I didn't do too much over the weekend. I woke up Saturday to all slush. So I employed the best manner of clearing it possible: I did nothing and let it melt off. It was in the 40s and rained most of the day. It worked surprisingly well. 
A little before sunset, I got the snowblower that I picked up before the storm pulled out of the truck. That was an exercise in disappointment. I picked it up thinking tires and chutes were pretty standard. I was wrong. Very wrong. There isn't a part on this thing that I can use. Sigh.
On the plus side, it being warm enough to rain means the extension cord for the carport finally thawed out. I have lights in the carport again.
It was actually a very pretty sunset. I went down and shoveled the bit by the road that was left by hand. I didn't get the picture until after most of the colors were gone though.
Sunday was a lot more snowy than anticipated. I was getting restless though and went out for a bit in between the squalls that weren't in the forecast. I did another survey and brought my clippers out this time to start clearing some of the smaller stuff and wandered further up the hill this time. There is still some concerns about rocks, but I think there are enough spots back here that it shouldn't be a problem. My research indicates you need about 2 feet of soil for an apple tree. Being on the hill I am less worried about the drainage. I have a lot of pine back here so the fact that apple trees like slightly acidic soil should be fine.
I am planning on planting them in clusters of 5; 4 fruit bearing trees in a square and a crabapple in the middle. The idea being that the crabapple is considered a good pollinator, and I read online somewhere (so obviously it must be true...) that crabapple is more attractive to deer and insects so they will go after those and leave my apples alone. For starters I plan on planting three of these clusters; 1 macintosh (good for cooking and eating) and 2 honeycrisp (last longer, a bit sweeter and juicier but less tangy than macs, make really good cider). That is the plan anyways; gardening is not exactly my forte. Here is a wonderful mspaint diagram. The green outline is what I currently mow: this would be next to that. The rock shelf noted on the left is where the pile of junk is (it is sitting on the rock shelf, which you can see right behind it today). The apple trees are the brown dots, the crabapples the orange dots on the inside of the two rows.
While I was outside, I took some nifty cliff pictures
And some creek pictures.
There were definitely some high level winds though, the clouds in the sky were hauling. There was a breeze at ground level, but it wasn't blustery.
Then I found out what they were hauling. I got ushered back inside because of of this. Less than five minutes before this my driveway was almost completely clear and there was even some sun poking out. Sigh.
It started snowing last night (the next storm is here). I think I need new tires. They weren't great in the snow last year when they had <5k miles on them, but now that they have 35k on them they are worthless in the snow, I was all over the road this morning.
I have been doing some thinking about the next truck camper idea. I started thinking about what trips I will be taking in it, and here are ones that I came up with:
- Colorado
- Central Northern Tour (Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota
- I would probably hit up Indiana and Ohio on the way
- Northeast tour (I still have never been to Acadia, despite living just a few hours from it)
- Southeast Tour - Shenendoah, Great Smoky Mountains, New River Gorge, etc)
- Florida - Everglades, Dry Tortugas, and Key west
- Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier parks (those three are enough to be a long trip on their own)
- Pacific Coast highway and CA parks.
- Northwest (Redwoods, Cascades, Mount Rainier, etc)
- Southwest (Saguaro, Valley of Fire, Death Valley, Hoover Dam)
- Alaska.
Most of those I could do with just a cap, and just keep some minimal provisioning in the back of the truck; just like Utah last fall; just stay in hotels instead of RV parks. Some of those, particularly Alaska, I would more or less need a camper in the back for. Several of them a camper would make them easier. So I am still on the fence of the whole cap vs DIY camper.
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