First frost...
Although trixstir says we had a frost yesterday, the temperature recordings on our weather station don't back that up. This morning however, it was obvious that we had a killer-frost overnight; There was a thick frost on the windshields of our vehicles, and the tomato plants looked horrible. I harvested a tub full of mostly-green tomatoes, and cut down the vines. The day warmed up a fair bit afterwards, but there was still a definite chill in the air. The wind today though, has been something else!
The biggest problem with our little weather-station is that it only sends updates to the receiver every two minutes or so; it's not a continuous feed, and even then the windspeed is measured as the average windspeed during that time, so it doesn't count the gusting winds. Case in point: right now I can hear the wind just howling out there, and I can see that it's actually moved a few lighter things around in the yard, yet the windspeed indicator insists that it's only averaging about 21kmh! It's also getting a lot colder at night now, as suggested by the fact of this morning's killer frost. I've turned the heating system back on, and now there's that smell of burning dust as the system heats up for the first time this season. Thankfully everything seems to be working just fine; the boiler and piping are holding pressure just fine, and there's plenty of heat coming out.
The weather forecast had called for the possibility of rain today, and definite rain within the next couple of days, so I made a point of getting the tractor and hay-baler into the machine-storage area in the back half of the quonset building. This was no easy task, as the first thing I needed to do was to remove the Stooker from the back of the baler. As I mentioned a few postings ago, the stooker is more trouble than it's worth, and leaving it attached would make backing the baler into place nearly impossible. It took the better part of the morning, but I was finally able to remove all of the well-rusted nuts and bolts, and separate the two units. The stooker I'm not terribly worried about as it's a simple device with no complicated moving parts. Thusly, it will be stored neatly, but outside. The baler however, with its complex mechanics and considerably higher value, is now safely stored indoors. Hopefully the weather will be cooperative on the weekend, as I'm going to have to play the Shuffle Game, moving things around in the quonset (which will mean having to move the baler again as well) so that I can fit everything inside. The stuff I need/want to store in there includes:
- Massey-Ferguson 65 tractor
- Massey-Ferguson 124 hay-baler
- Versatile 400 Swather w/ 20' floating-table header
- New-Holland 1033 Hayliner bale-wagon
- John Deere 7700 Combine
- 1953 GMC 3-ton grain truck
- 1953 GMC 1-ton grain truck
- 1985 Ford Bronco-II
- 1988 Ford Bronco-II
The kidling and I are home alone for a few days as Trixstir is off in Swift Current for a four-day training seminar for her new job with the regional health district. She's got a laptop with her, and the kidling says she called to say she was able to get the wireless connection working, so we should be able to keep in touch that way. Actually, we have unlimited-use cellphones, so we'll likely be using those to keep in touch, but I think Trixstir would go stir-crazy in the hotel room if she didn't have access to her online friends. I know I would; my laptop was the main thing keeping me sane when we first started moving out here, and I was spending too many nights alone in the hotel or upstairs at Jack's place.
Tonight was the Membership Drive kickoff meeting for the local Chamber of Commerce. We'll be renewing our membership for the bowling alley, and they have a deal where if you have more than one business you can sign up the other(s) for a little less than half price! This is great news, and I'll be adding Iron Pony Small Engines to our membership. I also got some important new contacts, including one for the newly created Regional Economic Development Board. Civic elections are being held next month, and there are still vacant spots on the ballots for town councillors. I think I may just toss my hat into the ring, and see what happens. More on that as it developes. :)