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!