We got some.  It’s hard to say how much because of all the drifting, but it’s substantial.  The plow came this morning and nicely cleared one side of our driveway right to the garage door.  I shoveled away the rest and made a little path from the deck to the garage door.  There’s a drift against the barn door up past my waist.

The wood boiler is doing great.  The key is to keep it really full.

The chickens are as warm as can be expected, and they’re still laying!  We have to collect eggs as early as possible in the morning and then throughout the day, or they freeze and explode.

Last night I took my Phazer out and carved up the back yard!  It was awesome.  It blew so much overnight that I can’t even see my tracks.  I put it, my Indy, and Delia’s Kitty Cat in the garage to get them ready for the season.  The trails aren’t groomed yet, but will be soon.  I MAY try to go out a little on Thursday, but I doubt I’ll have time before we leave.

According to AccuWeather, we’re going to get 12-18 inches of snow in the next 24-36 hours, with “life-threatening” cold temperatures to follow.  Today, Abigail came and we took the opportunity while Henry napped to go out and enjoy the warmish (20 degree) weather and get ready for the storm.

Ryan cut wood and stacked it close to the wood boiler.  The wood boiler seems to be going really well the past day or two, staying up to temperature and burning well and efficiently.  Ryan split some of the bigger logs, and it is much easier to get the boiler full when we can put in littler pieces around the bigger ones

Ryan shoveled the snow off the trampoline and he and I carried it into the barn.  It will be fun to use it in there during the winter!  And it’s much better to keep it in there so it won’t get piled with snow and ice.

We closed both barn doors to keep snow out of the barn.  Ryan started up his sled for the first time, and rode it around a bit and put it in the garage so he can get it ready for the season.

Next time we go out to fill the boiler, we’ll bring the generator into the house so it’s right there in case we need it.  I’m hoping just a TINY bit that the power goes out so we actually get to test out the generator setup…

This is just for record keeping purposes.

We got a partial propae fill this morning, which puts us just under 60%.

The blower on the wood boiler failed this morning, but I got it working again.  We’ll see how long it lasts.

If you don’t have our current address, it is:

8008 Norby Rd
Embarrass MN  55732

(We are working on Christmas cards too!)

We got some new firewood this week and we’ve had a hard time burning it.  It’s not the dryest wood in the world, and I figured that was why, but yesterday and today I couldn’t even keep a fire going for more than a minute after I closed the door, even with the blower on.  After some checking, and burned hair, I found that the flapper door on the blower wasn’t opening.  Some little chunks of burned wood had fallen down in there and were holding it open.  I took the whole thing off and vacuumed it out, and now we’re back in business.  I’m glad I found that because I was about to call and complain about the wood!