As Mike, Dara, and Sherri were going to come and help pack seeds today, I ran to the post office to mail seeds early. While I was in town, I stopped at the Tire Shop to pick up the two new tires Will ordered. Since he had to replace the one on the plow truck that had blown while he was plowing snow, it only made sense to replace both. Boy, are truck tires expensive now days!
When they got here, Will went out to start the generator. No dice! It’s got to go to the shop. Fortunately, we always have at least one backup generator handy. Our backup was in the goat barn so Will hauled it out and set it in place. The only problem was it had regular oil in it, which is too thick for winter use. But it did start, warming up the oil so he could drain it and substitute with synthetic oil. We soon learned how much difference running synthetic oil in a generator, in cold weather, makes in starting.
While we were busy packing seeds, Will mounted the two new tires on the plow truck. I will admit, they do look much nicer than the old ones. Gee, I’m thinking they were on the truck when I got it, back in 2006. I guess they didn’t owe us much, did they? Of course, the plow truck is only driven in the winter, off and on, and not even on the road. Insurance is just too much!
My young chickens are starting to lay, off and on. I was really surprised to find an egg on the floor of the coop, with another, the following day. Now I’d better clean out the nest boxes, put new shavings in them and set the ceramic eggs in place to “show” the girls where egg laying is supposed to happen. This winter, we’re going to put a solar light in the coop, on a timer, so we should be getting at least a few eggs a day during the cold weather.
We’ve sure found that on a homestead, there’s always something going on. Or going wrong. Ha ha! It keeps us on our toes and from getting bored. — Jackie
Nothing is inexpensive these days. Best one can do is be pro-active with maintenance/replacement when s/he can but breakdowns happen. Upside is you had synthetic oil on hand when needed.
We’re going to have -20/-30 through Sunday noon and so far, the snow will be *just* south of us – so far that is. Between the upcoming cold and a work shift, I took advantage of visiting an elderly relative today. It is one thing to email/text but another to do an in-person visit.
We split more firewood today (holding our breath that the skid steer could make it up a somewhat icy hill – the snow, enough warm and some melt, cold is just nuts) but it did. There was an alternative path if need be.
Stocked the house and garage before we started splitting. Of course three of the the 2-b-split pile “choices” for today had to have most of the snow removed. Then I schlepped out into our woods (not far from our house via a plowed path) to clean off a no-longer standing dead tree. Better half will start cutting it up next Tue/Wed when the temps get back into the 30s. A good portion won’t have to be split and it won’t take long to split however much of the rest of the tree he cuts. He wisely lifted and put blocks under it before the snow fell.
Still no sign of the turkeys on our property but see them not far away. Saw an eagle the other day, they are a majestic creature.
Yep, our high today was -9 degrees. Low? About -22. Oh well, just toss more wood into the stoves. When it’s this cold, we also keep the kitchen wood range going all day. It’s nice you could visit your elderly neighbor. Sometimes folks just get lonesome for someone to talk to.
We’re working inside today after rushing around yesterday to get ready for the cold. The weather’s nuts. On Tuesday, we’re supposed to get to 42 degrees F!!! I’ll believe that when I see it.
Our turkeys are coming every day. Sometimes 8 or 10, sometimes the big flock of 25. We so like to have them around!! Today, we got 5 deer again. That’s so nice. Not much exciting on the bird feeders, just blue jays, chickadees and nuthatches with an occasional downey or hairy woodpecker.
Here in the Copper Basin Alaska we had a couple days when it never got above -35 with our low of -40. Generator that had been warmed. In the house and has synthetic oil would not run more than an hour or so! Warmed to -13 today. Spent those days stoking stoves and doing only necessary outside chores. My older hens are on vacation, molting. The budget didn’t allow for replacements and the local store didn’t sell chicks this year. I’m hoping I can find someone who will sell me some half brown pullets, maybe five or six.
Wow, and I was sighing because our high today was -9! That intense cold is hard on everything, us included. We’re right with you; doing quick outside chores and working inside to keep busy. We burned a lot of wood yesterday and today, for sure.
Just a thought. Our generator kept quitting when it was cold. Come to find out, because we shut the door of the generator shed when it was cold, the CO2 sensor in it kept going off, shutting off the generator. Now will shuts the door and opens the window with an out blowing fan in it. No more shutting off. Could that be your problem?
My daughter kind of manages it, but she doesn’t shut the door. She is trying some kind of blanket on it. Years ago I ran a bigger gen set that stayed in place. I put a propane tank top heater o it when very cold until it would start. I put an exhaust pipe thru the wall left the window open, closed the door and no problem. That one has gone by the way side.. currently using a Honda 2200. We are aware of CO2 sensor
Well, we have a roller coaster ride coming up with weather. It will be 59 high today and drop to 20 by tomorrow night and 10 by Sunday. This weather is really hard on anything outside. Everybody needs to stay inside if possible and stay warm. It is definitely a good pot of chili night coming up. I will sit by my fireplace and browse through all my seed catalogs and dream of spring.
That sounds like a very good idea, Jan!! We had a near-white out this morning, with snow blowing hard sideways. Brrr. More firewood, please.
You are all right about something always happening on the farm. Have you priced batteries recently? $200. We have a light in our chicken pen (on a timer) as we are not off the grid. We get about 5 eggs a day from 14 chickens.
Cold here today in Mid MO but the bottom is going to fall out the next few days. No snow. 50 degrees again next week.
Jackie, I love the pictures of your home. It always looks so cozy and inviting. Hang in there. Life is an adventure.
Yes it sure is! We’re expecting windchill values at about -35 tomorrow. Will’s moving the cows into the training ring with the weaned calves. That way they’ll have access to the run-in barn for shelter. I sure hope the mother cows have dried up well, so the calves don’t get to sucking again.
I’m back in the house after outside chores. Temp around 10 degrees today with below zero arctic blast predicted this weekend. I use throw away golf balls in the chicken nest sites. I don’t play golf but get them free. Insurance is ridiculous-premiums for health, house, vehicles, equipment, farm etc really eat into the budget. The flooding in Washington State is horrendous. I feel fortunate to live in the upper Midwest even if it is cold. No earthquakes, mudslides, floods or other disasters. I’ll bet it’s a fun visit while packing seeds. I’m trying to get all necessary outside “stuff”done before the Deep Freeze.
Yes, for sure! Will’s hauled extra round bales into the training ring, where he’ll move the cows so they can shelter in the barn. Even though it’s cold here in the winter, I wouldn’t want to live elsewhere. At least cold, you can prepare for. Natural disasters, not so much!
We don’t golf either and don’t have golf balls. I did buy two ceramic nest eggs, which work well.
@Everett – I’ll take the occasional tornado warning over the other climate change disasters hitting other areas.
Seems like something always falls apart in the cold. I think there are laws of nature that guarantee it!! Synthetic oil is new and I don’t think fully understood yet but it is becoming the way to go in about everything especially for cold weather use. I was worried about switching to it in a 54 year old pickup and a 77 year old Jeep but it’s working out fine
Yes, us too. It took some time to get used to it, but now, wouldn’t want to be without it in cold weather, especially with our old vehicles. My Ford Edge has over 203,000 miles on it!