3 for 3

..well the Almanac for the arwea predicted 3 storms for January..right on target. We are hoping the Almanac is accurate this year as it only predicts 1 more storm for the season. This storm had very heavy snow…

 

Trail Camera Show

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..some trail camera shots from one of the trail cameras…over a period of years and only a sampling of the 1000’s. Some of the shots are actually taken during one of my other posts..like Loki returning g after her operation..snow shoi g, digging a hole to the ground to see how deep the snow is, etc..

And a sample of the new one…works pretty well and I love the new black light feature. Undetectable!

Had a late night visitor last night..the drunkard nearly took out the Japanese maple as he drove across the lawn..wrong turns usually means slow down and trun around, not peel through an unplowed area over lawn near small trees. He is lucky he did not get stuck or this post might be a news article reporting a severe beating.

 

The Morning After the Night Before

..what would winter be without wintery posts? Been cooped up for most of the last 24 hours after a storm forced us inside..but it has passed. So far the Farmers Almanac has been spot on for the region after REALLY missing the boat last winter..according to it we have only 2 more winter storms forecast for the rest of winter..one more in January.

I will believe it when I see it ( or don’t see it)..more practice with the tractor. A* is sort of mad due to having a snowstorm hit on the weekend..no snow day.

 

Working the New Snow Implement

…not the first time we got to use the tractor for snow..but this was the first time I knew what to expect! The previous 2 snowstorms I had the tractor out and was trying different things with the grader ( attached to the back of the tractor) and the front loader..with varying degrees of success..things took longer than I would like but now that I go out with a plan I can get the whole driveway done by the time A* has the deck/shed area shovelled..about ½ hour to an hour(ish). The grader works well and for the first pass ( to the end of the driveway and back) I turn the grader so it is fully angled ( like a plow) and reverse down the driveway and then back up to the house ( in reverse too)..it clears much of the snow to the side on this pass..then I turn the grader so it is perpendicular to the road and do another pass to the end of the driveway…and when the snow builds up too much in front of the grader I cut the wheel and push the pile off the cleared part of the driveway, pull back out and continue on my way.

A* and I were thinking about last year and getting our truck stuck 7 times. It took us about 14-15 hours (groan…and an one of those was a 4 hour ordeal) to dig the truck out over the span of those 7 stuck times..so far this year I have about 3 hours of snow clear on the tractor..I am hoping to spend less time on the tractor plowing the road than I did last year digging things out when I got stuck..and I am also hoping not to get the truck stuck again too….and don’t even get me started on the 1.5 months we had to use snowshoes to get into our place..we are hoping to avoid that too.

 

Feeder Enhancements?

..it appeared the birds did not like the feeder..but after close inspection I noticed my ‘feeder holes’ were being blocked by the plastic ( which was bent upwards) around the feeder holes. Cut a couple away to free the seeds up and now the seed is flowing so the birds can get to it. Also replaced the pens with branches for a more natural look and removed the plastic mesh as it was impeding things too…but now things are flowing a little too much..but the birds like it.

….no the feeder is not mounted sideways.

 

1/3 Less Secure

Drat…one of the trail cameras had a flashing light on..climbed up to investigate and the battery area was foaming..I have never seen this happen before. Looks like the foam got inside the housing as the trail camera is not working..even after 2 days of drying and new batteries.

On a related note..I have been hearing great things about black light led trail cameras..it has been a pain over the years finding spots for the cameras where the small red brightening of the current camera will not be seen by people who might be scoping the place out while still getting a good picture and with black light there is no visible light so it can go anywhere (within reason..I am not going to hang it from the doorbell)..more soon.

 

Updated Google Maps

Yay..Google updated their maps for the area..it is like a late Xmas! By the state of the unfinished roof of the shed and the amount of area cleared with the tractor I would have to say the picture was taken in the past. To be more precise…August 23rd, 2015 at 11:16:51(ish).

..and a 3rd and 4th shot from the map before that changeover with some planning. Yes, I know I should not be this excited..neat to see the aerial changes though.

( and an old pic from Bing maps.. The blue tarp was protecting insulation as we mice proofed the place in 2007ish)

 

Monthly Refill Bird Feeder (v1)

one thing that drives me crazy so far in 2016 is rewriting a blog post after it gets deleted on attempting to save.  Technology sucks when it does not work… Maddening.

Anyhow,  created a monthly refill bird Feeder based off of one I saw online with stuff we had around (mostly garbage).  Ug, the first version of this post was very descriptive and funny.