13 January, 2011 Yo Yo weather?

We've gone from lows of 12 below zero with highs in the single digits earlier in the week to rain today and highs in the upper 30's.  Of course, before it rained it snowed about four inches which soaked up the rain and made for some very heavy snow.  Tristan shoveled the snow from the roof of the shack today.  while I cleaned off the porch.  Susan shoveled the snow off the top of the Uhaul.  I planned on using the snow blower today but the snow is too wet (and plugs the outlet). 

We're down to our last deer to butcher.  Hopefully the warmer weather will thaw it out.  I've been hanging them up in the shack where I can keep the wood stove going.  That way I can warm them up enough to get the skin off to butcher them.  (I'm down to the last one now.)  I didn't bother firing up the stove when it was so cold but now that it's warmed up again I'm running the stove.  Other than that it's just typical winter time activities.  I do a lot of writing in the winter.  About half of the wood I cut last summer was green so we put it (in the round) in the back half of the wood shed.  It's hard to split green wood but it's dries out now and splits easy so every three days or so I go out and split enough to keep us going a few more days.

This is a frost pattern on one of our windows.  It was about 10 below zero when I took this picture.  We seldom see it on the double-pane windows.

Susan canned up some venison chunks, ham and bean soup, and chili for use later in the year.  While we have the woodstove going she makes several gallons at a time in some large pots.  We have it for supper then she cans what's left.

I butchered the first deer but some of the meat is still frozen solid.  As the weather warms we'll grind what's left into hamburger.  Susan got more jars out along with the meat grinders (we have three).

Susan shoveling snow off the Uhaul's roof.

This is the coat I modified.  The upper is the original coat.  We bought two and I cut the second one up to use the material on the first one.

Front view.

It was a little tight across the back so I split out the center seam then cut a section out of the other coat and sewed it into this one.  The white lines outline where the new section was sewed in.  The original was short so I added a section on the bottom to make it a longer.

I wanted more insulation on my back so I cut out part of the nylon lining and sewed in a piece of wool material from the other coat.  I'm really happy with it.  I would like more pockets and may sew some on eventually but for now I just use the two large pockets that came with the coat.  It has a zipper and a storm flap with buttons.  I may cut more out of the lower front part of the skirt to give my legs more freedom of movement.  I want to try it like this awhile first though. 

There were some questions on the forum regarding tire chains so I took a picture of the chains on our S-10, 2wd pickup.  I put the chains on in the fall before I park the PU for the winter.  That way if I need to take it out It will already have the chains installed.  The only reason I'd use it is if the Cherokee and the Dodge were not available.  (They are both 4wd.)  So far I've never needed it.

I bought the chains that are on it at a yard sale for five bucks.  They're made for cars so the chain is lighter duty than my other chains but they work well for the S-10.  They're just a little long for these tires but I'm not going to cut them down because they'll work on the Cherokee like they are.  I have chains for both the Cherokee and Dodge too but they're heavy duty truck chains.  The bungee cord is to keep the chains centered.  Otherwise thay can roll around to where they slip off the tire.  When that happens they can tear off the brake lines.  That's not a good deal at all!

7 January, 2011 Rain???

We had several days where the high never hit 10 degrees above zero and now we've had two days of rain!  It's supposed to get cold again tomorrow and then have several days with highs in the single digits which means our road will become a skating rink.  Uhg!

Susan spent the first part of the week with kids/grandkids in town helping with the newest addition to the clan.  I was busy with domestic duties while she was gone as well as other things.. I usually do some heavy duty gun cleaning when she's gone because the fumes from the copper solvents, etc. get a little strong in the cabin.  We've been suspecting that one of our batteries had gone bad.  Mainly because the battery bank was discharging at night when nothing was turned on.  We've had a long series of cloudy days so I had to run the generator for awhile to charge the battery bank to full charge before I could test them.  To test them I have to disconnect the wiring to every battery then check the water levels and run a load test on each battery,  We had six hooked up in parallel in two different battery boxes.  One of them tested bad so I put the five remaining batteries in one box which meant I had to rewire them all.  A battery can test good, weak, or bad on the load tester.  If it's good, when you apply the load the voltmeter needle drops slightly and holds steady in the green.  If it is weak the needle drops into the yellow zone.  Usually if it is bad the needle drops quickly into the red zone.  I purchase the tester below from Harbor Freight Tools.  It isn't fancy but so far anyway, has never been wrong. 

Susan's been making more hotpads.  She's going to a craft sale tomorrow.  She's rented one of the tables with her middle daughter.

My favorite designa are those in the first picture.

Susan made a big pot of chili and a pan of cornbread.  The pot is about 2/3 full.

After we had two meals from it she still canned over two gallons of chili for future use.

Some wild turkeys decided to take a stroll through the parking lot of the Safeway gas station in Whitefish.

Our dog found the old tetherball we tied in the tree for a dog toy.  The previous dog liked to butt it around with her nose but Odie prefers playing tug-of-war with the rope.

Our non-electric iron heating on the wood stove.  The top opens up so you can also put hot coals, charcoal or hot rocks inside to make it hotter.  I has vents you can adjust to regulate the burn rate of the coals inside.  We just put it on top of the stove to heat it up.

These were dump finds.  The hatchet is an old railroad hatchet I found in the dump.  The handle was broken so I made one out of an old axe handle.  I keep it in the shack to split kindling for starting the fire in the barrel stove.  The knife too was found in a dumpster.  I use it mainly for fleshing skins on my fleshing beam in the shack. 

New Year's Day 2011

Ha ... got to get used to writing 2011 instead of 2010.   Been cold the last couple of days.  It was 15 below zero F yesterday morning and almost as cold the morning before.  Guess winter is making an appearance now.

Susan has been growing a pepper plant in a pot on the windowsill.  It finally has two blossoms on it.

The nice thing about working at home when it's ten below outside!

Susan doing some isometric exercises while on the computer.

The cat in recovery mode from it's exercise program. (I think it just finished eating.)

"Let's see, if I use the whole chair no one else will be able to sit here and I'll have it all to myself."

One of the neighbors over to help break in the Wii we got for Christmas from one of the kids.

Off to feed the buffalo on a frosty day!  The temperature is about 5 - 10 degrees above zero.

Pull the sled up the hill then ride it down the hill!

The bull always gets first choice at the hay.

The old cow is next and the two young-uns get what's left.  You can tell their ages in relation to each other by the length of their horns.The old cow is on the far end with her most recent calf beside her.  The older calf is directly behind the bull.  The bull is younger than the cow and the cow used to push him around but not any more.  He's definitely the boss now.

Susan riding the sled down the hill on the way home.

We got the snowmobiles fired up yesterday when another neighbor came over with his.  He and Tristan spent some time roaming the hills before they got too cold.  It's always a pain to get them started the first time of the winter.  We take the plugs out and pour gasoline in the cylinders then put the plugs back in and start them.  The fuel pump may be a little weak on one because we have to go through the procedure about three times before it's pumping enough fuel to fill the carburetors so it will keep running.  Once they're going they run great and will start relatively easy. 

Supper cooking on the wood stove.  By the time it has simmered for a few hours the house smells wonderful!  The big kettle on the left is an old canner we keep water in.  It evaporates about 2 - 3 gallons of water a day to add humidity to the air (depending upon how hot we keep the woodstove).  The metal is thick steel so it doesn't burn through.  If you've ever done this you'll know that tin pans/kettles burn through the bottom after a shor time so finding this was a good deal for us.  It's lasted seveal years now. 

One of the good things about a week of sub-zero temperatures is that we don't have to put food in the refrigerator to keep it cold.  I bought the pizzas in town a couple of days ago.  Tristan and I went in to do laundry and pick some things up. 

One of the bad things about a week of sub-zero temps.  Brrr.  That outhouse does get cold!

27 December, 2010 The year is almost over...

Been a busy week.   We've had the usual "chores" like washing dishes, clothes, feeding the goat, chickens and buffalo, bringing in wood, preparing meals, etc.  I've spent quite a few hours writing and Susan has been sewing a bunch.  We've been melting snow for water rather than drive to town when we don't have to.  We have plenty of free snow but gasoline gets expensive.  Besides, who wants to go get in the car when the high temperature is hovering around ten degrees (F)?

The cat helping me with dish washing.

We still have tomatos ripening that we picked green in the fall.  As we get enough for a couple of drying trays we slice and dehydrate them.  The pumpkins we picked green have also turned yellow.

One load of venison ready for the canner.  I finally moved one of the deer into the shack and ran the stove for a couple of days to thaw it out enough to skin and cut up.  They've been frozen solid since the day we shot them due to the cold temperatures.  This is the second time I've had this problem in Montana.  

We had someone who wanted hamburgers so he bought them and we cooked them up.  Susan made buns instead of buying them.  I made up the hamburger patties.

I should have used the griddle.  I could only fit half of them fit in our largest skillet.

The cat is supervising while Susan cuts material.

The finished product.

The cat and dog playing near the door.

The cat helping Susan run the hand sweeper.  These non-electric alternatives to a vacuum cleaner work pretty well on short carpet and rugs when used regularly.

I got the electric vacuum cleaner out for the thick carpet.  I had to run the generator to use it so Susan did some sewing with her electric machine.  The ear protection is because I was running the vacuum cleaner at the time.

Our oldest so and his wife came up Christmas Eve.  He broke a front spring coming in on our road.  (Have I ever mentioned that the road in is not vehicle friendly?)  The upper leaf spring broke right next to the plate on top of it.  The front end was sagging so we jacked the front up which took the pressure off the broken spring and clamped it down to the remaining spring then cut a short piece of chain and bolted it around to hold everything together so he could get back home.

This is the final repair.  He made it back to Kalispell without trouble.

About the time they left we had another set of kids show up with our newest grandchild.  I was still in my pajamas when they handed him to me. 

Now it's Grandma's turn to hold him.

The next day in his mother's lap. 

This is our third youngest grandchild.  On the way back home from Kalispell we met another set of kids at Taco Johns for dinner.  It's the first time I've eaten at one.  They have good food there.  The drive home was ineventful but slow.  The highway was snowy and icy so 45 mph was top speed.  Every time a vehicle passed going the other direction we were blind for the next several seconds from the snow they kicked up.  That isn't much fun when you live in a state where the whitetail deer is a common hood ornament.

Now we're back home.  We picked up some movies at a red box since our youngest son was going into town today and could return them so we watched movies today while we recovered from the holidays.