Another frosty weekend.

We had another very chilly weekend.  I also found out that the USB media doesn't work when it gets really cold.  Not sure if it is the truck or the USB stick.  I am not exactly running high quality sticks in my truck.  I didn't take the picture high enough to get the temperature reading, but it was well below zero when this happened. 

Saturday was pretty frigid, so I didn't do anything outside.  I did a little trip planning, and put the final touches on my new home information packet.  I tried to create it in Google Docs, but they apparently don't allow things like putting text boxes in images and things like that, but you can still see the bulk of it here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14WgIvIaH2oGHtBOF50b3kvNYJGwmeKhZ34cWlwqmqGo/edit?usp=sharing

Sunday was supposed to be a little warmer, though it didn't get nearly as warm as it was supposed to.  I still got outside for a few hours in the afternoon though.  I took my snowshoes and made a path up to the shed.  Another day above freezing and I won't have to use them to get up and down anymore.

I also started real work in the shed.  I got the edges peeled up and got a bunch of nails removed.  I will have to cut the plywood to get it out; the edge on the longer side I can pull out, but the edge at the front and back of the shed I can't out, so I will have to go one joist in and cut the plywood flooring.  I will probably cut it next to the joist and then just double the joist I think is the easiest way to do it.  I put boards under the edges to it is easier to get something underneath it to lift.

I stopped when it started getting darker in the shed.  Apparently the power for the shed came undone at some point.  It was just unplugged at the carport.  The snow overhang is getting pretty large though.

This puts pretty much everything in progress.  I now have a work package to take to places and get quotes for the house, and the shed flooring is very much in progress now.

Winter Projects:

• Install chains and anti-gel in tractor.
• Get power center out of truck.
• Fix shed floor.
• Review options for house (mobile home vs stick built vs modular)
• Put up more shelving/hooks in the carport

I need a new method of snow removal.

Saturday was pretty cold.  I didn't do much, mostly some cleaning, at least until I found out that my pipes were frozen.  That was a little disappointing; last winter my pipes didn't freeze until well below zero, between -15 and -20.  We only reached about -10, though there was a lot of wind (steady 35mph) Friday night which probably accounts for the difference.

Sunday was actually pretty nice, so I went out for a bit.  It was shallow enough that I didn't need my snowshoes.  Looks like my daylight pipe froze up for the well.

There has been a lot of something walking through my yard.  Those aren't my footprints.

They really seem to like circling the pile of dirt at the bottom.  

Some of them looked like deer, and I saw one set large enough to be a moose.  I don't normally see deer prints with the pegs in the back, so apparently it is a large one.  

There was one set I couldn't identify.

I also had a new set in my backyard.  The track had degraded too much to tell, but I think it is either a opossum or raccoon.  

I went back and looked at the "highway" in the far back.  It appears that a couple of trees came down and while it wasn't devoid of tracks, there weren't many back there anymore.

Apparently at some point part of my cliff came apart too.  Those rocks weren't there last winter I am pretty sure.

After the chill on Saturday, my creek was frozen.  I could hear a slight gurgle, so there was still some water running underneath.  

After hearing Greg thinking about going ice fishing on Saturday, I decided to see how thick the ice was.  My creek easily held my weight, despite being crappy air filled creek ice.

I got some stuff ready to work on the floor in the shed, but I didn't really feel motivated to do anything with it.  I also took some pictures to get a document ready for the house (how far they can expand, etc).

Once I went back in, I got my pipes thawed, and was able to run laundry.

We got a lot of snow Sunday night and Monday.  We were supposed to get 3-5 Sunday night, and another 3-5 during the day on Monday.  I woke up Monday to a lot more than that.  In the areas that weren't drifts, the snow was up to the very top of my boots.  The drift areas were over the top of the snowblower (>24").  

To add insult to injury, I apparently broke my snowblower at some point.  I am not sure exactly when it happened, but I jerry-rigged something up to at least allow me to use the snowblower.  

I snowblowed in between all my meetings during the day.  It got above freezing late morning though, and this problem reared its ugly head.

I waited until the evening to finish so it was below freezing again.  I got everything cleared as best I could, I need a garage though, I can't reach the center of the cap.  

And of course, as I completed everything, I pulled out the tractor to scrape it down good, since I have the snowblower set kind of high, and as I went to put the tractor away, it started sleeting.  A lot.  

I had intended to get a three point snowblower for my tractor for this winter, but due to supply issues, couldn't find one in stock.  Next year I will definitely get one though.  I spent most of the day clearing snow, since it was a heavy wet snow the walk behind snowblower struggled a lot.

I did some prep work for the house and the shed floor, but I don't think I would mark those as being in progress yet.  I also noticed that I had no traction issues with the tractor, despite the fact that I haven't put the chains on it yet.  If this snowstorm wasn't enough to require chains, I am not sure what they provide other than tearing up the driveway, so I probably won't bother with them.

Winter Projects:

• Install chains and anti-gel in tractor.
• Get power center out of truck.
• Fix shed floor.
• Review options for house (mobile home vs stick built vs modular)
• Put up more shelving/hooks in the carport

Weather has been obnoxious.

I haven't really made any progress on anything.  I didn't do much over the weekend.  Saturday was snowy and very windy.  Sunday was ice.  

This week has been cold.  Yesterday was below zero when I left for work, and when I got home.

My heat has kept up, but my humidifier hasn't.  I generally try to keep it between 30 and 40%.

I also discovered another issue with my truck.  When it is really really cold, it doesn't always disengage the 4WD.  When that happens, the traction control starts up broken.  I don't care about the traction control, but the transfer case being sluggish might be a problem.  Just in general, my truck is more adverse to cold this year than in years past.

Attempt number three of laundry in the camper.  This one supposedly uses real wood, not cardboard.  It feels more sturdy than the crappy one in my closet, but it is a little disappointing that they only used a couple of small strips.  I will try it.  It will probably work a couple of times until one of the small wood strips breaks.

I have done a little bit more trip planning, trying to reel the 4 weeks of stuff back a little.  That is still ongoing.

New Laptop all set up

Since it looks like Dad never posted it, I did a couple of projects while I was down in KY.  The first being to install their new stove.  This time I did the natural gas to propane conversion, so I know it was done right.  I am pretty sure the wasn't done right on the old stove, which is why it died a premature death.  I did the conversion while Dad was running around trying to find fittings since Lowe's sold him the wrong connection kit (they sold him a 3/4" kit when he only had 1/2" gas lines)

The other project was putting up some molding.  I sanded it down with a flap wheel so it didn't look quite so bad, and put up some clear plastic corner molding.  My after picture was just a giant blur unfortunately, but I did get one after the sanding.  The molding pulls the metal into the doorframe, and was clear plastic.  They can paint it in the future if they want to.

I had a pleasant surprise in my mailbox when I got back.  I am planning on a trip to Arizona this spring, and Arizona's parks and recreation department had a form you could fill out and they would send you a guide.  I did that back in October, and when it hadn't arrived by Thanksgiving I assumed that it was all just hot air, but it was actually in my mailbox when I got home.  It included a map, a tourist magazine that I looked through and wasn't terribly useful, but the Opt outside in Arizona had a lot of nice nuggets in it (as if I needed more things to do; the trip is already too long).  So it was definitely worth my while, especially since it was free.

After reviewing that material, I finally got around to re-assembling my entertainment center.  My TV is a very effective RF shield, so I had been running with the stuff all stacked up in the back.  With the tower gone, that stack is no longer tall enough, so I left the QNAS I bought from Mike and my Drobo.  I cleaned up the bricks, but the data centers are stacked.  I am only using the NAS as a backup until I get my Drobo fixed; its fan is dying. I should have taken this opportunity to install the outlet covers, but oh well.  I cleaned up the wiring so it can be moved freely now though, so it is easy to move now for a change.

I ended up adding a couple of shelves to get things above the TV so the wireless stuff works.  I haven't tested the Switch yet, but the laptop is working.  I had some interesting problems, which I haven't resolved all of yet: Windows decided the optimal settings for my TV included running at 25Hz refresh rate, which made the movies run choppy (movies are typically around 30FPS).  I am still having problems with the receiver; when I ran the HDMI to the receiver and then to the TV nothing worked.  I am running the HDMI direct to the TV at the moment, with a nice Goldeneye screenshot.

Something disappointing I noticed when I pulled out my sketchpad is that it apparently got wet and has stuff growing on it.  It has been in my backpack though, so I will need to clean it thoroughly.  I am not sure when this happened.  The book is mostly full at this point, so I might just digitize what is in it and chuck it.

I did do a quick design for an entertainment center.  I am debating building it, but at the present moment, I might hold off until the real house is built.  Or at least wait until spring so I can stain it and all that and make it a piece that goes into the real house.  

Hopefully at some point this week I will get back to working on some of my winter projects.

Winter Projects:

• Install chains and anti-gel in tractor.
• Get power center out of truck.
• Fix shed floor.
• Review options for house (mobile home vs stick built vs modular)
• Put up more shelving/hooks in the carport