Snowy winter weekend

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

The biggest snowfall in several years is forecast for tonight. As I was arriving home, the flurries were starting to fall, the wind was picking up and the snowploughs were scraping along the road in front of the farm.

I could see the storm coming over the fields as dusk was rolling in.

It appears the weather gods heard that our winter warm-up party is this weekend and that sledding and skating are on the agenda.

We’ve had a full week of cold temperatures, so the pond seems to be well-frozen, and as of tomorrow we hope that we’ll have enough snow for sliding over the fields.

Plus, if by any chance work is cancelled tomorrow due to the weather, I’ll have some extra time to test the ice and the slopes. Not that my fingers are crossed or anything…

ETA: The weather gods and powers that be cooperated and work is closed! Woo-hoo!

What do you have planned for this weekend? Any outdoor activities or parties on the agenda? What’s the weather like at your house? Have you had a snow day yet this winter?

A better mousetrap

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Living on a farm means there’s critters both outside and inside. Outside, my philosophy is live and let live. Inside, I want two-legged creatures only.

However, the reality of country living is that every so often in the house we hear the pitter-patter of little feet… or more accurately the gnawing of little teeth.

I’m speaking, of course, of mice. (The snake and the toad were one-time visitors).

If there’s a mouse in my house, he is not long for this world.

Matt is the resident exterminator, and he has found a highly effective weapon: an electronic mouse trap.

Ours is made by Victor. Matt ordered it online, and we received the rat trap rather than the mouse trap, but it’s just as effective–probably moreso.

It runs on four C batteries. There’s a switch on the top that turns on the trap. One end is open for the mouse to enter. The other end is for the bait. Matt’s favourite is peanut butter.

As soon as the mouse enters the trap, the electricity kicks in and he receives the shock of his life–in fact, the last shock of his life.

If we’re within earshot, we hear a quiet buzzing for about half a minute. A green light on the top of the trap starts blinking when we have a victim.

Unlike other mousetraps, disposal is no-muss. Simply up-end the trap to dump the dead mouse into the garbage.

We’ve found it a very helpful solution to our occasional unwanted visitors.

Anyone else have an effective pest control solution? We have feline mousetraps too, but their assigned territories are outside, not in. What four-legged creatures do you have in your house?

Jack frost

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

The view from the sun room on a sunny frosty morning.

Within a few minutes, the frost had melted away under the warm beams of the sun and the windows were clear.

When I’m busy working, my eyes are always focused on the next thing I have to do. I’m glad I took a moment to look up and notice the pretty scene right in front of me.

Did you do any sight-seeing this weekend?

Ice capades

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Our January thaw from two weeks ago gave way to a deep freeze last week. The result was a thick covering of ice on the pond, and the result of that was skating!

We’ve been keeping an eye on the ice all winter, and it was finally thick enough for skating. We headed out with shovels to clear the snow from our own private rink.

Shoveling the ice made us realize how big the pond really is. Matt finally resorted to just clearing paths around and across the ice. Fortunately, the snow was thin enough that we could skate right through it.

Some coyotes had tested out the ice early in the morning.

Here’s Matt’s version of an action shot:

Matt’s skates hurt his feet, so we reenacted Rocky’s and Adrian’s first date, making a circuit of the ice arm in arm, Matt in his boots and me in my skates. By Sunday, though, he decided to give his skates a try, using the “learn-to-skate” technique of a chair for extra support.

If I’m being honest, the chair got more use as an actual chair, as the skates were still pretty uncomfortable.

Another warming trend is forecast for this week, and it may be awhile before we are able to skate again, so Matt’s feet have plenty of time to recover. Sore tootsies aside, we each still enjoyed checking off another new experience at the farm.

Did you have a new experience this weekend? Have you been out skating yet? Any tips for finding comfortable skates? Did you push a chair when you were learning to skate? For those non skaters out there, what animal tracks are you seeing at your place? For those that prefer indoor sports, who else is a Rocky fan?

Gobble gobble

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

At the top of Matt’s list of animals he most wants to see at the farm is wild turkeys. Well, we still haven’t seen any actual birds on our property, but over the Christmas holidays we found definitive proof that turkeys come to visit.

(The larger tracks walking diagonally in from the left side of the picture are Matt-tracks).

In the deep snow, I have to look pretty closely to identify the tracks as turkey. They walk one foot in front of the other, and, if they plant their foot properly, I’m sometimes able to pick out their distinctive three-toed print.

According to the tracks, 11 birds came through our farm. In some spots, you can see where their wings dragged as they were walking along.

While lefty has to deal with droopy wing syndrome, the guy to her right obviously has his own problems. My diagnosis is likely too much Christmas cheer.

Back in the marsh, where the ice was covered with only a thin dusting of snow, the tracks were unmistakably avian.

I wish I had thought to put something beside the tracks to show their scale. These are some big birds.

Since the thaw last weekend, we no longer have snow to help us with tracking. Matt’s fingers are crossed that the turkeys weren’t just passing through and instead are ready to become permanent residents. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for signs.

January thaw

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

A thick fog on Friday night made for a hazardous drive home, and heralded the arrival of warm weather. Saturday afternoon found us outside without jackets. Saturday evening as we walked down the driveway in the dark we could hear water flowing in the creek.

Where the creek enters the pond, the ice has nearly disappeared.

In the rest of the pond, the thin layer of ice that had formed on the surface has receded.

We’ll have to put off skating for another while yet.

To do: Relax

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

As sad as it may seem, I put “hike” on my holiday to-do list.

Yes, I have to actually make plans to relax.

However, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it might be.

Beginning on Christmas Eve, Matt and I ended up taking near daily walks across the fields and through the forest.

I snapped this shot back in the woods late one afternoon.

This is exactly why I wanted a large property.

I hope that you have a relaxing weekend.

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season. I will be back in the new year with more adventures in renovating and country living.

Thank you for reading. Merry Christmas.

Ready for hibernation… pretty much

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Nearly three months ago I published the list of fall chores that we needed to complete to be ready for winter. Well, winter officially arrives today. Are we ready?

~~Winterize exterior waterlines~~. Done.
~~Take off the window screens for cleaning and patching. — I have no excuse why this, one of the simplest tasks on the list, isn’t done. Maybe this weekend?~~
Update: Done! Closing early at work for the holidays meant I was home in the daylight. Popping off all of the screens, labeling them and carrying them down to the basement took all of 15 minutes.
~~Fix up some winter beds for the cats~~. Done.
Fix leak in basement foundation. — Matt adjusted the downspouts and put a sheet of plywood under the window to run water away from foundation, which seem to be working for now, but we will have to give this job some proper attention next year.

From the light above the window and the retaining wall half buried in the garden, you can see that this used to be a door, so we’re pretty sure this is the source of the water we see once in awhile in the laundry room.

~~Get rid of scrap metal~~. Done.
Organize driveshed so that we can ~~find the snow shovels~~ and park at least one car inside. — Matt has dug out the shovels, but the driveshed is still mostly in shambles.
Get rid of the woodstove and old chimney, which are also in the driveshed. — We thought we had a buyer, but he never showed to pick up the stove. Anyone want it?

This beauty is still for sale. Send offers to homeon129acres@hotmail.com.

Fit out the mudroom and ~~front hall closet~~. — Halfway done. The front hall closet is super functional now, but the only progress we made in the mudroom so far is adding two boot trays and moving the coats to the inside closet. I’m hoping to finish off this project over the Christmas break and will of course share posts in the new year.
~~Remove stakes from established trees~~ and stake the new trees that we planted this spring. — Halfway done.
~~Install the flag pole~~. Done.
Pull the fallen tree out of the pond. — A project for next year. If the pond does freeze this winter, we’ll still have plenty of room for skating and hockey. I guess a good thing about putting this job off for a few months is that I didn’t have to go swimming in November.
~~Buy snow tires for my car~~. Done.

Wiley got bling, and my poor little car lost hers. 😦

~~Put away the lawn furniture~~. Done.

Something else I should have put on the original list was learn how to count. I thought I had 14 tasks when I actually had only 13. Oops.

I also had two bonus “nice-to-dos,” one of which got some attention.

Install a bird feeder on the driveway turnaround. — Didn’t even try to do this.
~~Trim up some trees around the property~~. — We trimmed two trees, but we didn’t take down our sickly blue spruce or trim the very twisted willow tree at the pond.

Our other twisted willow before and after its haircut

Anyways, out of the original 13 and the two bonus, we can officially cross off 7 8… or 8 9 if you count the jobs that are half done. Not a great completion rate, I guess. But hey, the basement’s looking really good, and it will be a nice and cozy hang-out space this winter!

In addition, we did do a few extra tasks specifically for winter.

~~Winterize Wiley~~. Done.
~~Put the blanket on the bed~~. (Not really post or picture worthy.)
~~Get the outside lights working~~. Done.
~~Dig out the snow fence~~, although we haven’t decided if we actually need to put it up yet.

A few rolls of snow fence were buried in the long grass of the field behind the barn, and Wiley helped us dig them out.

I met our local councilor a few weeks ago, and he told me that I’m not a true rural resident until I’ve made it through a winter. I like winter, so I’m actually looking forward to a snowy season of hiking and skating and staying cozy in the house. My fingers are crossed that we’re prepared enough to be able to enjoy it without too much hardship.

Wiley gets blinged out

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Remember how I said Wiley likes to accessorize? Well, our little tractor is in heaven with a brand new bauble that arrived last week. And it’s a big one.

Subtle is not in Wiley’s vocabulary.

In case anyone doesn’t know what they’re looking at here, this is our new snowblower.

The sales rep from our tractor dealership goes for the first test drive (normally we will not be blowing 2 inches of snow)

Over the weekend, we got Wiley all set for winter, disconnecting the mower and hooking up the blower.

The mower deck has been scraped and scrubbed and tucked away for the season.

We even broke out our new grease gun and lubed up all of the fittings. Wiley’s affection for accessories became even clearer when he grabbed onto the grease gun and wouldn’t let go. After wiggling and jiggling and yanking Matt and I were starting to envision plowing snow with the gun dangling from the side of the tractor. However, through a combination of vice grips and pliers Matt was able to detach the gun from the fitting.

Sorry, Wiley, but sometimes less is more.