Winter storm. 28 degrees, wind and snow.

Winter slammed into us last night and today. A huge low pressure system brought lots of wet snow and high winds. We woke up this morning to a winter wonderland out there. It's pretty, and we've only lost a few tree limbs. Our sweet cherry tree was bent to the ground. Birk and I both had a snow day today, so we've been annoying Karen all day ;)

This would be the first real test of the tractor for winter use. I was very apprehensive about just getting it started. This is my first diesel, and I know they are notoriously fussy about getting cold. Much to my disappointment, I could not get the tractor into the garage. It is just a little too tall, a little too wide. I thought about cutting down the exhaust stack, but then I thought about what the inside of our garage would smell like and look like after starting up a belching diesel tractor in there a dozen times. So I fell back on tarping the tractor real good, and hoping that plugging the pre-heater in would be enough. Someday, maybe we'll actually build a barn that can fit everything in it.

Knowing the storm was coming in, I plugged in that pre-heater last night. Today, I took my shallow electric grill and placed it under the chassis for about an hour as well. I went back to shoveling the backbreaking snow, eyeballing my tarped, snow- covered tractor and bit my lip. Finally I decided it was time, and I had to work quite a bit to get the tarp off since there was over a foot of heavy wet snow on top of it. Once I got that cleared off, it only took a few tries, each time the engine seemed to turn a little easier as the fuel & air warmed. And then she chugged alive, and my spirit lifted and I did a little victory dance in my head.

Plowing the snow was a bit of an adventure. Our driveway is mostly on a hill. I did manage to clear off the lower part, and a spot across from the garage. We must have gotten 15 inches of snow, and it drifted in spots. I had to make several trips across the road to dump it in the ditch. I did manage to get bogged down and stuck on an incline between the big barn and the pump house. Wound up chewing up the driveway a bit, and there is still a lot of snow up there, but after a while, the snow got so slick my wheels were just spinning and I couldn't safely maneuver between vehicles and buildings, etc. I definitely need chains! We still have some spots that could use a more thorough plowing, so we called Curt and asked him to come and do a cleanup for us. Overall however I am very pleased with what I was able to get done considering this is a crazy amount of wet, slippery snow to deal with. I'll try to find some chains for the rear tires, and I'll continue my search for a rear blade, which will be a little easier to push snow with. Ideally, I'd love a big snowblower on the 3 point hitch, but those are all over a thousand dollars that I've seen! I wish I were more adept and skilled at mechanics and fabrication, because I'd also love to get a rotovator for th 3 pt. Though I realize they are two different tools, and they do different jobs, have different blades, etc., they are very similar in design, and I bet some enterprising individuals out there have figured out a way to make an implement that can be switched from one to the other, for less than the cost of both.


While I was busy plowing and shovelling, Karen and Birk made a snow fort in the back yard as the dogs helped. Dottie somehow managed to instantly collect the hugest snowballs on her fur I have ever seen on a dog! The size of softballs! They leave big puddles on the floor when she comes in the house.