Still Shloppy...

After the rain and snow ended last week, it cooled off and looked like winter was here. But then it warmed up again and alternated rain and snow all week.

So instead of an early winter, it now looks more like spring breakup. But that got me to working inside, spending more time finishing the summer projects.

After talking about it for years, finally redid the loft stairs. They were originally pretty steep, almost like a ladder, but was able to fit the old stringers from the remodeled basement stairs. This increased the run by over a foot, so the slope is less and also allowed fitting bigger treads. The dark line on the wall that looks like a shadow is from the alignment of the old stairs.

The other project was wiring up three-way switches and installing a light fixture in the loft. So now you can turn on the upstairs light from the kitchen and turn it off up in the loft. Amazing, it's like the future's finally here. Now there's only half a bazillion other projects left to finish!

Ready for winter?...

Had near record precip, both rain and snow this past week. So figured it was time to be serious about getting ready for winter. Put the back hoe on the tractor and dug out some stumps, cleaned up the ditches along the road, and filled the dogs holes after moving them down to the winter dog yard. Meant to get a picture or two, since the back hoe doesn't get used much, but forgot. In fact didn't even think of it until I was finished removing the hoe from the tractor.

Well now with the rear blade and chains on, I guess we're ready for winter. Most of the snow has melted, but the rain that fell earlier in the week has soaked everything, it's shloppy out there!

Aspen Errors, Part Duce...

As noted earlier (Aspen Errors, 7/6/15), there's a lot of dying aspen trees on the property. The latest was next to the old sauna. It'd been dead for a few years, but after the problems last time, well I wasn't exactly ecstatic about dropping a tall tree so close in. But figured it was time, it'll be no problem with a rope and come along I thought, just pull'er towards the garden and it'll drop just fine. So after hooking up the ropes, Andy cranked everything tight. Then started the chainsaw and began the undercut. Almost immediately the bar got pinched and the saw was  stuck. So Andy released the tension and was able to pop the bar free.  But the bad thing was that I could feel the center of the tree was hollow, there was only a little ring of hardwood left holding up a 60-70 ft tree. So after she tightened'er up again, I started to finish the undercut. Without warning, the tree started to fall, it pulled the chain right off the bar and fell, not towards the garden clearing, but right at the greenhouse. Fortunately it hit a double birch tree, got deflected a little, and missed the greenhouse by a few feet. Like I always says, it's way better to be lucky than smart.

The aspen would have taken out the greenhouse if it hadn't been hung up by the birch.

The back of the stump just broke off when the undercut took out enough good wood. That one log is still stuck between the trees, probably have to cut it out.

National Weather Service summary for September...

September 2017 was warmer and wetter than normal in Fairbanks. The average high temperature was 57.2 degrees which was 2.6 degrees above the normal and ranked as the 31st warmest of 112 years of record. The average low temperature was 38.7 degrees which was 3.6 degrees above the average and ranked as the 14th warmest of 112 years of record. The mean temperature was 48.0 degrees which was 3.1 degrees above the normal mean and ranked as the 17th warmest of 112 years of record.

The warmest day of September 2017 was 70 degrees which occurred on the 4th. The coldest day of September 2017 was 32 degrees which occurred on the 30th.

September was wetter than normal with 1.42 inches of rain, 0.32 inches above the normal  and ranked as the 30th wettest of 104 years of record. A trace of snow fell on the 29th of September which is around 8 days later than the normal, the normal snowfall for the month of September is 1.8 inches.

Looking forward to October, the permanent snowpack is almost always established at some point during the month. The average daily high temperature falls from 45 degrees on the 1st to 19 degrees on the 31st. The average daily low temperature falls from 28 on the 1st to 4 above on the 31st. The highest temperature ever recorded in the month of October was 72 degrees on the 1st of October in 2003. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Fairbanks in the month of October was
28 below on the 26th of October in 1935.

Normal precipitation for the month is 0.83 inches, with much of this falling as snow. Significant rainfall events are rare after the middle of the month. Normal snowfall for the month of October is 10.8 inches.

Available daylight continues to decrease by over 6 minutes per day, falling from 11 hours and 15 minutes on the 1st to 7 hours and 54 minutes on the 31st.

The forecast for October from the Climate Prediction Center calls for near normal temperatures and  precipitation.