Snow & Cold

The weatherman was right about the snow. We got a bit as you can see from this view looking out on the front yard. The Chicago television stations were all about the snow - some of the northern suburbs got about 6 inches. The temp last night was supposed to get down to about 24 degrees.

I picked all of the peppers figuring they weren't going to make it through the night. Always the optimist, however, I did cover them up again. I also picked persimmons. I got a bucket the same size as the one with the peppers full of nice persimmons so I can make a couple of loaves of bread. Like banana bread or rhubarb bread, persimmon bread is right tasty with a bit of butter and a hot cup of tea or coffee. There's still more persimmons on the tree but I picked all I could reach without getting out a ladder. I think the recipe calls for 2 cups of puree. Depending on how much I get out of my bucket's worth, I might pick a few more to make another couple of loaves to freeze.

While I was outside in the snow, I got the electric cord strung out to the chicken coop and plugged in the waterer. I usually put a light in there about the time of the winter solstice, unless it gets real cold before then. Chickens are pretty hardy creatures and usually do OK as long as they're out of the wind but the light plus the heated waterer makes a big difference in that small coop. The light also keeps the chickens laying during the days of short daylight.

I took a good look in the barn at the dirt piles and figured out it's a woodchuck/ground hog that's burrowed in. I found the other end of the burrow where he gets out of the barn along with what appears to be a maze of tunnels underneath a couple of pallets that I put down to keep some machinery parts off the floor. I haven't come up with a plan of action yet but like the Mounties, I always get my man.

I machined up some little parts for work and installed the brackets I made for the nail cabinet. I've actually got quite a bit of work to do for my employer. I came up with the solution for the bike carrier. It shouldn't be too tough to do, just a little ticked off with myself for the design failure. I ordered some taillights for the job. They are the small round ones that go into a piece of 1-1/2" tubing. With the lights protected inside a piece of tubing, they shouldn't get broken while loading the bike. I put a pair of these in the sidecar and was pretty happy with them. I'd rather not have someone rear end me because they couldn't see the truck taillights and smash the bike and the truck.

Looks like it's going to continue to have daytime temps in the thirties for a few days then warm back up to mid-forties. Yep, it's winter, like it or not.