Well, that storm ended messy. It dumped snow during the night then yesterday morning the storm got blown out of the region but as it left it dropped a heap of rain atop the fresh wet heavy snow.
It was 3.5" at least as it had compacted some by the time I got to the measuring deck.
The boys had a 2 hour late start thanks to the mess of a storm so I let them sleep late. Once the rain stopped I got the gauge from the deck and melted the snow down. Turned out to be .7" of water from that storm.
The winds were blowing hard from dawn till after dark but the temperature was quit warm. In the greenhouse it was about 42F at 8:30am.
Nicely the clouds moved off for much of the morning and gave us a little bit of sunlight which was good since the gate battery needed to be recharged by the solar panel.
After @stryeyz left for work the gate stayed open since the battery was low which I didn't notice until I was out and about the farm. I got the boys to school and when I drove back in the driveway the gate was closed. It apparently had enough sunlight in that time to get a charge.
I went to check on the gate and when I moved it I noticed the bracket had come loose that holds the opener to the gate. I had a U-bolt installed but the U part had cut into the metal of the gate and loosened. I found a couple of nice 3/8"x3" bolts with nice fat washers that I installed instead. It is WAY stronger now and won't hurt the tubing of the gate anymore.
The boys had a short day at school with the late start though pickup was normal time. Once back I hooked the trailer up for the grain run I have done this morning already.
R made sure to take advantage of the good snow to make himself a HUGE snowball. He started at the top by the hot tub and he managed to roll it all the way to the bottom and once down it was 3/4 as tall as him.
I wish I had been recording when he pushed the snowball down between the trees it rolled towards another large snowball he had made and he ran and jumped between them and got squished by the huge snowball. It bounced off him and rolled down the hill. He jumped up just fine while I waited for the potential cry. He laughed and kept building.
The Kraken came on at 4pm, THANKFULLY since they are playing on the road east coast. While the game was on I spent time making another batch of tortillas with the ingredients for this batch being:
1 c pea protein
5 c flour
2 tsp salt
2 tbl baking powder
1 tbl coco cream pwdr
1/3 c oil
1/4 c honey
2+c hot water
I'm finding the honey adds to the finished consistency and makes them softer for longer. Divide the dough and toss back in bowl and cover to keep dough moist.
Press out 3 at a time as that is what will fit on the griddle.
The griddle is set to high until about 3/4 of the way through when I turn it down to 8 or 9 to slow the speed of cooking a bit so they don't get quite so dark.
It was 4:15pm when I started and just before 5pm when I was finished. My time is coming down a bit as it's taken me an hour a lot of times.
I made dinner and we finished the game where the Kraken won handily and have a 5-0 record against Buffalo all time. They are on a 2 week road game stretch so many of their games should be on earlier. I'm not a fan of the 7pm PST starts.
It took us a bit to get out to soak and I HAVE TO remember to top it off today before the arctic blast hits us. The hose is a mf'r when it freezes.
I switched out the thermo switch that is broken with a timer on the heat lamp in the greenhouse. It came on at dark and stays on overnight until light. The greenhouse looks KILLER lit up like this. I'll be out in a bit to see what the temp is since it is over freezing ambient. The coming arctic blast will mean I will want the light on 24/7 for the next week or so and I'm really hoping with the 3 heaters it will be enough to keep the soil from freezing.
This is what's coming for us. They just updated tomorrow night to have a -17F windchill. 6F high for Saturday when we have the Deer Park Winterfest 1 mile race at 8:30am.
I have been to town this morning already for grain and got part of it dealt with as I had dumped the partial barrel on the trailer and loaded the full barrel in the truck. I shoveled the trailer off into the sheep pen as soon as I got home that way I could take the trailer off to make school drop off easier.
Today I will get the boys to school and picked up this afternoon, empty the grain barrel, check on greenhouse, top off hot tub, shovel and clear snow in areas before the cold, cleanup the patio area, cobble something together for dinner this evening, and double check everything is ready for the frigid blast.
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