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Woes of the North

2/13/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
Jade sleeping in the snow. It is zero degrees and she is too hot to go in her dog house!
Picture
Snow from this morning and it is still snowing. There is a bad storm warning with a high wind and poor visibility.
Picture
Shovel the walks, use the blower at the gate so it can open and broom off the truck..AGAIN!
It is snowing again. Yesterday and the day before it was snowing too. There is a lot of new wet heavy snow out there, and the snow pack under the new snow is melting. The plumber got stuck in the driveway last night because he slid into the snow that was not packed, which is 3 feet deep along the driveway and more in some places. The man who was going to deliver the hay cannot do it because he said he would not be able to get out of the yard with the truck and trailer. I suppose he was right, because the plumber has a truck and trailer and got terribly stuck. 

To top it off, the reason the plumber was here, was because the septic clean out tank had frozen, yes, frozen. It is a bit of a larger tank designed for a family of 4 or more and daily use. When there were no guests in the bed and breakfast, going in to flush the toilet and run the taps was not enough water to keep the flow and heat in the tank and the cold came down through the lid in the concrete and froze the sewage. Gross! Next winter, I am to put straw bales and a mound of straw over the tank to prevent this and also run a cycle of hot only through the washer every few days in severe cold if the bed and breakfast has fewer than 2 guests. That lesson cost just under five hundred dollars. 

A new shed/shop is on order for the farm, along with the new skid steer. I have decided to stay here and farm until I am old, too old to do it anymore, or when I no longer enjoy it. Walking around the feed areas in this foot of new heavy snow is not a picnic. If the skid steer was here, then I could easily clean those areas, making life so much easier. The metal shop will have to be put together on site and the front wall built. It takes a few people and little skill to do so. I hope I can find some volunteers to give me a hand. In the meantime, the old barn will have to be taken down. The former residents allowed it to rot...such a terrible shame, all because they were too frugal to put a new roof on it. The septic problem was also caused by the former owner's lack of plumbing skills, which caused a back up in the septic and the pump to run non-stop. Some days it seems the snow is from all directions!



Moab, 
Sorry to be so vague, but a skid steer is a small CAT machine capable of doing many chores depending on the attachments used. The one ordered comes with a blade and with bale forks for moving big round bales. The steel building will be in the place of the decrepit barn, which needs to be dismantled and discarded. The building needs to be erected and this can be done with unskilled labour and some rivet guns. I hope that clears the confusion up and thank you for your offer. Do be well. 

1 Comment
Moab
2/13/2013 01:19:06 pm


This extreme winter was presented to you to test your metal and show you where the kinks are in the armour. It is almost as if last year, things were not that harsh and may have lulled you into a false sense of preparedness.
I am not certain what a skid steer is or how it functions but this help that you need to put it together, I would love to be able to help. Is this something you have to do now or can it be done later in the spring? Again I'm not sure what the removal of the old barn has to do with building this skid steer but it looks to me that you need a fair amount of help. I hope all this stress is not ageing you prematurely as by and large you seem to be doing a great job.
I am half planning to visit a friend this spring or summer at a lake home south west of St. Paul about 25 kilometers. Maybe if you still have some things to be done I could give you a hand then. You don't want to let this farming business push you to be old before your time.
Moab


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    Fluffy writes daily about the experiences on the farm and with the bed and breakfast patrons. 

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