One thing about a good snowstorm is that things are so nice and clean afterwards

 The trees that did not lose their leaves are very heavy and nasty to brush against. I had to shake our Mayberry,  apple and other trees because the branches were right at the break point. The raspberry bushes were flattened.

 It's tough going through the denser part of the Acreage.

 This gives you an idea of how sticky the snow was.

 The horses have been using the old road quite a bit looking for food. Alas, there is none, and winter feeding has started.

 Boots doesn't seem to mind the snow, except that Brooklyn appears to have taken over his dog house. Hopefull, they will learn to share, or I will have to add an addition.

It was fortunate that the onions were drying in the garage out of the snow and -7C (19.4F) temperature. Half are now safely stored in the pantry. The other half will likely be given away.

All in all, not a bad day!

Digging Out and Freezing

Winter hit with a bang on Saturday with a 6 inch snowfall (15 cm) and a dive in temperature. Our unseasonable period seems to be over. For the next two weeks highs are expected to be -26C and lows  in the -31C range. With the winds that we can expect we will likely see wind chill factors in the -40 to -45C range(-40 to -48F).

The offer made last year to trade Acreages in February with someone in the deep south is still open. Any takers?

I include a couple of shots of the place. The pictures are nice, but don't show the cold. One good thing is the horses aren't slipping on the ice anymore, and are a lot happier, and mobile. They are also eating an extra 10 pounds of hay each, just to keep warm.

Tomorrow, I will likely give them a pint of rolled oats each for added calories.


I took the pictures at -26C. That's all the shots I got before the camera froze up

Have fun and think warm!

Getting Better from Now On

December 21, High Noon in the old corral!

The sun in these parts doesn't get any higher in the sky than this. It seems that we are almost in perpetual twilight or darkness. 

The brief 8 hours of so called daylight is way too short! However, thankfully, each day will now be minutes longer. I can hardly wait for the sun to be behind me again (from this viewpoint). 

Happy first day of winter everybody!

Our Town's Men's Shelter

 The work progresses pretty well. We had a lot of hold ups over the last three years, but things are now happening! The side of the church lost it's 150 year old spruce tree because of the trenching required for the new sewer attachment. We have been working to get the landscaping back to acceptable levels. Various companies donated the wood chips for mulch around the bushes and the top soil next to the pathway. As a lawn cutter I was happy to see a very low maintenance result.

Unfortunately, the grass will not get to grow this year. However, with a fall seeding it should have a good start in the spring.

 The footings are in and the crew is busy installing the floor joists. The crawlspace is 4 feet deep and will handle the heating ducts and electrical.

 It was some fun stripping the siding and insulation of the building! It involved working off a ladder up to 18 feet high with many trips up and down the ladder. The Styrofoam insulation was salvaged and used to  insulate the crawl space. Our hope is to get the walls up and the roof on before the snow flies. It is a tight schedule.

A lot of people ask why  the need for a men's shelter in Whitecourt and in Alberta. We accommodated 3 people per night at a local hotel for the last few winters. A lot of them were down on their luck or  in transition and living out of their cars. It is hoped that with this project we can transition people that are not only down and out locally, but also from places like the Hope Mission, and Teen Challenge in Edmonton.

The unit will have rooms for five people, a kitchen and common area. The shelter is called Lorne's Blanket. Lorne was the son of a lady who attends our church and who died of exposure in the 30- 40 below zero temperatures that we experience. Hopefully we can aid in avoiding more situations like that.

It keeps a few of us busy and out of trouble.

Primitive Times!

Once again we are learning on how to survive without well water. We got up Thursday morning and found that the water was gone from the taps. I figured as it was about -30C that the well had frozen below surface again. Not so. After dumping about 3 gallons of boiling water down the well head there was no improvement. I checked the pressure switch. It had current and was calling for the pump to start. The lines above the well head were nice and warm. After 2 hours on the phone, I found an electrician that would come up and check things out. He found no current going down the well and no resistance, meaning that the wires had separated or that the pump had blown.

Two more hours on the phone got me a well pump service guy that maybe can show up Sunday or Monday.

The fix involves pulling the 170 feet of pipe up the hole to get at the problem. Maybe the weather will cooperate as pulling pipe at -30C is not fun.

I would anticipate the cost for the service and pump replacement will be in the order of $1000. Hopefully, the pump is OK, but that is unlikely as it's been pumping for 14 years.

In the meantime we are showering at our son's place, melting snow and ice for the chickens and washing dishes. The water trough heater for the horses is melting ice about as fast as the horses are drinking it.

Hopefully, I will not have to haul water from town.

Meanwhile we are sort of learning what the pioneers went through.  Fun stuff!

Why Me?

My owners gave me a very nice horse shelter, but I'm too stubborn to use it! I would rather put make up on. This is almost as good as a mud pack!

I could use the horse shelter, I guess, if I have to.... but then would I still be a rough tough Alberta  hoss?

Maybe that's pride showing up..

Note from owner: Nope, that's stupidity!

What do you think? Is this my better side?

or this?

Wind Chill

A measure of the cooling effect of wind. Wind increases the rate at which a body loses heat, so the air on a windy day feels cooler than the temperature indicated by a thermometer. This heat loss can be calculated for various combinations of wind speed and air temperature and then converted to a wind chill equivalent temperature (or wind chill factor).

Wind Speed (MPH) =
Air Temperature (ºF) =
Old Wind Chill Index  º F	New Wind Chill Index  º F

The formulas used to calculate the wind chill index are:
Old Wind Chill Index (Pre-November 2001) =
91.4 - (0.474677 - 0.020425 * V + 0.303107 * sqrt(V)) * (91.4 - T)
New Wind Chill Index =
35.74 + 0.6215T - 35.75(V^0.16) + 0.4275T(V^0.16)
where:
V = wind speed (mph)
T = temperature (F) 

    Courtesy of   OnlineConversion.com

Present situation:

Temp -20F

Wind speed 16 mph

Old wcf -60.14 degrees F

New wcf -45.72 degrees F

15 Month's Reflections

What began as a whim in late 2009, soon became a way of connecting with people with similar interests, horses, gardening, dogs, chickens and all the rest of God's creatures.

Most of all it has allowed me to share my testimony with many of you out in blog land, who would never otherwise hear how great our God is, and how He has worked in our families lives.

It has allowed me a chance to "meet" some really neat people, in all walks of life. For this I am very grateful.

When I was stumped on how to do something, there was always someone out there, who being much smarter than I, had already figured out how to do it, and was willing to share. This too I am grateful for.

What started this post out, was the realization that I have now posted over 200 blogs (and counting). Looking deeper it is mind boggling to me that visitors from 47 countries have visited  my little "Acreage" site, and that over 12,000 page views have been received. This, to me, is very humbling! Even more humbling is the fact that 46 people have chosen to follow along, many right from day one.

The comments are interesting, and show that some people care enough to take the time to respond to these postings. To those that don't respond, I welcome you to get involved.

The internet is a fascinating, and powerful place. Blog land, in my limited experience, seems to be relatively safe, and appears to be self policing, at least in the areas that I have been involved with. For this, I also am thankful.

It is amazing the amount of talent that is out there, from tossing a rope, to shoeing a horse, to writing some fascinating poetry, and the photography! I wish that God had given me 1/100th of the talent that I have seen from everyday people out there. Thank you for sharing! I may not have the talent, but I can share in yours.

It's not all great though. I feel for all of you that are caught up in the tragedies of everyday life, from floods, to fires to the "minor" issues. Out of these, I have found  that Hope, learning experience , and rewards are attained. I have also observed that people that have God in their corner tend to do very well through these issues. I am one that was forged in fire, so to speak.

This is getting a little lengthy, so it's time to sign off, but with this last thought.

Thank you for your participation and allowing me to share in your daily life.
-=Ian=-

Digging Out

We got dumped on over the last 36 hours!

Not quite a blizzard 'cause it wasn't cold enough at -18C (0 F) to qualify. It was windy enough and it snowed hard enough to close most of the highways in the area, or at least restrict driving. Visibility was close to zero, and it drifted up pretty good.

The hay shelter was in the wind path, but most of the snow blew past.






The trees next to the house were loaded up, as was the driveway and walks. It took about 4 hours to get them cleared out.

On the good side, it was nice and warm in the chicken coop. There appears to be  room at the inn, so I don't see the need to double bunk. Oh, well, chickens!

The horses weathered the storm in the shelter, but still got coated up pretty good.

I am still waiting for you southerners to take me up on an acreage exchange, say early in the new year. Sign up now and avoid the last minute rush!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

This song keeps running through my head!

At 6:30 this morning the temperature was sitting at -32C (-24F) . I was up at that time due to a flashing clock light indicating that the power had just come back on! It appears to have been off for about an hour. No damage done, though. The water system was still at +8C, the chicken coop dropped to 0C (32F) The chickens were a little upset, but still laying at 10:00 am. The biggest issue was my truck. I plugged it in at 8:00 am and tried to get a start at 11:00 with no luck. The starter just went click, click. So I dug out the charger, kicked it up to 50 amps and tried again. No luck! There is a little corrosion on the negative post which I may have to clean up later when it warms up. The high is forcast to be -18C ( -3F). One good thing about being retired. Very seldom do I have to be anywhere exactly on time. Shopping can always wait.

The horses weathered the cold and were actually in the shelter this morning. Hungry? Yep! Burning lots of calories to stay warm. 

Boots stayed warm in the hay pile, and Brooklynn did very well in the house. She had to keep stopping to chew the ice balls out from between her toes when we went out to see to feeding all the critters. Fortunately, there is only one more night of this and then we are supposed to get back up to -2C (+30F). Ah, life is good on the Acreage!