Saturday December 1’st. .. decorations going up .. snow coming down.
Boy I can’t believe it’s December already! We are putting up our Christmas decorations as our first real snowfall of the season is coming down. They are forecasting up to a foot of snow overnight and then a couple more inches over the next few days. ‘Tis the season to blow snow or shovel or plow. But I guess that depends on the amount of snow that falls, the area you need to clear, and what equipment you have available. If it’s just an inch or two, especially if it’s that light fluffy kind, I’m inclined to just shovel the drive and the little sidewalk at the back door. If it’s much more than that out comes the snow blower. It’s a small one for this area just 5.5hp but it will clear off a foot of heavy snow with no problem. And I still get plenty of exercise walking up and down the drive behind it. I think tomorrow will be a snow blowing day.
Up here in the upper peninsula of Michigan we are supposed to get a lot of snow but the past three winters, especially the last one that set a record for lack of snow, have not been up to par.
I just hope we get a good amount of snow this year and not enough to make up for that which has been lacking for those past few years.
OK. Now it’s the 2’nd of December and now “today†which used to be yesterday’s “tomorrow†and will soon be tomorrow’s “yesterday†and the snow is on the ground. There is a total of 9 to 10 inches including an inch or so which was already on the ground. The winter season is off to a great start! Spent an hour and a half this morning blowing the driveway clean and making a path to the electric meter for the meter reader along with cleaning up around the edges with a shovel. It was pretty warm about 25F and I dressed as though it was zero so by the time I was done I was sweating like I’d been working in the garden on a sunny summer day. Well almost as much anyway.
OK. Now it’s the 5’th of December. Hey! What happened to the 3’rd and 4’th ? Just missed them I guess. Can’t even remember or want to try to remember what happened. Today, however was a shopping day. Bought groceries and a few supplies for projects around the house, Hopefully almost all will be inside for the next few days because daytime highs will be in the teens. With a few more inches of snow expected tomorrow night. If I had it my way we wouldn’t go shopping again until after Christmas but I think the wife will want to go again sooner. Also went to the dump with a trunk load of recyclables. Paper, jars, cans, plastic, and cardboard, boy it accumulates fast and we don’t buy nearly as much as must people. I have a hard time imagining the amount that the typical family of 4.6 people would accumulate in a couple of months. That is, assuming they didn’t just throw it all into the trash.
Wow the 15’th of December already. I got my first seed catalog from FEDCO SEEDS a few days ago and the one from Baker Seeds just yesterday. My order for FEDCO is almost ready. I hope to get it out in Monday’s mail.
I don’t know if I’ll be ordering anything from any other source for this spring. I Hope to order some trees from St. Lawrence Nurseries Possibly apples plums or pears or a combination. Need to consider the fact that they must survive in at least zone 4 and if possible zone 3 just to be on the safe side.
Since we are expecting our first grandchild at the end of February and they live a long ways away we will probably be gone for possibly two months ( March And April). This is going to put a bit of a cramp in my seed starting next year. If I set everything up ahead of time and just plop the seeds in to get them started on or about the first of May I can get most things started at a reasonable time for setting out in early June.
The only problems are leeks and onions. We enjoyed them so much this year I was planning to start a lot more but those have to be started in late February or early March at the latest.
The rest of the month has flown by and tomorrow will usher in a whole new year.
With a lot of inside and outside projects to be done and the holidays to get through I have neglected the blog.
I put up another set of shelves in the basement as well as a set in the bedroom closet. I’ve continued working on the basement to make it usable in the winter months and improve the insulation even more. When we moved in here one of our early natural gas bills was about $180.00 for one early winter month that was not that cold. Currently the bills are running at about $100.00 a month in much colder weather. It’s amazing what adding adequate insulation and plugging all the cracks and other places that cold air can get in will accomplish.
I’m sure I am approaching a point of diminishing return on the energy efficiency improvements but those additional improvements make much more space more comfortably useful.
I thought I would have my FEDCO seed order out two weeks ago but as it is I just managed to get it out on this the last day of the year.
I had my second annual brush burning fire just last week. Another thing that was behind schedule but finally got done before the end of the year. I wanted to do it like last year when there was just a little snow cover on the ground and it was still rather warm.
Well this year it was in the 20F range and I had to dig a lot of the brush out from under about eight inches of crusty snow. It was an all day job, but now its done. I’m sure I’ll find some scraps of brush left when the snow melts but just a little.
I have finally gone over my entire acre and picked up all the loose brush broken branches and trash that had accumulated during the years prior to my purchasing it.
There is still quite a bit of standing brush, as well as a large patch of brambles and trees needing trimming that I will be attending to.
I am thinking that a couple more years of these annual brush burning sessions will get things caught up to where they should be.
I also finished tearing down some type of bird run and house that was in total disrepair and being over grown by some large pine trees that I am sure were far from it when it was constructed. I managed to salvage a good amount of the chicken wire screening and some of the treated lumber posts but the structure will have to be broken apart and hauled to the dump in the spring.
It is amazing the amount of time and energy needed to undo the things that others before us have done and just left behind in an unusable condition.
I have made a new year’s resolution to do more with the blog in the way of record keeping of my activities and projects plans and do it on a timely basis. I hope I do it.