30 December, 2012 - 5 January 2013 - Chimney Cleaning, Icy Roads

Another day another ... train?

Susan went through some of the toys we have stored from "yesteryear" and found this train set. It was missing a few pieces but there were enough left to make the loop.  Scott spent hours playing with it.

This is another of his favorite toys.  His big interests in life right now are planes, trains and automobiles.  Here he's making a crash landing on the snow.

Okay, on to the next adventure...

We bought him a kid's computer for Christmas.  He loves it and isn't as interested in "helping" us when we're using ours.

His mom and dad got him a Cars blanket.  Cars is one of his favorite movies.

I was sorting some brass so Scott decided to help a bit.  I gave him a can of 270 and 25/06 brass to mess around with.  I don't have any firearms in those calibers.  (Although if I found some at a good price ...!)

Chimney cleaning time again.  This time we need some repairs on the top pipe.  The bottom and top have both corroded to the point that they need replaced.

I took it off then ran the brush through the pipe a few times to knock the ash out.  There wasn't any creosote build up.  We only burn seasoned wood and I run the stove hot for awhile every morning which keeps creosote deposits at a minimum.  As long as I was already there and had the brush it only takes a few more minutes to scrub out the chimney.

I didn't feel like going to town for a new cap and and we keep a couple new sections of pipe on hand so I just attached the old cap to the new pipe.  It should work okay for several years before it needs to be replaced.

The snow was piling up on the U-Haul so Susan shovelled it off.  I think I hear the camper whispering "let's go south until the snow is gone."

We got a call at 5:30 am from our SIL.  He ran off the road dodging a deer and needed help getting on to work.  The battery was dead in his truck so I drove him to work then we got him out after he got off work.

A neighbor brought his tractor over to lend a hand.  It worked great because he could lift the back of the truck out of the ditch using the loader.  (The bumper is rusted through and was already bent before he hit the ditch.)  I'd have had to chain up all four wheels to get him out with the Cherokee.

I thanked another neighbor who stopped traffic on the curve while we were extracting the truck.  It's pretty icy and we were worried that anyone coming around the turn would ignore the flares I set out and either hit someone or wind up in the ditch themselves.

 

When Scott's parents came up Saturday there was a wreck blocking the road about two miles closer to the highway than where this photo was taken.  They had to make a ten mile detour (one way) to get to the next road to make it to our place.

 

We bought some bacon and fried it up for breakfast.  It was a nice treat. It's a lot better cooking it on the wood stove.  Eventually the grease splatters will burn off.

Getting water for the animals is always a chore during the winter.  We don't like using our drinking water if we can avoid it so I set a bucket of snow behind the wood stove.  It warms up during the day so we have water on hand for the animals.  All we have this winter is the cat, dog and seven chickens.  The chickens don't drink a lot but they need fresh water at least a couple times a day.