Preparing for Winter IIa

(Picture from here.)


Didn't get as much done as I wanted to. The Hickory and Chestnuts have not dropped all their leaves. So I couldn't finish up the tractor and put it away. Consequently, the right garage bay is still cluttered.

But I was able to clean up the yard considerably and put away the rest of the machines:

1. Snow Blower I
2. Snow Blower II
3. Generator I
4. Generator II

Why, you may ask, do we have two snow blowers and two generators.

Well, I reply. The two generators are historical. Generator I is a good generator with 220 output that I can hook directly into the house system. The second generator was the first one we purchased. It's more of a utility generator. We can take it up to the cabin and use it since the cabin has no electricity.

Why have a generator at all? you may ask.

Glad you asked that question, I reply. When we first moved into the house we were at the tail end of the electrical lines. If the system hiccuped, we lost power. In addition, the power was pretty dirty. We lost two television over the first two years. This has calmed down since.

However, we still have a greenhouse, well and furnace: all of which don't work without electricity. So, we bought a generator. That went on well for a number of years prior to the green house. We could just run an extension into the house and run the blower on the wood stove.

With the greenhouse, we had a bigger issue. We needed to run the actual greenhouse furnace-- which didn't run without electricity. At that point we bought the Big Guy: Generator I. We now have a tie-in to the electrical system of the house. So I can run Generator I, run the power directly into the house and switch on and off what we need to run.

But then, you ask, why two snow blowers?

An excellent question, I reply. This is because of the Rule of Twos. The power losses of the first year taught us a lesson: critical systems will fail and we need a backup. Thus, the Rule of Twos. Two mechanisms for a critical backup. A breakage in the snow blower in 1995 brought that home to us. We have a 150 foot driveway. I'm not getting any younger. So when the electric start died on Snow Blower I, I kept the machine and purchased Snow Blower II. We now have two of them.

Every year I change the oil, test the systems and make sure everything works prior to winter.

And, in case you're wondering, we don't consider the tractor essential. It's a convenience.

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Wall of Idiots
R-NC Representative Virginia Foxx
Rush Limbaugh
R-TX Senator John Cornyn
Pat Robertson
Farmers don't comply with GM regulations

Links of Interest
Battle of the humpbacks
Evolution in the Congo River
Antimatter in lightning
Atheist media blog youtube site
Lanterns aloft
Street fire fighting
Steel Yard's Iron Pour
World's greatest tree house
Ben Turnbull
The Bay Bridge Crack
Iron on Mercury (Fe on Hg?)
Mutant diseases on the Mars Mission
Robots climb cables

DIY
Minimalist nativity set
Gear clock
Anvil shooting
Orrery
Atlatl and here
CD Based drawing machine
Poorcraft
Laboratory scales
Pen and laser plotter
Burning ice and Mister Kent's Chemistry Page
Contraptor
Magic wand
Gravity powered xylophones