November 1-10, 2013 - Wood cutting, winches and snow.

I need to begin taking more photos!  Winter is finally upon us in earnest.  We've had snow off and on for the last week.  The temperature hasn't been that low so it's kept melting away until yesterday.  We went into Kalispell on the 7th to visit the new Cabelas store there.  It's grand opening began at 11:00 am and the traffic was backed up for a quarter mile on the highway.  We did a drive by and the line was about 200 yards long so we went shopping other places for awhile.  We revisited the store later that day and made a few purchases.  They had begun with lots of ammo but almost half had been sold by the time we got there.  It wasn't a big deal since I don't really need any but other shelves were emptying at a rapid pace as well.  We spent a C-note plus but $25.00 of it was ammo for a neighbor.  We had other stops to make and by the time we left town it had been an expensive day.

Scott has a new toddler bed complete with Cars (the movie) blankets and pillow case.  Obviously he knows what its purpose is!

He did a test walk in the snow and spent some time getting used to it.

He finally figured out that the white stuff was cold!

I took out another small tree that was blocking the solar panels.  Scott's checking out the stump while I had been busy cutting it into stove length pieces.  It's green wood so I set it aside to dry.  I'll burn it next year.

Here he's showing his new movie before putting it in the Blue Ray player.

He still wants to be in the center of whatever is going on.  Here he's helping grandma make some rolls.

I bought a winch for my pickup.  It's primary duty is dragging trees I've dropped for firewood to the road to be bucked into firewood length pieces and loaded on the truck.  I thought about ordering the mounting kit but that cost more than the winch so I did some scrounging in the heavy scrap metal pile and came up with the ingredients to make a mount for the winch.  First, I took the bumper off and did some measuring.  I use three inch angle iron for most of the project.  I used a metal cutting wheel in a circular saw for most of the cutting.  Then I used my wire welder for the welding and assembly of the pieces.

I clamped it to the frame and marked the holes I needed to drill then took the mount off and drilled the holes.  I'll be purchasing some more bits next time we're in town.

More checking before drilling the holes just to be sure that the winch has enough clearance.  At this point the brackets are clamped to the frame with Vise Grips.  I set the winch on the platform then maneuvered the platform to the place it provided enough clearance.  I then clamped the  platform to the brackets, removed it from the vehicle and did some more welding.

Tada!  I still need to finish the wings on the bumper but that'll have to come later.  I needed to cut wood the day after the this photo was taken!  The winch performed flawlessly and pulled several downed trees to the truck.  It saved us a lot of work cutting up the trees in the woods then carrying the pieces to the truck.  It worked well especially considering that it was purchased for $299.00 from Harbor Freight Sales.  Before purchasing it I read the reviews on it and it was rated high.  Mine performed very well.

The big one!  We'd had several snows before this one but they all melted within hours the next day.

This one however spelled the beginning of winter!

The wood shed is full enough to make it until we head south to Nevada (our winter home) sometime in December.

This is the time of year for the Bolete mushrooms to be appearing.  This one had a piece broken off after having been stepped on by an animal.

We put new struts on the rear of our daughter's Subaru.  The old ones (especially the passenger side) were completely worn out.

Scott is surveying the job to see that we're doing it right.

The view from the corner of our property.  This is the most colorful time of year!

Scott entertaining himself on the way to Kalispell.

I bought a smaller chain to use when cutting firewood.  I have several chains but they're all big and heavy.  I purchased this one because it's smaller, hence it's easier to carry through the woods.  It weighs about half of what my other chains weigh.

The door handle clip broke on the driver's side door on the pickup.  That meant I had to roll down the window and open the door from the outside when I wanted out.  We purchased a new plastic clip which I'll put on in the next couple if days.  Sometime in the past the inner plastic barrio under the door panel got wound up around the window crank.  Guess I'll have to fix that too while I have it apart.

We've been so busy we got behind on the wash so we spent the afternoon in the laundry mat.   We were somewhat amused by the sign.  Just where are you supposed to keep your pets and why are they sorry you can't keep them in your shoes or shirt?