Author: The Lord of The Manor

Still No Snow

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Thought I was anticipating snow in late October, we are well into November now, and there is still no snow at all, and that is fine with me. The weather is colder, for sure, and the smells and feel of Autumn is in the air, but the snow has crept down the mountainsides and only that. It has not yet come to the valley floor. I have not seen a single flake yet this autumn. Well, not falling from the sky, anyhow.

It is early morning as I write this, and I am still feeling the effects of all the sugar I ate during last night’s meal out with the kids. No, not just the kids who live at home. All of them were by so we could take them out to have our family Thanksgiving get-together. Our oldest is scheduled to work up there in North Dakota, so we had to find a day this month that would work for all. Last night was it. Happy Thanksgiving. I know lots of folks like to sit around the table and say what they are Thankful for, but that is not a tradition in our family. We are more relaxed, and just enjoy the together time. We don’t have an angry political uncle that ruins the event for most people. We just have each other and enjoy it. I cannot think of a better time of the year than when we are together. And it seems that because of the holiday schedule, that is always in the mid to late Autumn.

Then comes the long slog through winter. That has traditionally been the time when we bundle up and forget there is much of an outdoors and sunshine. That is January till April, roughly. I’d like to see the year go a bit differently this year. I have stocked up my beeswax to keep some candle making going, and I have the workshop sorted out for a little bit of heat and a sufficient supply of tools to keep me working more than ever before. Let’s see what I can come up with to keep me busy this year. But more on that in another post.

First Snow Anticipated This Week

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

The weather looms low this morning with an autumn breeze carrying leaves round like butterflies, and the sun reflecting off the bottoms of the clouds giving off a bright light that seems to come from every direction. To the west there is a mountain that is aglow, and in the near distance, a small portion of a rain bow is blasting its color over the view of it as if it were not enough magnificence on its own.

The forecast for today calls for rain this morning, very little. The high is expected to reach 67F. Tomorrow and the next day are going to be cooler, reaching only 62, but the lows climb down to the bottom of the thirties. By Thursday, it’s worse. Yes, we are expected to see snow by then. The Weather Bureau does not anticipate much more than that on Thursday, with it drying up and staying cooler after that, then the possibility of more snow is raised next weekend.

I noticed this morning that the heat did not kick up in the truck, and that the temperature on the engine was a little high. Means it is running low on coolant. I’ll have to pick some up when I go up to town to get tarps to cover the firewood with.

The firewood needs covering before the snow comes. It should be covered now, but the rain that has been falling this morning is miniscule, so it’s really no worry. But I don’t want snow settling onto it then melting away slowly into the wood for a longer stay. No, I will be covering it before Wednesday evening.

I put a small fire win the woodstove just a few minutes ago. It’s just meant to push the slight chill out of the house. I may be tossing in a small fire in the shop stove shortly, then working out there on the rabbit hutch I am making for Missus.

The hutch is nearly framed to hold the cage. I just need to figure out how I intend to hold it in place. I am considering some metal bracket arrangement that will not rot as I am trying to keep any kind of wood out from under the cage, and far away from the sides enough that they cannot chew at it. Seems like a better plan, to me. We’ll see how it all pans out.

I anticipate my new snow pusher to ship in about two weeks. I look forward to using that this winter to prevent too much digging in the dirt along the side of the road where the mail carrier pulls up, and in the dirt driveway to the house and behind. Will it work? I hope so. If not, then I can always hire out to do other people’s driveway either way and make back the money spent. I also suspect I will be up to see the kids in town at their house and clear their drive from time to time. When I do, and the year has pressed on, I will no doubt be putting the bucket on the trailer too, so I can clear the mailbox for them. The snow ploughs push all the snow to the side of the road and block the boxes up there, then the postal service complains and finally stops delivering the mail because of the conflict of these two services. Wouldn’t it be nice if they could figure something out? Especially for the sakes of the elderly who have not got a hope for clearing the mailbox access! It seems silly. Maybe something will come to me. Meanwhile, I half expect that while I go up there, there will be job offers to clear people’s drives for them.

Looks like the flames in the woodstove have gone down. I never did close the door, so it is no surprise. I’ll go put a couple more pieces of wood on, and close the door this time, to control it and keep the fire burning much longer. What a pleasure it has been to enjoy a peaceful morning and write!

Nearly Done with the Rounds

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

I got out today kind of mid-morning and started splitting the rounds in the Service Yard. Got a break when the kids came over to pick up our grandson from us where he had spent the night. That was good times as always. After they left, I got in a short nap and went out later in the evening to get at it again. I think I could fill the bucket on the tractor three more times, maybe four and that would be it.

When I finish the rounds I am on about, I will be picking up all the little pieces that are from branches and from mill slabs and sorting them out in the woodstove bunk or in the fireplace bunk, as I keep two separate collections of wood because each appliance can take a different length of wood. I also prefer to budget what goes into the fireplace as it does not produce as much heat, and us used more for ambiance than for heating with. Who’d want to burn up their firewood on a fireplace and not have enough to get through the winter and stay warm with the woodstove, which definitely produces more heat?

I am fixing to get the wood covered soon and get milling the logs out back, too. I still need a couple of cords of firewood, but it is not a complete disaster now that our son helped us split up as much wood as he did. I think I could get to it before the snow starts falling as long as I put my effort and mind into it. I might get the splitting done tomorrow, but there is another chore to get at then.

I need to finish that rabbit hutch, which will require planing a board down tomorrow. I want to do it in the electric planer and get the thickness just so. I’d like a nice finish on this hutch, with the hope it will last many years to come.

I have wood set aside in the shop to make a butcherblock style top of our kitchen island. I admit it is poplar, but that is what I was able to find for free down at the dump where I get my firewood. I have heard of people finding black walnut down there, but I have yet to actually see a log. So, the poplar will do. I am still trying to figure out if I will do a smooth finish on it or give it the scooped plane finish with a scrub plane. It would make it interesting and fairly easy to repair cuts and scratches on. I’d plane everything down to a consistent thickness with the power planer and then glue up and add the scrub plane finish, then top it with some Odie’s oil. That’s what I am thinking at the moment, anyhow. I think I would aim for a two-inch-thick top. I am pretty sure I have nine-quarter heavy. If memory serves me. Or I could walk out and measure it. Nah. I’d get sucked in when I would rather go to bed soon.

Maybe I’ll just do a smooth finish. Who knows?

I finished most of what I needed to do in the trailer for Missis to use as her little shop. I’ll have to make her some more quarter round, I am sure. I also need to frame in a pegboard that is next to her register desk. But those are easy and won’t inhibit her from getting the thing done and open. Hooray!

Nuts to the Power Outage

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

I have been happy for years that we are prepared for the power to be out for just about any reasonable amount of time. With the woodstove we can produce hot water, heat, cooked food. With the lanterns we have light in the darkness, and with the Aladden lantern we can produce a decent amount of light in a single room. There are options for the cold food.

Well, all of that is true in the winter, anyway. But the power went out for a couple of hours today at suppertime. Today has been a warm day! Missus had me put the woodstove on this morning on a low setting to take the chill off the house. The thing never burned down, and it was still producing heat at suppertime. So what we had was a house that was already too hot to begin with. There was to be no cooking on the woodstove! It was too hot! I lit the Aladden in the light of the afternoon to be sure everything was working okay, and clearly it was producing too much heat to be desirable.

Lesson learned? We are prepared for a cold weather power outage! We are not ready for an outage on a warm day!

Summer keeps the water in the ground warmer, and it takes less from the hot water heater to get a bit of hot water after the power is out. During winter, this is not the case. But we can compensate with the woodstove. In summer the sun is up later, and candles and lanterns are not required. Winter requires a lot more light, which produces heat, and is okay.

But this is a shoulder season. It was plenty warm today outside, hot inside due to that fire, and the light died outside early. It was not a happy medium. It was not a season that I felt like I understood. So we have a bit of knowledge now to reassess the situation. Battery lamps pay off in warm weather. Another cooking option is mandatory in warm weather, too, such as the barbeque or the propane cookstove. Those need to be readily accessible.

Since the powerlines were replaced on our road, the power here has been a lot more reliable. Honestly, today caught us a little off guard. It was only a short power outage, and was no big deal, but there were take-aways.

Moving Wood Processing to the Service Yard

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

What can I complain about muscle sore. It is so much easier than the pain in the bones due to the arthritis. But I am chronicling days without it, so today I was muscle sore. To make it a bit easier, the heavy work I did today was all in the tractor. So it was pretty easy. Don’t get me wrong. A person gets tired from driving a tractor. The go pedal is quite a bit stiffer to push down than a car is, and there is a lot of steering in a tight space like I was working in. It does wear a body out.

Today I started moving the firewood from the back by the mill to the Service Yard. Most if it looks like it is cut, though there are some smaller rounds that do need to be cut to length, and some slabs from the mill. There is a decent pile out back still, but it is going to have to be put into the bucket and carried up as I am not intending to do a land transfer. The bucket picks up too much dirt, and the pallet fork drops all the long slabs and little rounds left out back. It is to be manual labor then.

I’ll have help again tomorrow. I can either ask him to help with the loading of the wood out back or have him run the splitter and I go get the wood out back. But the strategy is meant to include me lifting the logs to the splitter table with the tractor. Save backs. I could also use some help with the table saw and/or the planer to get that wood finished for the rabbit run. Tough choice with a rainy week coming up, and I want to have the wood piled and covered as soon as possible. I also want the rabbits covered in their new home as soon as possible, too.

I will be finishing this blog post up in a moment, and it will be 6:30PM, then it is off to work outside some more. I can get an hour or two in before evening rest. I am eager to get this sorted out so I can get to work on other things, such as setting up blanks for the lathe, or milling some wood to build a fuel shed and a woodshed, and even a new chicken coop or an open front shed for the tractor implements.

I look forward to milling the wood in the back for more than just making lumber. I am eager to get the practice in so I can open up a small milling service and hire to the public. Might as well make a little money!

Well, off to work!

More Work Done Today

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Today was a good day. I had some help with the firewood again, and we got the trailer topped off then unloaded it into the bunk. I was talked into moving the wood splitter back into the service yard where a piece that is split can be put straight into the bunk after, rather than into the trailer and then unloaded in another arduous task.

My help left after we unloaded, and I got the splitter moved after. I also ran into town and got milk and bread and half & half, and a temporary pin to replace one that was missing on the three-point hitch on the tractor. I got the wrong size, so it is definitely temporary.

I made supper, then got back to work. This time I went out to the wood that has been cut and stacked as lumber and collected a piece to start preparing it for the rabbit hutch. It was pretty bad as far as thickness goes, so I have a lot to remove manually before putting it into the planer. It is way out of whack. But when it is done it will make some fine sides to support the wire hutch.

I worked on the piece of wood for a while. as it is pretty good sized, and I was using it as a practice piece to learn how to do a scooped finish on the surface of the wood as I have got a good plane that does that. It is a plough plane, and has a scooped blade for taking out a lot of material. I think to get a good finish, I would want to plane a board flat and then do the scooping strokes.

It was a good day because I never hurt, which is so rare for me. It is enough to say that. Now it is time for bed!

A Lovely October Day Working

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

It has been a day of work and family down on the farm today. Our second son came by and helped out with the wood again, and it was very welcome help, for sure! There was a distraction from getting started, and I should have seen to it before we walked out to the log pile and started the splitter.

First things first, I sent the kids off to school. After coming back from meeting the bus I back dragged the driveway where there is a bit of mud in a couple of places. Always good to have a flat drive, and the weather promises to be in the 60’s and 70’s this week.

The distraction was the cardboard in the trailer. I suggested we could either throw it out on the ground temporarily, or we could go up to his place and get all his cardboard, take it all to the recycling bin, then come back with an empty trailer and get started on the wood. He took that option. When we got to the bin with all the cardboard a whole heap of wasps started circling one of the big boxes from his house and confused us because he has kept is cardboard inside, and it has not been there that long. Made no sense that wasps would build a house so quickly this late in the year. I grabbed the box and tossed it in the bin, nonetheless. It was only then that I realized we would be stopping into the salvage yard next door to drop off the broken microwave that I had dumped in the trailer at the very beginning of loading it a week or so ago.

At the salvage yard the guys there were friendly and helpful as always. When asked if we wanted it weighed, I passed as it was not going to net enough to walk in and collect on. There is only so much worth actually dealing with.

We came back to the house, and I took the trailer with the tractor to the back and set it down next to the end of the log splitter. Then I began the job of picking up the wood with the tractor to set it on the log splitter, rather than lifting it all by hand and back. Most importantly by back! I lift it all in the bucket and then use the bottom of the bucket as a table even to the table height of the splitter.

Son kept his self busy splitting as fast as he could, and tossing the readied logs into the trailer to carry around to the log bunk all in one go.

When it got close to time for him to want to leave to get ready to pick his son up from school I suggested we stop a little early so he could go visit with his mom a bit first, rather than run in, run out, and go. He wanted to do that rather than get in trouble with her.

After it all, I rested a spell as I was still tired from all the work. Happily, I was muscle tired, and the bones are well today. I Am thrilled about that! I got the girls from the bus stop, ate supper, then took a nap.

The evening found me putting water out for some animals that had run low, and getting a couple of huge logs from the front of the service yard, as I might was well get them processed and burned so I can clear up the service yard. It is getting to be a mess in there, and it really doesn’t need to be. Far from!

It’s 8:00PM now, and about time to start looking forward to bed. I need to get ready to do more wood processing tomorrow, and hopefully even get some boards sorted out for the long ends of the rabbit hutches. I have the water carrier ready out front so I can go fill up some more animal troughs. I suspect there are a couple who could use a top up. I am also informed that we are down to one gallon of milk in the house, and that the whole corn in the feed bin is about gone. There are two more jobs to get at as soon as I can.

So that’s it for today. Time for this old man to go wind up his day before bed.

Laser Therapy

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

We picked up a GlowForge about two years ago now, and Missus has been happily cutting away with it since. But GlowForge has its problems. For a long time, the materials they offer have been very high priced, and often out of stock. They have very proprietary parts for the machine. Also, they have the software to run it on the cloud, rather than local. The user gets put into a queue just to process a project and run it on their own machine. Internes Access totally required. I could also add that the camera never lined up properly, so when they advertised on the outset that one could laser etch the case of their MacBook, I can tell you I would never have tried it because I could not be assured of proper alignment.

We resorted to using big box store materials and reduced the cost of a single sheet of plywood to put into the GlowForge from around $8.00 for a 11″ x 19″ to $1.00. That is a pretty compelling savings! One can put up with lesser materials for that difference.

So, yesterday a new laser machine came into the house, and we have spent today finding it a home. We did not put it into the exact same place as the GlowForge, which we expect to retire soon as we doubt they will be in business much longer as their model seems to be utterly failing, but had to clear it out, and the cabinet it sat on, as the new machine is able to cut materials of twice the size or larger if you use the passthrough ports. And it cost less than the GlowForge did! As I have been setting it up, I have observed that unlike the GF, it is built with off the shelf parts that look like they will be easy and cheap to replace! We are not quite ready to start it up yet, but so far, I am pretty impressed with what we have got to take the place of GlowForge. We still need to get the software for it, which will be downloaded to the local computer, and easy to use without going through company servers. Yup, we will be able to work offline! No delays due to server lags or ISP disruptions.

We are eager to get it running finally and see how it stacks up to GlowForge on an operational basis. But the features I have seen so far, including the much larger cutting platform and the much deeper height as well, allowing the etching of thicker objects, the local software, and the nonproprietary components has given me greater confidence in this platform. Oh, and did I mention we are upgraded from a 40-watt laser to a 100-watt? Yeah, that’s also a thing!

Missus will be putting products into her little shop as soon as she opens up and intends to take custom orders as well. Watch her space at Antiquary Artisan.

Kids and Firewood

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Today was a fantastic day on the farm. Two of the kids were down to the house with their wives. It was great to see them all! It was well timed too, in the sense that it was rainy today, and there was no working outside. We also had a delivery today that required us to take the front-most door off the house, and it was good to have help with that from our second, even though he was hopping along on a bad ankle.

So did I do anything sensible and go out to the shop to work, as it has a roof on it, and rain is no excuse? No. I did not. It was a restful day instead. We put a fire in the woodstove, and I worked on an “About Us” for Missus’ website. It is hard to get the text together to tell a story about us when one must decide what to include, what to exclude, and what to emphasize and what to only mention. There is a lot to our story, but not all of it is relevant to the business or the ethos behind it. I think what we need people to do is come to the “About Us” section in order to ‘get it’ on what we are all about. I will try a draft later with that in the front of my mind and see what I can come up with.

With the rain coming down yesterday and today, I have been off from the firewood work. I have got the trailer empty of it, and once I take out some garbage in that, I will be ready to go out back and fill it again for more stacking. It is important I get that pile of wood out by the sawmill cut down and split so I can see how much we actually have, and how much more I need to go get. The bunk is still less than halfway full, and that is a concern. But I will say this of it; the wood is mostly up to length, about 19 inches. The lengths are consistent, and because they are, the stacking has gone better this year than any gone by. I have several rows stacked up to just more than 6 feet high, and none of it wobbles like it is going to tip over. I think when the wood out back is split up and stacked, the bunk for winter will be about 3/4 of the way full, not necessarily including the middle aisle, which I normally don’t fill, but this year plan to because we always seem to come up just a little short.

I am trying a new burn in the stove this year. I am putting in two cookie cut pieces at the bottom, then stacking some split logs on top and doing a top-down burn. I tried it today. It went on for maybe eight hours before I put in more wood on top of some of the charcoals. It lit right up and burned on nicely. The point of it is to get a longer burn time out of the wood, especially for those overnight fires that keep the chill off the house and keep the pipes from freezing. It was promising today. I have seen a few people on YouTube lately that recommend a top-down burn for longevity, though they don’t agree on the way the wood is stacked for it. The primary difference being if the split logs are packed front to back or side to side in on top of the cookie pieces. I went front to back, perpendicular to the air inlet pipes because that direction fits the long logs better, and I am not going to recut the whole pile I have outside this year. I could cut shorter one’s going forward though. But then I would have to take long ones for hot burns and shorter ones from elsewhere in the bunk for long, fast burns.

The weather is clear tomorrow and beyond. It is time to get the work done I owe Missus in her shop, then get this wood done!

1 October, 2023

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Last week there was very little firewood in the bunk to begin with. I now have it a quarter full and have a little saga to tell about. The logsplitter was doing pretty good handling the wood I had out there, it’s little Honda motor whirring away, giving me confidence in the machine. But somehow the little lever that stops the hydraulic system in lieu of a detent got caught up, and bent. When I noticed it, I tried to straighten it back out, but while I could get it horizontal, it was still bent latterally, and caught on the end of the hydraulic cylendar on the next return, and apparently caught the seal on it. I did not see it do that specifically, but on the next run it popped the cylendar, and dropped hydraulic fluid all on the ground.

Well, needless to say, this was very unexpected, and it is a repair that is above my pay grade. I might be able to pull it off by replacing the clip/seal, or even the whole cylendar, but it is not something I felt I had time to learn how to do. So I got a new logsplitter whithin two hours or so, and had it up and running right away.

The new logsplitter is rated at 37 tons, the highest I have owned yet, though none of mine have ever been below 32 tons. It has features that I am not super happy with, especially the track the maul rides in. I was loving the fact the now broken one clasped the rail and did not collect debris. I am back to cleaning out debris, and especially watching that the logs don’t get caught between the track and the sides of the maul. That is a great way to slowly break apart the welds on the beam and caust the thing to fail.

Today is Sunday, and that is different. I am taking it off to relax. My muscles have gotten sore this week, but that is because for the first time in such a long time, my bones are not in pain! I have felt what I think most people feel as normal. My muscles can’t keep up because the work I have done has always been limited by the tolerance I have had in my bones. I could only ever do so much before it hurt too much to continue. I have felt well for the last couple of weeks, and before that I cannot remember the last time I was not in pain. I mean, I think there was a time back in 2005.

It’s a bit rainy today with tomorrow and the next day forecast for more. The temperatures will be dropping to just above fire lighting cold. I tell you, I could do with this being our year-round affair. Some rain, some sun, and temps that are okay to work in. Suites me right down to the ground.

It’s the first day of October. By the end we will undoubtedly have snow visiting on the ground readying for a winter-long home. That’s how it goes around here. It turns white by December, and it stays so till mud season… I mean, “spring.”