December 30, 2021 This morning it is still dark and cloudy but 30°. It snowed another inch last night. Jen came down to say goodbye.AJ came down to use a four wheeler. Then we went to the new shed to continue “boarding” (adding boards to finish the walls). Then I was off to Bangor for my flight home. Here in Bangor it is 28° and snowing.
Susan made breakfast!!!Sign at the shop.Al, AJ and the window.The finished wall with the window.Michael sent along this photo of the wood processer and the Uni.Look out for the moose (not my photo!!)Mallard Ducks on a river on the way to Bangor,Snow on the drive down to town.My rental in the middle, Al had cleaned all the snow off of it yesterday.‘Al’s favorite wild animal, the Gray Squirrel.
Today the temperature went up to 37°, the snow is just right for a snowball fight, or a snowman, but….after I went out to make a snowman, the sun went behind the clouds and the snow froze up solid. I did build a small snowman though by using snow that fell off of the roof.
Not a snow “man”, a snow “dwarf”.Al and I drove down to get the mail when Al saw this Barred Owl fly across the road! He is sitting on the stub of a branch looking around. Luckily he stayed still long enough for me to get this beautiful photo.Michael brought over this Club Car that he had purchased. We spent the day getting it going. We took apart the fuel pump, changed the oil and filter, straightened the front bumper, and repaired the tailgate of the dump body.The 300cc Kawasaki engine.The electrical switching box.It has a roof – the dump is up in this photo.The sun came out for a few hours today! Mike and one dog walking down to the house for lunch.You can see the mountains to the left of the house.Mountains on the horizon.
Tuesday December 28, 2021, a heat wave 28°! Still snowing off and on, solid clouds, no wind.
A video of the wood processer in action is at the following link: https://youtu.be/Ts9m3kEBzJ4 We spent the day today offloading the wood processor and getting it going. We got a load done and took it over to Michael’s camp.
Eight family and seven dogs, AJ, Jen, Al, Sue, Mike, Becky, Cloe, and Molly.AJ’s two wheel drive Rokon.AJ’s Rokon Trail Breaker.AJ’s four wheel drive Unimog by Mercedes Benz, AJ’s head is 8 feet off the ground when driving it!Mike and AJ reattaching the wood processor to the Toyota Tundra 4 wheel drive.Tractor and Tundra pulling the wood processor up the driveway.The Unimog lifted the wood processor off the trailer and then set it into place.Some of the crew and four of the seven dogs.The Unimog has a very powerful three point lift to pick up the 2 ton wood processor!Al loading the logs onto the trailer.Al moving the logs from the trailer to the wood processor.AJ at the controls, Susan looking on. The wood is to be loaded onto the Kubota dump truck.Connected the PTO of the tractor to the wood processor.The business end of the wood processor.Mike getting ready to process the logs.Al operating the processor, the processor advances the log, cuts a length off, then spits it and conveys the split firewood to the truck.The resultant firewood which started out as a log!
Yesterday AJ and Mike drove to Connecticut to pick up the wood processer. They arrived back home at 10 PM. The girls decided that they would slide down the driveway to meet them! 19° and I could see a few stars through the clouds. [it is, as I write this, snowing like crazy!!]
Molly and Chloe getting on their sleds at the top of the driveway.Ready, and off they went.The driveway.Coming back for a second run.Down at the end of the run, Al waiting. The burn pile is in the upper right. Al piles wood, pallets, anything that burns into a pile here. Then on New Years they have a huge bonfire.Molly filmed their descent, she tried to send it to me but it was too large.The guys arrived with the beast. This is the bed where you place a log.The log goes in on the left, the machine has a circular saw that cuts it to the fireplace length (control levers in the middle), the the splitter makes the firewood, then the conveyor on the right carries the cut and split wood to the truck or pile, ready to stack.The log enters here where the conveyor belt advances it to the saw.Some of the belts. AL and Al in the orange hat.The PTO (power take off) where you attach a tractor to power the machine. AJ, Mike to right.AJ and the conveyor for the split wood.The log advances through the hole, the yellow hexagon is a hydraulic ram that forces the wood through a grid (called the wedge) to split the wood to the sizes you want (6 or 8 sticks) .The girls decided to have the truck pull them up the hill to the house.Off they go.Sue and Al’s sugar shack.Oak tree – the specks are snow – it is starting to snow.
Photos from Jen:
New Years bonfire last year. Note the people on the right for scale.Sue (left), Al, AJ on right boiling down the sap to make maple Syrup.Sue and Al on the sled (towed by the Kubota with tracks on it) they use to get six people out into the woods to collect the maple sap. The Kubota has a 65 gallon tank on the back and they pack down the 22 inches of snow to get to the trees.A family affair building a storage building (driving all wood pegs, no metal).
Monday, December 27, 2021, cloudy, some snow, no wind, 25°.
Susan out cleaning the snow off of the solar panels.No sun, but the snow has slacked off. Time to see if the solar panels can produce anything.Cloe and Molly are putting together the puzzle I had made for them.Blue Jay at the feeder.Blue JayFemale Downy WoodpeckerFemale Downy WoodpeckerFemale Downy WoodpeckerMale Downy WoodpeckerMale Downey Woodpecker.
Sunday December 26, 2021, Cloudy, snowing, no wind, 25°.
I had forgotten to include this photo of the dash as I got here on the 23rd.A Chickadee at the feeder.Beautiful feathers on the Chickadee.A bird’s nest, abandoned for the winter.Snow coming off of the roof, mountains in the distance, and a corner of their solar panels.Solar panels on a gimbal, covered with snow. No sun today, so Sue said we will clear the snow when the sun comes out.Apple trees on the front lawn.Original solar panels, lower set covered with snow. Apple trees.Sue and Al’s maple sugar shack down below the house – they make 25 to 30 gallons of maple syrup every spring!- 1500 gallons of sap has to be boiled down — lots and lots of of cords of firewood! Al cuts trees that are down and trees not good for heating for the wood. Sue and Al work hard in the forest to put the spiles in the 200 maple trees, wash and hang the buckets. Then collect the buckets and transport the sap to the house to boil it down. Then they fill the jugs! Sometimes they boil some down and pour it onto clean snow – it is like taffy! They distribute the syrup to family and friends.An oak tree by the driveway.Me shoveling snow to clear the path to the house, Al plowed the driveways. At 4 PM it is solid dark!
Merry Christmas from Vermont
Saturday December 25, 2921, Cloudy, SNOWING, no wind, CHRISTMAS
Snow overhanging the eves.A gray squirrel in the feeder Al built for them.The equipment needed for solar to house current.$12,000 worth of batteries.Susan making chocolates, she made 35 pounds of chocolates, plus maple sugar candies (70 pounds in all including maple candies).Sue’s son AJ and Jen.Cars as we woke up this morning before it snowed.Just enough firewood for one day to heat their home. Furnace and hot water copper pipes that bring the heat upstairs. They go through 15 cords a year (for Sue, AJ and others) which Al cuts (and manually splits) on the 1 square mile of forest around them.
Friday, December 24, 2021, Sunny (but the sun goes behind the mountain about 2:30 PM so at 4 PM it is mostly dark), about 4°F (it was -5°F last night), no wind, snow crunches underfoot. Christmas Eve!
Country dirt road on the way to Susan and Al’s place.Sue and Al’s solar powered home they have been in for 31 years.Barn, two black labs, and truck with snowplow, sawmill in background.Al’s sawmill where he can saw up a 3 foot log into boards..AJ built this storage shed, he only uses wood pegs and notches where needed to build buildings. Susan in foreground.Built from wood cut on their land, cut up with Al’s sawmill.Susan trimming some fir trees for a decoration.The decoration Susan made.Susan’s other decoration.
10-12-2021 Vermont, 71°, busy last night and this morning getting ready for concrete truck to come to fill tubes for new porch on Mike’s cabin.
Molly driving the tractor (Bucket on right, backhoe on rear).Mike and Chloe Working in the holes for the foundation.Al loading earth into holes with Sono tubes for the concrete.Concrete truck arrives.Placing the concrete mix into the tubes.Molly and Chloe making sure the mix goes into the tube and I am feeding it to them.Mike smoothing the tops and inserting the bolt that the porch will be fastened to.Girls making sure mix goes into the tube and me shoveling it at a rate that it not too fast.Excess concrete mix – I used a bit of it to make a brick to replace the missing brick in the fire pit.Al, Susan, Molly, Chloe, Mike and me (behind the camera), crew making the foundation. AJ worked last night but he had work today.Susan brought us breakfast!Resting after the truck left – around the new fire pit.Sue and Al…the black spot on the top ring is what I made a replacement for out of the excess concrete.
10-11-2021 Up in Vermont at my sister Susan’s, 75° out right now! I was looking at her photos of bears, dear, and other wildlife that come up on their front lawn, when Sue said to look out the living room windows…here is what I saw:
The white square is a bird house – eastern bluebirds came to visit.Down over their lawn.Lower right is a corner of their solar panels, the only have solar, there are NO powerlines out this far, so they rely on solar! Batteries today are 96.8% charged and 26 volts. They have six huge batteries that power the whole house.Looking more out over Stone mountain.Mountain and maple sugar house in the lower right.Stunning view of all the colored leaves.Mountain range in the background.Birch, sugar maple, and maples.Reds are maple trees.Reds and yellows.Another of the sugar camp!!
