Tuesday February 16, 2021

We got a little snow that began Monday night the 15th and continued until mid day Tues the 16th. Ya know ya got the BIG snow when nobody in your family knows HOW MUCH snow really fell. We are gonna round it off to say a foot. Easily. (Toledo recorded 14.5 inches)

The wind made for rather treacherous driving conditions. Bob and Brad went to the home farm to bring the dump truck with blade and the backhoe to CR 34 on Monday evening. They returned about 3 hours later. The dump truck brakes would not build air pressure. Bob took the truck in the barn and worked for about 90 minutes on this problem. The barn with no windows. He reported that opening that door at 10 pm was one of the bigger surprises of his life! Heavy snow fall mixed with high winds had turned to near blizzard conditions later in the evening. Brad had been using the back hoe to clean up the barnyard and was nearly out of sight. 

They tag teamed the 3 mile trip back towards their warm beds. Brad drove off of the south side of CR 32 near the Albright cemetery..just not realizing where the road was .....but pretty clear where the ditch drop off was!  He managed to get himself out after some fancy maneuvers. 

Bob did the exact same thing in neighbor Leslie's front yard. Brad was able to pull him out. 

 Most of the world was shut down the night before so everyone slowly dug themselves out on Tuesday. Brad and Bob both really enjoy plowing snow. Brad is thinking he might make putting a door on the backhoe a priority for summer. The AC was a little much for him.

Everyone worked from home Tuesday needless to say. Evan stayed on CR 32 to work and feed the sheep in the early am. 

We had a 2 day break...and in came another few inches. We now have a nice snow pack in the woods (remember we had a nice pack prior to this week!!!) .....that should make for some good exercise and keep the roots cool for another week or so. 

The down time this week has focused on  getting extra lids and tubing ready for tapping and applying lights to WALLE. 

Everyone in our family has an off farm job. So collecting sap is a race on weeknights against the sun. Sunset is likely no different during syrup season....but it seems to sink to blackness in just moments.It is hard enough to walk without tripping in the snow and mud....add in the darkness and you are just pining for an ER visit. So after a couple of particularly late adventures the last few years.....the 20 somethings ordered new lights for Walle. Brad believes these have enough lumens to light up a football field and likely will not be appreciated as they will blind volunteers. Time will tell. More to come on that I am sure. 

Bob is learning to weld plastic in an effort to reinforce our plastic lids/tubing. Brad has had a lot of thoughts/rants on this use of time and money. None of them appropriate to share in our family blog. More to come on that I am sure. 😂 Martha the cat was Bob' s only helper.

Hey Marc Slingwine...your adorable snowman has a broken arm. You do house calls?

More after some MELT!!