Or as the distinguished Congresswoman from home state of Minnesota might say. “What Winter Hath Wrought, Eleven.”
Once things finally melted off from this past Snowzilla, I discovered another severe after-effect.
The stone foundation walls leading to the underground root cellar were pretty much wrecked by the ice-rain-sleet-rain deep freeze in late January. After more than a hundred years of being in place the base rocks were literally pushed out of place by the block of ice accumulating behind it. Yikes.
I’m hoping my brother is feeling strong as I plan to excavate and reinstall several hundred pounds of rock wall during his scheduled fall visit. It can’t be all firewood fun and games.
About once a month I get together with a small group of local friends primarily to talk about living in the hinterboonies and all the topics adjacent to homesteading. Lately the topic of communication has been prominent as we’ve been talking about using small walkie-talkie type tools to keep in touch in the event of the phone or power systems going down (not a crazy paranoia out here where one or the other goes out occasionally). Last week I talked about my six decades of experience listening. In that arena I’ve found listening to AM and shortwave to be useful and entertaining. Here is what I talked about, in part. I figured there had to be one or two of you interested in this topic. If I’m wrong? The sun will still come up tomorrow morning.
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If there are regional power/internet outages -– we have experienced week-long outages in both Maryland and here in Virginia, and getting news was nearly impossible – alternatives for knowing what is going on are useful. I have found that AM and Shortwave radio listening are really useful for that task. Most stereo systems have dreadful AM receivers and are not useful tools for AM listening. Instead I have tried out dozens of units over the decades and hands-down the best performance/best value are the portable radios based on the GE SupeRadio platform. Obviously GE started the platform as a consumer product but many, many other companies followed suit, either borrowing, licensing, or stealing the design and technology. I’ve seen many new models on the marketplace that look similar but have not tried them out. I would suggest looking ebayto find a gently used one or even occasionally a new-old-stock version, prices ranging from $15-75. I bought mine for about $20 back in the mezozoic era. They are still so cheap and available I honestly would not bother with anything else.
These models have good long internal AM ferrite rod antennae, and analog tuning.
A critical additional accessory is an inductive antenna, a/k/a an external tunable loop AM antenna. These devices are set adjacent to the radio, usually perpendicular to the unit, and increase the sensitivity by up to a hundred-fold by adjusting the potential of the copper wire loop with a rheostat, “tuning” the antenna to the station on the radio. They operate much like a magnifying glass for visible light, but only in the much longer RF electromagnetic frequencies. Just as a magnifying glass amplifies and focuses light, the tunable loop antenna focuses radio waves onto the internal antenna of the radio.
The loop antenna I showed was one of several I bought from Radio Shack 40-50 years ago for about $20 IIRC. I have not seen another one like it for at least 30 years. The only loop antennas I know still on the market are made by Grundigand certainly would work just fine. I’ve never looked to see how available they are. The Grundig tunable loop antenna is based on an earlier design called the Terk, a version of which is currently on the Walmart site for $45. The Cadillac of tunable loop antennas is called the Select-A-Tenna, of which I have two. I have not seen one of these since forever. Mine cost about $80 each new, and I still find them from time to time on ebay.
I cannot overemphasize the necessity for these inductive tunable loop antennas. They can make a pocket transistor radio pull in stations from unbelievable distances. Even at dusk during our meeting I was able to use my $20 radio and $20 antenna to easily pull in signals from St. Louis, Chicago and Detroit. In the middle of the night you can occasionally get stations from Canada all the way to South America.
This is an inexpensive and high-performance way to get information from a great distance away. The utility of that should be self evident.
The other radio platform I used was a shortwave receiver-only unit. This is where some real money can be spent. My experience has shown that the best quality/value brands are Sony, Sangean, and Grundig. They are not cheap, the one I showed you was probably $300 in 1980. I cannot remember if I brought my Sony 2002 or 7600 model. The Sangean 909 I showed you was bought at Radio Shack for about $200 way back then. A long lost treasure was my Sony 2010 monster portable multiband radio. Its motherboard got fried way back when. (CME? Hmmmm.) A $750 radio down the hole. It had digital tuning and I could even pick up signals from the eastern slope of the Rockies with that baby combined with a loop antenna.
Both the Sony and Sangean portable multiband radios I’ve normally used were digital tuners, many times programmable with station memories.
Very good deals on portable shortwave radios, usually referred to as “portable multiband radio” are available at ebay. I just saw one identical to my Sony 2002 (but in black rather than silver) for about $25 over there. I see a lot of similar-looking radios on the Walmart website but usually do not recognize the maker. If you know what to look for high-quality vintage radios are out there in great quantities, hundredson ebay right now.
As with standard AM radios, an antenna accessory is critical to the performance of a portable shortwave. You gotta, gotta, gotta have a wire reel or spool antenna that can be used in concert with the retractable FM antenna on the unit. I recall mine being about $7 from Radio Shack. CCraneradio has them for about $15, Amazon has a Sangean model for about $30.
Fix the wire antenna fitting to the extension antenna on the radio, then get the wire as high as you can while running as much as you can horizontally.
And don’t forget batteries. I buy lots of them, they last for a decade or two in cool, dry storage conditions. Rechargeable batteries are also an excellent option, I’ve found the Energizer brand to be excellent. You can get 110v plug in chargers but you should also have some off-grid charging capacity.
We’re now in the middle of asparagus season. Yummmmm.
That is all.
PS My favorite asparagus treat” freshly picked asparagus, steamed and still hot, laid over a spread of Gulden’s mustard on a piece of still-warm sourdough bread toast, topped with a slice of muenster cheese melted over the asparagus.
Last week I finally wrapped up processing all the windfall I’d harvested several weeks ago. The bounty was impressive, the cribs are three rows deep. The pile on the ground near the splitter are all the wonky pieces I will use next winter in the barn wood stove. The haul *should” get us through next winter when combined with the leftover wood still in the cabin firewood crib, but the harvesting and processing will continue through the summer and fall. When you heat with firewood, you can never have too much.
I am finding that in my 70s I am working just as hard and almost as long as ever but only manage to get about half as much done as I used to. After moving a pickup load of mulch for Mrs. Barn this morning, I popped up to continue building the firewood inventory for next winter and beyond. Currently I am working my way through the pile of approximately 300-pound cherry bolts, which must be handled with great care as I am not even remotely interested in experiencing a broken leg.
I roll them to the bottom of the ramp then cautiously navigate the way up until it plunks down to the bed of the splitter with a WHAM! I thought about raising the splitter upright but decided that wouldn’t really work any better. I quarter the bolts then move three of those aside (I can handle those at about 75 pounds’ apiece), splitting the remaining quarter into nine full sized pieces of firewood, then repeat the process for the other three.
Once I get done with the last of these it will be time to head back up into the woods to begin processing more windfall. I’m pretty sure we’ve got next winter covered (quite a bit left from this recent brutal winter), but you can never have too much firewood when you live in the mountains and it is your main heat source.
Not especially romantic or blog worthy, but it is a central theme for this time of year. Along with hauling mulch, of course. I’ll resume again in the fall when my brother returns for a visit.
With a break in the brutal winter weather I got myself up into the woods to chop up that grove of black birch trees that came down last winter. The amount of firewood from this one incident of windfall is about what we should need next winter, but even when done here I’ll keep at it. It’s fun and good exercise.
The work site was quite the mess so I spent most of the first day just clearing brush, then got to work chopping my way up the trunks. I got two good truck loads of 6-8″ 16-inch bolts with the occasional 10-12″ piece, but those were almost outside my lifting ability. I followed those two loads with two more today.
Once I get to the biggest section of this tree, about 20 feet from the root ball, the pieces will be 20-inches in diameter or more. Those will be so heavy I will have to roll them to the tailgate and up the ramp into the truck. If past experience is any indicator each one of the biggest sections will yield 32 pieces of firewood that are manageable in size.
Another couple days and another couple truckloads and I will be done with harvesting from this site. Then on to splitting and stacking. I’ll use a system new to me I’m adapting from Mike Wilson, whose yootoob channel is one of my favorites. Previously I just spent way too much time stacking carefully to make everything “just so,” crisscrossing each layer for good stability and air flow. This new system should cut my time by at least half with even better air flow.
Then on to harvesting some more windfall elsewhere on the homestead.
Good thing my little 4WD S10 is strong and nimble. It may be dissolving before my eyes and maybe not reliable for long trips anymore but I’ll keep it until it runs no more
Now about a month out from our weather episode that brought three inches of snow, three inches of sleet, a half inch of rain, and another two inches of snow, we are starting to see some ground again.
These two picture were taken from the same spot, just turned 180-degrees. South facing slope? Grass! North facing slope? Glacier.
Every winter brings about some damage to the waterline for the hydroelectric turbine, a/k/a the penstock. Usually this is because a tree branch has fallen on some of the 1100′ of 2-inch Schedule 40 PVC, which is cheap but gets reallybrittle when cold. I knew from the very beginning that replacing some of the PVC every Spring would be an issue but just accepted it as the cost of doing business. Last year was great, I had to replace and patch only two little sections. 2015 was the worst as I had to replace 600-feet of pipe.
Except for the last thirty feet all of the penstock is above ground. I did originally get an estimate to burying the entire penstock well below the frost line, but the >$75k+ price tag was a bit much. My hydroelectric system is more of a hobby than anything else, at least until the EMP or CME or some other grid-down calamity, so that wasn’t in the cards.
A shredded section of the penstock just before the ice storm.
This damage was peculiar because it was a compound spiral fracture which is only supposed to happen as a result of water freezing in the pipe and bursting it. Since I drained the system in November this damage was a head-scratcher. I am not looking forward to surveying the entire length of pipe once the snow and ice are gone.
I am now rethinking the penstock altogether. Rather than sticking with PVC I am going to check into industrial irrigation polypropylene line which is continuous and much more forgiving to the forces that bust the PVC. Since a pressurized/enclosed water line can run down to about -15 degrees maybe I could even keep it running year-round.
In the aftermath of the snow/sleet/freezing rain/ice/snow adventure of last Sunday you could definitely say we were disheartened at the sight of the collapsed greenhouse. The broken internal structure was clearly evident, in one place the end of the snapped off arched beam had poked through the plastic skin. Mrs. Barn rightly insisted on clearing off the ton of ice to assess the damage and get a plan for the reconstruction.
One thing we did not want to do was wail away at the shell and damage the skin even more than it was already. Finding the right tool was a conundrum. She tried with one of her gardening tools but it was a poor fit for the problem, plus she was too short to get up high enough to get much done. I’m taller and with my spiked boots I could get up on the snow/ice dam along the edge of the building. And fortunately I had just the right tool.
Many years ago my woodworking pal TomS gave me my favorite walking stick, about shoulder length with a bulbous knot near the top. Since the knot was gentle in shape I could stand and whack the ice until it broke up without risking more damage to the plastic skin. After about an hour of careful work the last of the ice slabs slipped off and the arched structure popped back to its original shape. Hallelujah! You can see that slab leaning up against the greenhouse, it was about six square feet of four-inch-thick ice/snow composite. It is several hundred pounds. So even though we have not seen each other in more than a decade, TomS saved the day!
I found just a couple of punctures to the plastic skin and repaired them straightaway. I still have to build four new laminated arches, but the necessary repair is much less than anticipated. I’ll get to work on the repairs as soon as we get a bit more warming.
I just checked and the outside temp is 16 and inside the greenhouse it’s nearly 60.
PS. Here’s a glimpse of what we were dealing with. We estimate it would have taken a month to clear the six inch thick ice slab on driveway with a pickaxe and shovel. It was brutal work for us septuagenarians. Thank goodness for hearty mountain men willing to work all night long in frigid temps with their monster machines. It was well after 10pm when we finally got to the top of the list. They finished with us and moved on to the next name on the list.
PPS A fellow at church told me he had seen some of the Amish kids skating in a field. Who needs a pond or rink? We certainly could not navigate our place without snow cleats.
When I built the greenhouse last year I was determined to overbuild it. As the evidence indicates, I was wrong in my assumptions and execution of what I thought overbuilding was, The center laminated arch just snapped this week under the weight of the snow, sleet and frozen rain. A pretty substantial rebuild must occur before next winter, building bigger (and more) laminated arches. In addition to replacing the destroyed center arch I will build two more inside the greenhouse and one in the outer workspace on the far end of the structure. I’ll make them each 1-1/2″ x 3″ rather than 1-1/4″ x 2″. That calculates to a four-fold increased strength. I don’t know yet whether the plastic skin can be salvaged. Part of me was pleased to see the laminations remained intact, just the weight and the wind literally snapped the center arch.
Also, if I was so inclined and equipped, I could absolutely ice skate down the driveway. (I left my ice hockey days behind me many, many decades ago)
One thing I was very pleased about was the performance of my spiked-sole lumberjack boots. They made traipsing around the icy landscape a breeze. I was absolutely right to buy these a couple years ago. I was only expecting to use them when harvesting firewood on sloped ground, but they sure did the trick here.
UPDATE
The plowing crew finally came at 10.15 last night to dig us out. They brought three big machines. The first was a V-wedge icebreaker to bust everything up, the second was an 8-foot plow blade, the third was a 6-foot blade to make everything purdy. Was great to look out this morning and actually see the driveway, we can now get out after four days of being icebound. Free at last, free at last!
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