On Tuesday of this week Me and Willie took our snowmachines up river to the Post Office. There is very little snow on the Ice so I Had made some Stainless Steel "Ice Scratchers" for my snowmachine. These are just two inch wide pieces of metal bent toward the ground with a point on the end that literally scratch the ice and cause the ice dust to blow under the snowmachine to cool the track and the radiator. It worked fairly well, I only over heated the machine once, and I just bent them back down so they pushed harder on the ice. It works for a temporary solution until I can buy some real spring loaded ones.
Anyhow, Willie and I went to the post office and picked up mail for ourselves and the two lodges on our little forest Island. We brought back about 100 lbs of mail, No Kidding. It had been over a month since anyone had boated, flown or be able to get mail.
The condition of the ice on the river was getting pretty good. We did go over two spots that made me uncomfortable. I was in back so I just stayed far enough back that if Willie sank, I was not going with him. He has many years on the river and it was good to be able to follow him.
While we were at the post office Many other people showed up from all over the area. It truly was the first "safe" travel day for the Ice. A few of us have made plans to go to town next week for the first time "snow dependant". No one will travel that far with no snow, it will just tear up the machines.
Good News, It's snowing hard right now and the forecast is for 14" to 22" in the next twenty four hours. It looks like the town trip will be able to happen.
We just ran out of Propane for the refrigerator. We have been using 20 and 30 lb bottles for the fridge and a 100 pound er for the stove and water heater. the big bottle sits outside and the small bottles sit on the back porch for the fridge. we have 3ea 20lb and 2 ea 30lb and we went thru them all. I did the math on generator run time (for the amperage consumed) vs propane consumption and it is still cheaper to use propane than it is to haul and use gas for the generator, for running the refrigerator. I have put things in a cooler and put it on the back porch right next to the cabin wall. Hopefully it won't freeze.
The temperature has gone up over night and this morning with this snow storm. It is now +1 degree outside. It has been about -18 to -20 below at night and -10 during the day for a few days now. The cabin has stayed very toasty and I have no complaints about the cold. Myra has had to learn how to stay warm in the Lodge across the way. The lodge is drafty and uses only fuel oil heaters and it is very un comfortable if you are just sitting still. It is a beautiful place and I am sure the heat could be turned up enough to compensate if guest were there but can't justify the heat bill above 68 degrees for one or two non paying people.
I have been working on Cabin "Interior" repairs and alterations for a few days now. I have relocated some built in shelves and re-sided about 20' of interior wall surface with plank wood. this is where built in items were removed and we put in the new back door and water heater etc. It is starting to look decent in here, but always more work to do. I have my "Saw Shop" set up on the back porch for cutting all of the siding planks and trim. When it was 15 below outside it was 10 below on the porch. I was out there cutting wood in tennis shoes, jeans and a tee shirt. some times 5 or 6 pieces cut at a time so out there for several minute stretches. It is amazing how the human body can get used to this.
Sorry, No Pictures this time. I have got to go do snow prep work "getting ready for 14" to 22" of snow" which entails Gassing generators early, digging out the trail groomer, cleaning off the ice from roofs where I can and getting plenty of wood on the back porch. Then while it is snowing this hard, every 4" inches or so I need to go run the trails and keep them packed down so I don't have to go "Waller" thru deep powder on narrow trails thru the woods. That could make for a bad experience with a tree.
Talk to you Soon,
Thanks for being Here with us!
Roger
UP DATE: I just came back to the cabin from North Woods Lodge. I left there about 11:00pm. It took me nearly an hour to go 2 1/2 miles. I had to keep stopping to clear snow from hood and headlight so I could see. Then I had to stop and dig out from under a tree that has fallen across the trail. I went under it earlier today but it has snowed so much it was over half way down the windshield tonight. We have gotten over 18" of powder snow since about 10:00 this morning. It was a challenging ride thru the woods, just what I typed about this morning and it got ahead of me. Another lesson!
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