Getting Ready for Winter

Fall is a busy time of year. Winter will make its appearance right on schedule, sometimes ahead of schedule, ready or not. The remains of the garden have been harvested with the plant stocks pulled and fed to the pigs. The rest of the hay has been gathered and looks like giant marshmallows lining the driveway. Sort of makes me think about roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over a campfire on a chilly night. Now it's on to putting the broiler chickens, ducks and meat goats in the freezer, yard cleaning and organizing, putting all the tractor implements in their proper places, and tightening up the barn. We'll begin moving the pig fence over a bit at a time so they'll be at their winter area by the time the ground freezes (you can't change fencing after a hard freeze since you can't push in fence posts). The last thing on the agenda will be putting the snow blade on the tractor. I never got around to putting my summer tires on the truck so instead of fighting the rush at the tire store to have my tires changed over, I'm way ahead of winter driving preparations.

We're installing a wood fired hot air furnace this year. The furnace and chimney materials were delivered today. Jim will need to pour a cement base for it, install the chimney, and put in ductwork. We wanted to get all the materials purchased by year's end however, to take advantage of the tax credit. And with any luck we'll even have it operational by the end of the year. Central heating, with a thermostat.... what a concept! Although I really enjoy my wood stove and will still run it when I want some extra warmth, or just the wonderful smell from it, we'll be able to heat the finished areas of the basement with ducts installed down there. Due to the amazing (and sometimes inconvenient) concept of heat rising we've had to have gas heaters to heat the downstairs rooms. It'll be nice to have them part of the whole heating system.

I'll be ordering sleigh runners for the horse buggy so we can enjoy sleigh rides. Talon will have to get used to bells on his harness. You can't have a sleigh ride without sleigh bells, now can you? That just wouldn't be right. I don't think he'll mind, he seems to take most everything in stride. Except fly spraying - he's convinced that sprayer is evil. Fortunately there are no bugs in the winter so he'll have a reprieve. We'll continue the spray battle next summer.

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