got see a nice looking sunrise on my way into work this morning, I got in kind of late.  I have been having motivational issues of late, but only three more days.  

I also got my snowshoes out and walked around for a bit, but that was pretty much it for Sunday.  I had wanted to finish building the framing for the cap, but got lazy.  No movement on the project list.  

Winter projects:

• Knock down the dead knotweed. 
• Winterize equipment.  Fire up the generator

• Get the building permit.
• Complete detailed house plans.
• Work with La Valley to get a concrete contractor.  Get the plan/schedule in place. 
  
• Design future method of travel.  Consider building the prototype.
  
• Shed floor.
• Shed windows.
• Fix generator box.  Decide/do something about power center.
  
• Clear/mark walking trails.

Not much progress, but cap design started.

The weekend was not nearly as productive as I hoped.  My trip out to western NY was postponed a week due to illnesses.  So instead I spent Friday outdoors since it was actually pretty nice out.  The weekend was colder though, so I only went out for short bits.  

Saturday was mostly doing chores, though I also selected a design on the truck camper that I am going to build.  I went with 2x3 framing and a single swing open (meaning the front is hinged and the back raises).  The bed would raise with the cap so I can stand in the back of the truck.  I plan to use thin acrylic for the sides (on hinges so they open) and front (won't open).  I am a bit undecided on the back.  Right now my biggest worry is that I am going to end up with a cap that two people can't lift to put on the truck.

I picked up the materials Saturday night, with the intention of building at least the exterior frame on Sunday.  I got everything marked, but then it started snowing quite heartily and I lost motivation.

Instead I decided to take a poke at my dishwasher.  It has been leaving a white film lately.  I ran vinegar through it a couple of days ago which only worked for one load, so I decided to take it apart.  It didn't look bad from the outside, but when I pulled out the screen, it because very apparent what the issue was.  

In addition, the filter was mostly plugged too, so I cleaned it as well.  This is the first time since I left the apartment (I might have cleaned it when I moved) that it has been cleaned.  It was overdue.  After cleaning everything, I ran another vinegar load through it.  It looks better now.  I will find out tonight if it works better.

It wasn't supposed to be significant accumulation (though we always get more in Sullivan than we were supposed to), but we had over an inch before I went to bed (about 2" this morning, just enough for me to realize that my tires suck in the snow).  The snow glowed blue with my obnoxiously bright Christmas lights on though.  

The cap work is now in progress.  Hopefully I get the framing work done.  I will have to order the hinges and stuff online.  Home Depot carries piano hinges, but only a foot long.  I need to make a trip to LaValley though, and they might carry them, so maybe I ought to make that trip soon.  Hopefully the snow melts off in the next couple of days, since I still need to measure where the pipes in the slab are so I know how far back I can push the slab and where the utility room starts in the garage.  

Winter projects:

• Knock down the dead knotweed. 
• Winterize equipment.  Fire up the generator

• Get the building permit.
• Complete detailed house plans.
• Work with La Valley to get a concrete contractor.  Get the plan/schedule in place. 
  
• Design future method of travel.  Consider building the prototype.
  
• Shed floor.
• Shed windows.
• Fix generator box.  Decide/do something about power center.
  
• Clear/mark walking trails.

Not much going on.

Not too much is going on this week.  I was away last weekend, I went out to Aunt's and Uncle's, and I will be visiting some friends in Utica and Syracuse this weekend, so there won't be a big update from this weekend either.  We are at the earliest sunset part of the year (it is either today or tomorrow), so it is dismal and dark even before I get off work (even if I take off early), but it should start getting better from here on out.  

I did put up a short strand of Christmas lights this year though.  They are very bright.  

I haven't heard anything from the furniture store about the futon frame yet.  I will go and pester them again today.  In the meantime, I put a clamp and some wrap on it to at least try to prevent it from getting worse.  

I ordered some temperate controlled outlets earlier this week too.  Apparently my heat pump took notice; it has worked fine since I did.  But this way I have a backup should anything go wrong.

Winter projects:

• Knock down the dead knotweed. 
• Winterize equipment.  Fire up the generator

• Get the building permit.
• Complete detailed house plans.
• Work with La Valley to get a concrete contractor.  Get the plan/schedule in place. 
  
• Design future method of travel.  Consider building the prototype.
  
• Shed floor.
• Shed windows.
• Fix generator box.  Decide/do something about power center.
  
• Clear/mark walking trails.

Interesting week.

The big news from this week is that I apparently ate too much stuffing and gravy at Thanksgiving and broke my futon when I got home.  I don't think I was doing anything obnoxious.  Because of how difficult it is to set up as a couch by yourself (and the sides aren't accessible either), I use a body pillow in the far corner which is how I use it to sit to watch movies and whatnot.  

But alas, the main frame board for the back portion split.  I went to the furniture store yesterday, and they ordered me a new one.  Fortunately this isn't completely unusable at the moment because of this.

We also had some really nasty storms whip through earlier in the week.  It tore the plastic off my carport.  

The creek is full again for the first time in over a year; we got a lot of rain.  

I had a few small branches come down, but when this was happening I had to slalom to get home, there were branches down in the road all over the place.

Yesterday was still windy, so I made the mistake of using the clothesline.  The high for the day was in the low 30s in Sullivan.  It would have been ok if we hadn't gotten a snow squall during the day while I was at the furniture store and soaked everything.  I still had signs that it wasn't a good idea though.  Like all the ice in my truck which froze even though it was above freezing.  By the end of the day, this was solid ice.  

While the shirts actually did dry, most of the rest of the stuff got wet again when it snowed and then didn't dry (again) before it got too cold.  Now my laundry is all frozen on the clothesline.  Oops.  

I am getting kind of irritated at my heat pump.  It has seemingly lost control.  It randomly works for a day or two then all of a sudden it loses control.  Yesterday during the day it held 64 perfectly even with all the wind.  I wake up this morning and despite being set for 61, it was still running and it was 76 inside.  I am not sure what I am going to do about it though.  My heating bills will be obnoxious this year I guess.  It isn't worth replacing the heat pump for an extra few hundred in power.  It did this once last winter, but it wasn't really an issue, but has been more broken than working this winter thus far.

No movement on any of the winter items though.  I am going out to Aunt's and Uncles for the weekend (which wasn't supposed to be nice anyways) so I won't get much if anything done this weekend.

Winter projects:

• Knock down the dead knotweed. 
• Winterize equipment.  Fire up the generator

• Get the building permit.
• Complete detailed house plans.
• Work with La Valley to get a concrete contractor.  Get the plan/schedule in place. 
  
• Design future method of travel.  Consider building the prototype.
  
• Shed floor.
• Shed windows.
• Fix generator box.  Decide/do something about power center.
  
• Clear/mark walking trails.

Back at home.

I am back from my dad's house for the holiday.  We had some helpers for Thanksgiving.  

On Sunday my sister and I went to do a 5k that I tagged along on.  I was official (kinda), and even had a number.  

I got a few pictures of the lights, since the 5k was through the Southern Lights display.  I will post all of them when I get the pictures from Heather (more on that in a sec).  Here are a couple of samples though.  

My phone randomly died despite thinking it had 30% battery left though.  Not sure if it was the cold or whatnot, but I ended up taking most of the rest of the pictures with my sister's phone.  Hopefully this isn't a harbinger of things to come with that phone.  I don't have a particularly strong desire to replace it.  

The other big project this time was finishing up the cabinets that I got my dad for Father's Day.  The first part was building up the cabinets that were shorter (so much for standards...).  Fortunately my dad had a chunk of plywood that was within 1/32 of an inch of the proper thickness, so I cut some strips and and tacked them on.  

I also took a flap wheel and cut a notch in the bottom of the base cabinet that goes over the new flooring and old flooring.  

We also cut a piece of flooring to help fill in that random missing piece.

The cabinets were then assembled.

And put into place and leveled.

While this picture was taken before the endcaps and stuff were done, but the countertop and end caps and all that are done.  The cabinets are now completely installed.  All that is left is to paint them.  

Dad also repaired the holes in his underbelly where it had been cut up for plumbing work.  I let dad do most of the crawling around in the grime though and just offered some help, but the house is now sealed up for winter.  

My truck got excellent mileage on this trip, noticeably better than the first time around.  On the way down I was in the low 23s, and almost hit 24mpg on the way home.  I drove slow on the way down, but by Maryland on the way home, my speed started to creep up a bit.  

Winter projects:

• Knock down the dead knotweed. 
• Winterize equipment.  Fire up the generator

• Get the building permit.
• Complete detailed house plans.
• Work with La Valley to get a concrete contractor.  Get the plan/schedule in place. 
  
• Design future method of travel.  Consider building the prototype.
  
• Shed floor.
• Shed windows.
• Fix generator box.  Decide/do something about power center.
  
• Clear/mark walking trails.