A busy time of the year.

 Despite the pandemic, we've been so busy, that I haven't taken time to write in my blog. It's always busy, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but this year seems even more so as I work on the kitchen in between decorating, baking, and family.

Post installation.

One project was the installation of my weather station. Cindy gave me my Christmas present early so I could get it installed before the ground froze and the snow fell. That turned out to be a good plan (more on that later). First I had to install a post to mount the station. I got my self a pressure treated 4x4 and went about digging a 36" deep hole. It was actually not a tough as I thought it would be. I located the station well away from the trees to keep them from interfering with the operation of the weather station, so roots were not a problem. The soil was loose, with just some small, round rocks so the digging was easy. To secure the post, I used liquid fence post mix that turns to a foam, then hardens.  Within 24 hours, I was able to mount the station and after a simple set up with the WiFi, the station is working well. Despite a very low sun angle, and endless clouds, it stays charged enough top operate 24/7. Very nice.

Obligatory evidence of actual work being done.

Since we couldn't decide how to move forward with the kitchen, Cindy and I decided to put lipstick on a pig and go ahead and just fix it up as is. Since I had already done the ceiling, this fix up was mainly to scrape and repair the walls, paint, new fixtures, switch plates, and curtains. Once the walls were ready for paint I was actually shocked how badly yellowed they were. Despite using a high quality "one coat coverage" paint, it took three coats to make the walls look right. I also scraped and repainted all the trim. As always, time began to fly by so I had to really rush to get the room done before Christmas. 

It was a struggle to get to the garage.
That's a yardstick.

Then, it snowed. About 3 feet here in the valley, almost 4 feet in the nearby hills. Luckily, there was very little wind so no drifting but it still took me almost 6 hours to clear the driveway. There was still no place to go since the road had not yet been plowed. By amount, this was the biggest snowstorm I've ever seen. By impact, it's in the top 5 for sure. The blizzard of '93 had then biggest impact storm with 2 to 3 feet of snow and winds over 50 mph, followed by below zero temperatures. It was a paralyzing storm, mitigated only by the fact that it was in March, and the longer day and sun helped modify the effect.