piggy paradise in peril !

Been a heavy snow year in the N.W. this year.  Now we have been getting heavy rains on top of all that snow. I was posting ??  boasting??? on the missoula forum last week,  how my buildings were built to take that kind of weight ... WELL ... I forgot about the piggys house ! Was built in the 1970's by the original owner it was not built for this... I 'm working out of state all week and I come home to see that the front support beam has broken , I mean jeeze 45 years ... you would think it should last longer ...  A quick  brace with a 4x4 and 2 2x4,s and it isn't going to fall in !  I just happen to have a brand new 20' 2x8 to replace that broken 2x6 ! Think i'll wait till spring for that job.

Hey it happens right?

I braced up my barn earlier this year. The weather forecasters said it would be a snowy December, a mild and no-snow January, and absolutely get dumped on February. I braced up my barn a bit in January when it was warm enough to do carpentry work and no snow. Anyway the weather forecasters were right. We got 18 inches on the ground and 20 inches more coming tomorrow. Supposed to be 40 mph winds so I am not sure how much snow will actually be on my roof in the end as it faces the prevailing winds, but I am at least ready for it.

When I woke up today, I got the forecast from my wife.  She also brought me a cup of coffee.  She's the best, but that's beside the point.  Her exact words were, "We're getting around six inches of snow today, probably two to three feet (yes, feet) tomorrow and Monday."  

Before I even pulled the blankets off of my face I responded, "Any wind?"

She says " Yeah, like 40mph, blizzardy and shit".

And then I began my day by making a list of things to do before the snow hits.

ready for power outage
got water (as if three feet of new snow isn't enough)
wood for the stove
gas for the machines
hot cocoa for the kids
extra food for the chickens because they won't leave the coop now
secure all items that might blow away

Grab a warm drink and hope for the best, I guess.


YAY SNOW!

It's really the wind, not the snow that's a pain in the ass.  Three feet of snow means ten foot drifts in some places on my land.  And yet... I'm looking forward to it.  Let's see what ole' Mother Nature has cooked up.

Yep, that is what I did today too.

My truck driver called this evening and said he was going to attempt trucking a load of wood out where I am cutting wood a half mile up in the woods. I guess he has watched too many episodes of Ice Road Truckers, but he went on a tear up there anyway (it is all up hill). I jumped on the skidder and followed him up just to be sure he could make it in and out. He did, but as we got talking I told him with the snow we are getting I'll have to push paths through the woods with my bulldozer or I will break an axle on the skidder. He was like, "nah, it will go through snow", then he thought about it for a minute and said, "well maybe that would be a good idea".

That is what I heard too Craig. 40 MPH winds. I get slammed on this hill. I can see Mount Washington which kind of tells you how brutal it gets up here with the wind.

A guy on the radio just said that we could be getting winds comparable to a category two hurricane.   LOL   To make matters more complicated, I saw a robin (bird) today while I was clearing the driveway off.   What the hell is going on???   We'll see what tomorrow brings I guess.   Looks like I'll be shoveling off the porch roof at least once this year.  Always a fun and sketchy task, but the view is nice.

Stay safe

This is what it looks like BEFORE the snow!

Finally got more than one day off from work ! I've been looking at this project for months now and just haven't had time to tackle it.   One new 2x8 cross beam ,drilled and loosely lagged to the center post .  A floor jack and a long 2x4 and  some jacking brought the roof back to the original height. A little chainsaw work on the old post to get back to good wood.  One cinder block on edge  back filled ,one 8" concrete pier and a railroad tie  make up the new suport. Should make it another 45 years....