Nor'easter

Well, the three to five inches of snow predicted turned into at least eight inches and has caught us flat footed here at the farm. The list of things that should be done before serious snow has not been touched. As it became apparent that the snow was not ending and the weatherman had overestimated the speed of the storm system which was in no particular hurry to move on, Kris and I dropped the rake off the back of the tractor, dug the snow blower out of the new snow drift and struggled to get it on and hooked up. The PTO (power take off)shaft is always stiff or frozen with cold sludge and nothing really wants to go together. So with snow blowing horizontally in a howling wind, we slowly beat the snow blower on to the tractor. There are certain things that have to be done without gloves and a lot things involving the snow blower fall into this category. You hurry as much as you can but the cold metal and the snow makes your fingers painful little clubs in short order.

Early in the season, snow management is tricky. Small amounts of snow are best to ignore and drive over. This packs the road with snow, covering rocks and smoothing it out. Large storms require the snow blower and a lot shear pins since you will be blowing a lot of rocks too. I have changed as many as a dozen shear pins in a storm. Some times you only make it a few feet before breaking another pin. Fortunately, after the first storm or two, you usually don't break many. Yesterday was a rough go of it.

The worst development yesterday was I broke the hydraulic activator lever for the front bucket. Metal fatigue finally got the better of it. Part of the hydraulics still work. The bucket will go up and down, but it will not empty. Today is Thanksgiving and I will look at when it warms up. If I can get it apart, I may be able to get it fixed on Friday or at least get the part ordered. Living in here is dependent on the tractor working. Also, I have to get the lights mounted on the roof working. All summer long they take a pounding as the tractor goes through the woods. I need to chase all the wires, clean up the connections and replace bulbs. If that still doesn't work, I'll have to change the lights. They have taken some serious abuse and it always surprises me when one lights up. We bought those at Wal-mart years ago and expected them to pooch in short order, but they have been very durable.

Still, it was a beautiful day and breaks in by the fire were not only warming, but heart warming. The storm brought the cookbooks off the shelf and not just the Heart Healthy one but the Amish ones with lard in the biscuits and cookie recipes that make a 5 gallon tin. It's supposed to warm up this weekend if you can believe the same weather website that predicted 3 inches of snow. That should allow us to spend more time getting the farm ready for winter. Of course, it will take way more time than it would have taken if we had done it before the storm. Ah well, winter is our favorite season and we can focus on living and enjoying it since doing anything else is just a waste of effort. Besides, a five gallon tin of cookies improves almost any situation.