It's still winter up here...

We are hoping that the worst weather is behind us, and are looking forward to getting back to work full time. The weather is beginning to change, but temperatures are still not warm enough to melt all the snow. The good news is that there are no more heavy snows expected.



We still have plenty of the white stuff to deal with. As you can see, the snow is still covering the fences in some places. That's approximately four feet of snow. This has been the snowiest winter in Ola in many, many years. It's going to be an interesting spring in the valley when all this melts.



I was fortunate to find a used Farm King Model Y740 snow blower for my tractor. It will make short work of keeping our driveway open even in the worst conditions. It just needs a little TLC to bring it back to tip-top shape, but that's just the kind of thing I like to do.



After a snow-imposed delay, the rough-in of the ductwork was finally completed last week. The State of Idaho has to inspect and approve the work prior to it being enclosed behind the drywall. A couple of minor issues with the installation earned it a red tag. The HVAC installers will come up and make the necessary corrections this week, and we will have it reinspected. No biggie.
Susan and I are continuing the installation of the wiring, and hope to be finished in a week or so.

Let it snow, let it snow...

It has done nothing but snow for the past two weeks. Constant snow and high winds have created drifts of four feet across the driveway going up to the shop and house. It finally reached the point where my tractor was no longer able to clear the driveway using the back blade to plow the snow. In this picture, the tractor is stuck in a snow bank, and my neighbor, Pat Sweeney, is coming up the driveway with his full sized 4WD backhoe to pull me out. I am able to clear the snow, but is a painfully slow process of scooping it up and dumping it over the berm of old snow, rather than plowing it aside with my rear blade. To do this to the entire 3/4 mile length of the driveway is taking days to complete. We haven't been able to get up to the house for quite some time now, and it looks like it will be a few more days before I can get the driveway completely cleared, provided we don't get any more snow for a while. Unfortunately, there's another storm predicted for tomorrow.
I will definitely have a snow blower for the tractor next year!



Meanwhile, it has been a challenge to keep the High Valley Road house clear of snow, too. One of our major concerns is the buildup of snow on the roof. When the snow finally stopped today, we decided that we had better get some of the accumulated snow off the roof.


When we got up there, we measured between 34" and 42" of snow on the roof. There are several layers from each storm, with a little ice layer at the bottom. I don't know what the snow load rating of this manufactured home is, but I'm guessing we're pretty close to exceeding it. Susan and I climbed up and shoveled half of the roof this morning, and will go back at it again this afternoon. Then I guess we'll have to shovel all the snow from the roof away from the windows so we can see out.

Boy, this being retired sure is a piece of cake!