How Cold is Too Cold?

Last week I told you two things, both were apparently lies. The first is that it was our last post before Christmas and here I am writing another one before Christmas. But as many of you know, sometimes you just have to write and today I just felt the need. The second lie was that it was we were going to have a night with a low of -13F. Well, that has now changed to -22F with a high the next day of -11F. But really who cares, once it is that cold does a few more degrees really make a difference?

Frostbite starts in about 5 minutes if your skin is left unprotected. Birds and other forest creatures require a lot more nourishment just to survive.  I did a little research on how cold like that affects birds and deer. Most of the articles said they should be fine if they are healthy, not too old and have plenty of food. If they get wet; all bets are off. The first thing to go are ears and tails. Then it went on to say that the reproductive organ of males are next. Brings a quite literal meaning to freezing your xxxx's off! 

As I write this now at 7:20am on 12/22, the thermometer reads -23F. We have had a fire going all night but despite this the temperature inside the house kept dropping from 68 when we went to bed to 60 when we woke up. It was then that we discovered that the in-floor heat system was not working with an error message saying to check gas and venting. I checked the vents and propane level: and both were good. I did a little research to find out that propane will not freeze until -44F but in extreme cold the pressure in the tank drops dramatically. I reset the system and it now seems to be working again. This unit is not only our only heat source (other than our fireplace), but also our hot water source. Fingers crossed it keeps going!

You really cannot do anything outside in those conditions, so we spent a lot of time inside reading and watching movies. It was during one of these times, I was upstairs reading a book in Barb's large comfy chair that I looked out the window and stopped..... and stared. The view out that window was incredible.

The temperatures over the past few days have been so cold that it has frosted over all the trees. A sight that we have taken for granted. But the view at that window was so incredible that I just had to go for a walk in the woods and field. Bundled up so only my eyes were showing I went for a walk. 

When it is this cold, it is dead quiet. The only noise you hear is the sound of your own footsteps. It reminded me of when I was 13 or so and I had my paper route. Walking the route day after day before sunrise in the snow with nothing but a sack full of papers and the sound of the crunch of the snow with each step. 

On this day I saw no wildlife other than a few magpies and crows flying out of a depression in the field. Even they were silent as they flew away as this bundled mass of man approached. 

I could only take my hands out of my pockets long enough to take two pictures at a time before they started to numb up. What was it that these magpies and crows were so interested in? 

As I got closer, suddenly, two bald eagles arose from the depression. The adult flew directed away from me, but the juvenile gave me enough time to get my phone out of my pocket and take a picture. 

Not the best picture, I wish I would have brought my Lumix. As I dropped into the depression, I saw what was of so much interest to these scavengers. A deer lay at the bottom. It looks like it had been there a day or two providing much needed nourishment to others in this frigid weather. Such goes the circle of life. 

Looking at the carnage I picture the coyote curled up beneath a dense cedar bush awaiting darkness so he could return to his feast. Or the bald eagle, feathers ruffled high in a pine tree, it too thinking about the meal that awaits once the sun crests the eastern horizon. Birds and wildlife require 30% or more food during these colder temperatures to maintain body heat. 

We put out a new bale for the deer which was a challenge in itself. My tractor would not start, the neighbor's tractor would not start so I had to improvise and drag the bale behind the jeep to bring it out where they are now hitting it pretty hard. 

We also put out extra bird food in the feeders and on the ground and they seem to be eating every bit of it up. The turkeys and juncos seem to focus on the food on the ground while the chickadees, nuthatches and woodpeckers focus on the seed and suet in the trees. And this, a first. A Flicker visited the feeder. We see them a lot in the summer, but this is the first one of the winter. 

The articles go on to say that you should not introduce new food sources until you are able to maintain them for the long term. Luckily, we have plenty of bales and hundreds of pounds of seed. The animals that are not as lucky are those living in the areas that just received 30+ inches of snow. They will have a hard time reaching any food sources. 

Instead of hiding from the cold, my friend Doug and I decided to embrace it by going ice fishing. There was about 18" of ice so we were able to punch through pretty easily. Although they were not jumping out of the holes, we did manage to bring home three for the fry pan. 

Meanwhile, Barb just hanging around anxiously waiting for Christmas.

Not to be outdone, Zoey wanted to get in on the action. Afterward she said it was not nearly as much fun has momma made it look. 

Dakota wanted nothing to do with testing out the new hoist in the workshop. Huh, go figure. 

Barb has also been playing her accordion. She is getting better and better. She used to not even let me the house when she played. Now she practices with me in the house, but I cannot watch her. Unbeknownst to her I recorded her with my phone So at the risk of catching hell and having all my Christmas presents returned, here is a sample. No video, just audio.

We also got out for a jeep ride. Most of the forest service roads are closed so we headed out to two of our favorite local spots. Deerfield Lake and Miner's Brewery!

Barb and I will spend the next couple days indoors watching more Christmas movies. My friend Ray sent this to me the other day, I thought it was hysterical and so appropriate for the end of this post. 

So, this is our last post before Christmas, I promise. Barb and I want to wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas, hoping that you can spend it with your friends, family.

'Twas the Week Before Christmas

And not a creature was stirring, not even an over-stimulated French Bulldog who has the zoomies several times a day. 

Well, it is not quite the week before Christmas, but this is our last post before Christmas, so it is close enough. This is a typical morning at the J-B with Barb on her computer reading blogs while the girls on their respective beds just hanging out. 

Cold and windy are the words for the week as we had our first major snowstorm. The bulk of the snow missed us, but the wind, cold and snow did not. 

The winds are 25-40mph the past few days and the 7-day forecast does not look too promising either. 

The snow did not miss everywhere however. Just an hour north of us, some areas received over 30"s of snow.  Here is a video that someone up there posted on Facebook that shows just how deep it got in some areas. 

Then we received this video from our niece up in Spearfish. That is her FBD Sophie bouncing through the snow. 

Speaking of Alana, Ryan and Sophie. We went up there last Sunday to watch the Vikings beat the Lions. Sophie is a huge Vikings fan while, as you know, Zoey is a fan of whoever is playing the Vikings. Both of the girls were dressed up and ready for the battle. 

Dakota made the trip as well. We brought a rug for her to lay on. She just hung out there all day and watched the festivities around her. 

Alana and Ryan have a cat (Ollie) as well which Zoey harassed the entire time we were there. Seriously, Zoey did not leave this Ollie alone. The entire day went something like this; Zoey was chasing Ollie, Sophie was chasing Zoey and Illie just kept swatting Zoey on her face.

Ollie sought refuge behind my head, but that did not stop the harassment. 

Then Ollie discovered Dakota's tail. Then it was Ollie harasses Dakota, Zoey harasses Ollie, Sophie harasses Zoey.

By the end of the day everyone had settled down and Ollie was actually grooming and licking Zoey while they both sat quietly on the couch. 

Sadly, the Lion's beat the Vikings and when Alana was not looking Barb dressed Sophie up in the Lions uniform. Alana was aghast and quickly ripped it off her poor humiliated dog. 

Barb and I spent two days making venison sausage and stick. First, we had to grind up the venison, adding 25% pork fat. 

Then we had to add the spices and run everything through the grinder one more time stuffing it into the casings. 

After curing in the fridge overnight it was time to smoke them. 2 hours for the sticks 5 hours for the salami. They both turned out delicious!

That night was bowling night for Kevin, Cheryl, Dan, Bonnie, Barb and me! The teams were boys against the girls

The person with the lowest score on the 5th frame had to buy shots for everyone. Then at the end of the game the losing team had to but the next round of beers. Needless to say a good time was had by all but the highlight of the night was Kevin's dance moves.....

As much fun as that was what I did the next day was even funner! I went to the Chiropractor for the very first time in my life. I had hurt my back back in October while up at the farm. No, I was not working when it happened, I was actually duck hunting and I know exactly when it happened. In the 6 or so weeks since then it has not gotten better, it has actually gotten progressively worse. So Barb talked me into going to the Chiropractor. When I described the pain to the doctor, he said that it was a pinched nerve at the L5. 20 minutes later I was walking out feeling like a new man! it is not 100% better but I would say it is 80% better.  

Look at that, an entire post and I did not talk about one house project! All our current projects are outside, and it is way too cold out there! 

Very Busy Work Week

 Come on Hallmark. Please, no more movies about a multi-generational family inn with parents that are secretly selling to a big corporate resort company without telling or asking their New York based single daughter who is home for Christmas if she wants to run it. I swear I have seen 4 or 5 movies with this identical theme this year. Luckily, in each case the daughter falls in love with the corporate guy (who happens to be the son of the owner) and everything works out and everyone lives happily ever after. You would think that they would come up with a few more plots than that. We did see one good one this week called Noel Diary or something like that. It was on Netflix and it was a nice change of pace from your typical G rated Hallmark movie.  

Although it looks like Christmas inside our house. Outside, not so much. No snow here yet, the temps have actually been quite mild with upper 40's this week but it looks like that may all change in the next few days. 

This week, Barb and I spent 5 days helping Kevin put a T&G ceiling in one of the houses he is building. He can do most things on his project by himself but there are several things that he needs an additional hand with. This being one of them.  

We started with the easiest section. A standard 8' ceiling in the kitchen area.

Barb and Kevin taking a break

Then we moved on to the great room. I'll tell you right now it was not as fun as it looks. I am typically not afraid of heights but the last couple of years I have become less of a fan. I had a death grip on something the entire time I was up there. 

We had scaffolding for one side, but the other side was just a plank on a ladder. I rock, paper, scissored Kevin for the scaffolding side. You can see who lost.... Kevin said, "I thought rock crushed scissors?".  Not today it doesn't, walk the plank! 

 The high stuff was slow and tedious but luckily Barb was cutting and handing us boards, so we did not have to get up and down constantly. Even with that, we would only make about 10'-15' in 6 hours. Day by day we whittled away and eventually got to the top on both sides.

While Kevin may be used to working all week, we are not. We were exhausted at the end of each day. The finished product looks great, the owner should be happy. 

We only got one project done at home, but it is one that I have been excited to get done. Putting stairs up to the loft! This will allow us to get up and down without climbing a ladder which is no fun while carrying totes!

I took a 2x12 and cut the stair jacks.

Then I cut treads out of more 2x12's. Kevin came over and helped me get them mounted and just like that we have stairs! I mounted them on hinges so I can hoist them out of the way should I need more space in the garage. 

You may have noticed that the camper has not been in any of the garage pictures the last month or so. That is because it has been up in Rapid getting some work done. We had the top liner of the roof replaced. installed a new air conditioner, a new furnace and a new roof vent. It is now ready for its next adventure! We are not sure when that is going to be, we are thinking maybe sometime in January. We are deciding between Texas and Arizona. Florida was on our short list until hurricane Ian which hit the areas we were planning on going to. 

Zoey got a new shirt. Actually, she got several. While I may be a Minnesota Vikings fan, apparently Zoey is not. She is not a Jets fan either. She is just a fan of whoever happens to be playing the Vikings that week. Despite her efforts, the Vikings pulled it off and beat the Jets. 

She actually looks embarrassed to be wearing the Jets jersey 

Dakota on the other hand, is a fan of Christmas as she was nice enough to pose next to the Christmas tree for this precious picture. One thing you may or may not have noticed about any picture of Dakota, she is always on a rug, bed or carpet. She is not a fan of tile or hardwood and always has to have at least two paws on something with traction. 

Question for those of you out there who have a Samsung phone. Mine keeps randomly losing contacts. This week it was our son Forrest. His contact just disappeared from my phone. Anyone else had this problem or have a solution? Well, I gotta go, a movie just came on titled "Christmas at the Inn", I wonder what this is going to be about!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

 Love, love, love this time of year. The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Barb has been busy decorating the house for the holidays with all things Christmas. 

With all the money we have been putting into the house the past month, we decided that we were going to try and find out our own Christmas tree somewhere out in the National Forest. You are allowed to cut one with a permit. We spent a few hours wandering some likely spots but did not find any worthy candidates. All the trees in our area are long needled ponderosa pine with branches that are 2+' long and basically go straight up, making them challenging for a Christmas tree. 

There are other locations in the hills that have spruce, but they are further north, and we have no idea where to go look. I guess we should have done some homework. Next year we will scout out a few locations beforehand and be better prepared. 

So, Barb went off to Rapid City in search of a tree. She came home with this beauty which she already decorated. Trees seem crazy expensive this year, but she was able to pick this one up for $80, plus she had $35 in gift cards bring it down to a reasonable price. Most of the trees over 8' were almost $200!

She has other decorations up throughout the house as well, making the place quite festive!

Pandora plays Christmas music in the background as we work in the house and garage throughout the day. Our favorites are the classics; Gene Autry, Burl Ives, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Nate King Cole and the like. There are a handful of more recent songs that we like but it saddens me to think that with each passing generation these classics will be fading into history. 

This time more than any, I reflect on my childhood, growing up with my brothers and sisters and my parents. My parents had their hands full with 7 kids, several of us giving them challenges along the way but overall I have nothing but fond memories of my childhood. Christmas memories include treading popcorn on string, making a chain of rings out of construction paper, making snowflakes out of folded paper and an ungodly amount of tinsel on our tree.  Great memories....

This was also the first opportunity for us to hang some of our recently acquired tree ornaments from our Great Summer Adventure. We try to find ornaments that bring back special memories of our trips. 

                             Painted Sand Dollars from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia

Glass Float Ball from Prince Edward Island

Then there are the very special ornaments, the first two are over 30 years old. 

In the spirit of fully embracing the holidays, we have been watching our share of Hallmark movies. Almost one a day, at the end of the day while we unwind. Since we have seen all the one from previous years, we have been trying to stick to ones from this year. There is a noticeable difference in the increase of 'wokeness' when compared to years past. Most are not bad, but others are just over the top this year. If you want to see for yourself, watch Christmas at the Golden Dragon. Still entertaining but you cannot help but notice the forces story plot. 

Our other big news for the week is that the interior of the workshop is done! Well, I still have some finishing touches to do like installing a heater and getting some more stainless-steel tables, but I am really happy with how it turned out. 

Next up will be the exterior. This is how it looks now.

Thursday, Barb and I spent the entire day cleaning the garage. With the colder weather, the garage has become our main work area and as you can imagine it becomes quite a mess. Although not perfect, it is a heck of a lot cleaner than it has been in quite a long time. 

The girls spent the day out there with us helping us cleaning. We were all exhausted at the end of the day. The girls were so exhausted they could not even drag the whole bodies on their beds.

They do get out for their walks, Dakota's favorite time of the day. She runs from brush pile to brush pile looking for that Rascally Rabbit. She usually finds one which she chases for about 50' before she loses sight of it. Zoey on the other hand likes to show off her bone to anyone who shows the slightest interest. 

That's it from the Nelson household this week. Time to get back to it, so much work to do!