Big holiday break post.

I went down to KY with my Aunt on the 22nd.  We left a day early because the weather was supposed to be nicer.  It was supposed to be rain all the way down.  Pennsylvania had other ideas though.  

It was cold in KY.  Colder than NH.  I ran out of propane at one point in the camper.  I like the cold, but I didn't wake up until it was cold enough to form frost on the inside of the camper.  It wasn't fun changing out the tanks at 1AM in below zero weather.

I didn't take a lot of pictures of stuff we did down there, but I did get a few sunset pictures.  

One of the things I brought down was a little 1.2 cubic foot freezer.  Sometimes they need an extra little bit of space when the cows go in, since they are getting bigger.  I realized when I was cleaning out my Aunt's car that I forgot the shelf for it.  Oops.  

I finally got home late on the 28th.  The cold had one last hurrah; I had one of my electric heaters fail while I was gone.  The light was on, it was powered, but nobody was home; the fan was dead and there was no heat coming out.

It was chilly when I got home.  I could see my breath inside.  Fortunately, I use two electric space heaters to heat the place and the other one was still working, it is just inadequate on its own (especially considering I didn't even have it on high) and it is on the other side of the house from all the plumbing.  

I checked the faucets and nothing was frozen thankfully.  My water system was reporting no flow, so I didn't have anything leaking under the house.  The input from the well has heat tapes on it, so that would have been fine.  

I was off until the third (today), so I got some project work done for the rest of the time off.  Despite several days of sun in the 40s, there was still a bunch of snow in the back of my truck, so I shoveled all that out.  

I also went and picked up the lumber for the truck cap.  Ripping the 10' 2x6 boards was a pain, but after enough coaxing the table saw decided to straighten up and fly right.  

I decided to build it piecemeal, in case I ended up with something unusable.  It is difficult to predict weight of lumber structures for example, since the weight of lumber can vary widely from board to board.  I created the basic box part of the shell, and size-wise it seems fine.  This wasn't intended to be final, it was just a "can I fit through the back, does it clear the bedrails, can I at least move around if the top isn't up" and that kind of stuff.

It was nice to be able to store it outdoors while I was working on it.  

I had run out of materials for the cap on New Year's Eve, so I decided to work on the shed floor, which was one of my other big projects for the winter.  I got it cut open and took a look.  Nothing too bad here.  No real rot or anything.  

I got the joists jacked up and got one bracket in each joist, but I didn't have enough brackets to finish the job.  

I got the floor braces installed too.  At which point I had run out of materials for the shed floor.  And apparently Home Depot closed absurdly early on New Years Eve, so I just kind of did nothing the rest of the day.  

New years day started really warm.  The camera didn't capture it well, but the light filtering through the trees looked pretty cool.  

In case you were curious, this is what an ice block from a 5 gallon bucket looks like.  

I got to Home Depot before they opened and got everything I needed to complete the floor and for the next stage of the truck cap.  They unfortunately didn't have the acrylic I wanted for the windows (only lexan which is really expensive), and didn't have the roofing material in 10' sections (only 8' and 12'), so I will have to order that online.  It was a pretty sunrise though.

I did finally manage to finish the flooring in the shed though.  It looks nice and feels solid.  

I also spent a good chunk of the afternoon reorganizing it.  I don't like it, but at least everything is accessible again.  

As I went and cleaned up the shed a bit, I also pulled out my kerosene heater and fired it up.  Thankfully mine still works fine.  

That took most of the day since I didn't really get started on the shed until around lunchtime, but that evening I also did a couple of interior things.  I put up a shelf so I could put my air filter up.  The space heaters I heat with now don't filter dust like the heat pump did.  I am hoping this will help combat the dust problems.

Yesterday I got back to work on the truck cap.  Since it isn't a size concept anymore, I got the support boards moved to their final locations, and replaced the long parts with their final boards.

I was intending to bracket all the joints for rigidity, and had a bunch of these from a prior project, but they are too big for 2x3 construction unfortunately, so I will need to go buy a bunch more braces.

I got the middle uprights for the windows built and have a few of the rafters cut, but I can't install the rafters until I get more braces.  I could pocket the screws (or just buy some longer ones), but I want bracing on it anyways so I didn't bother.  For those curious, the long part sticking off the far end goes over the cab of the truck, and the aluminum at the far end is what the hinges will attach to.  It has what look like double top plates, but the topmost is the structure that will lift.  

It is kind of surprising that when I got home everything was still completely white, but by yesterday afternoon, snow coverage was down to about 40%.  A lot of the ground is thawing too.

Even up by the shed which is mostly in the shade is largely melted off.  

At that point it was nearly sunset.  

I decided to use my clothesline the last couple days, figuring it was above freezing the entire day, breezy, and partial sun.  Despite the breeze, things didn't dry well.  Even after two full days on the line (I washed them new year's morning and took them off yesterday evening before it froze), the jeans were still damp.  The base for my clothesline had a structural failure too; if you look underneath the dump truck drum, you will notice that the rolling stand it was on basically completely imploded.  Oops.  I will deal with it in the spring.  

Now that things are back in full swing, I need to start working on the house again.  But the shed floor is done, and significant progress has been made on the cap.  I don't see any bitter cold in the forecast, but precipitation is coming which means I might be able to make little bits of progress here and there.  

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.

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.