{"id":21571,"date":"2022-02-19T10:19:07","date_gmt":"2022-02-19T17:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rodbinder.com\/journal\/?p=21571"},"modified":"2022-03-17T12:06:55","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T19:06:55","slug":"feb-19-snow-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rodbinder.com\/journal\/2022\/02\/19\/feb-19-snow-wind\/","title":{"rendered":"Feb 19 Snow & Wind"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Benjamin Disraeli<\/strong><\/p>\n

Did the things I do every morning and then some. Fed the cats, fed the fire, fed the outside birds, made coffee.<\/p>\n

When I was outside bringing the feeder I made inside, I got a blast of snow in the face, high winds and fresh snow equals snowdrifts.<\/p>\n

I would have to deal with that later. I just had a look, a four-foot drift was forming at the top of the driveway.<\/p>\n

I came to check the fire. I noticed a piece of chimney pipe had rotted out. A 3-inch by 1-inch piece was gone. I couldn’t lift the chimney to put in the new piece. It was too windy to go out on the roof and lift the chimney. I had stove cement in stock, so I got creative.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It just had to last a week or so till it got warmer again. A cold front was dropping down from the Arctic and would be here for a few days.<\/p>\n

After I was finished smearing the stuff around I did a stupid thing. I read the instructions.<\/p>\n

It said air dry for three hours, then start the fire. I couldn’t do that. I already loaded the fire before I noticed the hole.<\/p>\n

I couldn’t leave the goopy pipe with boy cats around, they would love to scratch that off. They were the cause of the rusted-out pipe. Constantly peeing on the chimney pipe.<\/p>\n

The other problem was the temp. With the wind blowing and no fire, it had already dropped to ten degrees inside.<\/p>\n

In three hours, the inside of the house would be sub-zero.<\/p>\n

I had no choice but to leave the fire going. I would also have to stay in the cold room with the cats until it was hot enough to keep them off.<\/p>\n

My compromise was to turn down the draft as much as I could. That would keep the stove temp down, while I hope to get it warm enough to keep cats off and give the goop a chance to set.<\/p>\n

I noticed it was smoothing itself out. Maybe that was a good sign.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I went out to gather snow and sweep the solar panels. There were 3 inches of snow on them, so at least 6 inches of snow fell.<\/p>\n

I gathered more used wood from around my shop and brought that into the fire room. It was going to be -30 tonight.<\/p>\n

I would need it later. While I was in the shop I got a look at the views I had not seen for years it seemed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As for the fire, it was what it was. It was lit again, but burning slow. Still ten in here, but I had my winteralls on. Winter coveralls.<\/p>\n