Yes, even when underfoot…..especially while wearing skates.

Jefferson has an ice rink, and it’s in the park right behind our house (behind the pool for those who don’t know exactly where it is).

This is our 4th Winter here, and no one recalls what the shape was the first year.  2 years ago, we were certain it wasn’t filled and last year it was filled, but snowed a lot while freezing and left a 4″ slush layer that someone had tried to snowblow and destroyed a large section with 3″ deep tracks.

Mason got a sled for Christmas and we short-cutted across the park for a hill.  The rink looks like it had been plowed once this Winter, but had 4″ of snow on it.  Scuffing around, it felt really nice under there.  I returned later with a shovel and cleaned off a section.  It was very nice and skate-able.  So, the plow went on to the tractor and the whole thing got cleaned off.  We used a couple of heavy metal shovels to scrape down the rest of the surface and the ice was great!

We even started to design a mini-zamboni to keep it great.  Our first attempt worked really great and we had the middle half very smooth and glass like.  We saw a few flaws and went back to tweak our rig.  The second pass was on a warmer day and the water was not spreading as fast and gave us a ripple effect.  We then doubled the amount of holes in our water manifold and got more consistent coverage.  A few coats later, this started to smooth back out.

However, yesterday was a heat wave and today will be worse.  49 degrees?!?!?  So, Friday is supposed to drop to real cold again.  We’ll be back out there to see what we can do to extend our skating season   Come join us!  I have not seen anyone else out there yet.

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With the temperature dropping, and the snow flying, we don’t go to the farm much in Winter.  We stopped by there recently to check on things, and to put the large cooler back in ‘storage’.  We also dump coffee waste into our compost pile there once in a while too.
However, one part of the farm came alive, the tractor.  If you are a devoted reader, you might have noticed that it does double duty in the winter and get to live in a nice garage.  Snow removal.  For some reason I left the plow on the front of it when I brought it to town.  Maybe I’d try it.  When our first major storm hit, it worked well.  It cleared Grampy’s driveway out in no time flat.  There was hardly any in my driveway, but was able to drag out the small drift against the garage door.  It could move quite a bit of snow.  So, then we go….

Downtown.  If there is wind, let alone the blizzard that just left, downtown always gets far more snow then the house which is just blocks away.  The sidewalks here amaze me.  You can see the curb, but then the drift will be 4′ high.  State street is the worst.  Wilson also gets deep, but not quite as much.  I started clearing the corner, pushing across the curb cut and quickly made piles in the no parking spots.  Once my diagonal access reached it’s limits, I circled around to clear the wilson side.  It was 3′ deep in the middle, but I was able to clear off the edge first, make another pass, then in the deep spot I knocked down the drift before making a second pass.  There was only one spot that I had issues, and that was the tallest part of the drift was also behind the lightpole, right near the end.  I was able to move snow around the lightpole to the pile in the street, then broke through.

State St was another story.  Just as I wanted to swing around and attack it from the far direction, a Buick equipped with dual walkers, pulled into the last spot on the street.  The bumper overhung the curb at least 2-3 feet.  And that blocked the easy pass the tractor would make.  In fact, the spot just in from that bumper was the peak of the entire drift and I would have been aimed straight at it if I went around.  Curses!

It took a lot longer, but I pulled out the drift little by little backwards in order to clear a path around the car.  Once I was able to get around the car, then I could make passes the way I wanted to.  I was them amazed on how much snow I was able to push.

Verdict….Works great up to 2′ no problem.  Gets into tight spaces.  Moves a lot of snow where you want it.  Dealing with deep drifts and cars….not so much.  I think the snowblower attachment will go on before the next storm.  Too bad they don’t interchange easier.

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The weather was cold, but Sunday here looked to be above freezing.  My goal was to get to the farm, add a few last boards done before winter and hopefully clean the windows in order to take a decent picture.  I did far more then that.

If you were busy while outside, it was a good temperature.  I stood around waiting for my go-fer once and felt a slight chill.  So, what got done?  Windows.  8 more of them to be exact.  I ended up stripping most of the other side of the greenhouse back to the studs and started slapping windows in.  I had tried to save some of the larger ones from the first half to make sure we had enough for both sides and I might have saved a couple too many.  I simply placed all these in, and had the perfect fitting windows to take up the last bay.

However, the right side looks far more organized and symmetrical then the left.   And actually, we like it.  There is a small window or two I can replace in order to get these to match up better.  In any case, I think these are destined to last for the winter.  We might switch out a few, and there is a top row to do along with fill a few holes that are currently plywood.
I said before the greenhouse effect here works well….I mean it.  Every time the Sun came out, I neared a sweat and almost took my coat off.

Mason was a big help today and helped load and unload tools, supported non-hanging windows, swept, took pictures, other go-fer activity.

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After the earlier cold snap, it warmed up again.  I write this, as it is near freezing again.  With warm weather comes farm work.  I got out to the farm a few times for quick sessions.  I even got Grampy out there to help for a bit too!

Grampy still does not get the window idea.  The greenhouse is getting covered with random old windows from the barn, and possibly the original farm house.  We had a few from the house in town, and I bought a few windows from yard sales and Habitat’s ReStore.  With all these random windows, we figure out how to get them to fit together in an eclectic mosaic.    Everyone else thinks it’s a cool idea and I managed to get quite a few installed so far.  I hope to take pictures tomorrow.

Will the greenhouse work?  I think so.  On a few cool days, the greenhouse with 1/3 of the total windows done, it was 20 degrees warmer in that room then in the center of the crib.  I’m experimenting with hanging a black shade cloth behind the windows to absorb more heat.  I’m thinking of getting some solar pool heating panels and seeing if they will add heat to the radiant tubes in the floor.

Besides that, I’ve been fixing weak spots, loose boards, and any other things that will help it last over another winter

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Brrr!  We actually have turned on the heat here in town, and Facebook posts count the many others that gave in this week.  I hope that’s not putting too much of a close on farm work.

The gardens got re-tilled for Fall, but need a little clean up.  We created a new compost pile and put garden waste, potted plant dirt, and a slew of nitrogen rich coffee bean waste in it for now.

I’ve gotten some of the crib work done, but again it’s invisible.  I have 3 of the 4 windows framed out on the inside, but there are no holes cut in the siding.  I managed to build a quick scaffolding out of 2×10′s from the barn floor and have this attached to the front of the crib.  I need a full day to cut holes, remove the small pieces of siding, replace with plywood, wrap in tyvek, then install windows.

Besides the framing, I’ve been rebuilding some of the structure of the West wall.  I’ve added extra supports to turn ‘bin wall’ into house grade code grade framing, and the top of the wall was done in 2×4′s, not 2×6′s like the rest of the place.  Those got doubled up too add the depth and strength of the rest of the wall.  Wiggles are gone.
It’s time to wrap up tractor work, change the oil and replace the mower and tiller for the snow blower again.  I don’t count on seeing that white stuff anytime soon, but might as well be ready.

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