Coffee 2-11-12

The coffee house is open! Now that you found the door, come on in & have a cup. It's on the house. What's for breakfast? I'm thinking waffles & bacon. Yaaaa, that'll do.

Today is ice harvest day. As by tradition the week after ground hogs day we harvest the ice for the year. Gotta keep the ice box going. I'm thinking of taking an extra 30 ton this year and using it to air condition the bedroom on those hot July nights. Whoa! That was a step back in time, and that's exactly what the Curran Homestead is doing today. Just down the street from me is a property that was donated in the late 80's to the historical society. (It was owned by my high school English teacher.) They maintain a small farm much as it was in years gone by. Each year they have an ice harvest day, but this year is a bit more. They have rebuilt the old ice house & today it will get filled with hand sawn ice. The plan is to keep an ice box cold from now on. So, anyone with a strong back & a rather weak mind is welcome to come saw for an hour or two. I hear the ice is around 18" thick. . . . Ya know...it just struck me that perhaps they should have a coal stove in the living room. Right now it's just a wood stove in the kitchen and a fireplace in the living room.

Mother nature is kind and cruel at the same time. It has been brilliantly sunny all week, but fairly cold. Tomorrow the HIGH is predicted to be in the single digits! Tis a crazy year. Last year at this time we had over 30 inches of snow on the ground. This year: two.

OK.... empty the ashes & have a great day!


http://curranhomestead.org/

I'm pretty sure I fall into the weak mind catagory & have a back to go with it. Think I'll just enjoy some of your,as usual, outstanding coffee & some of those waffles & bacon. We got a dustin last night, bout 1/2". My one eye is getting clearer as time goes on. Nothing goin on here on the hill for me today, just the normal barn chores & recycle at the Town Barn. Have a good week end all.

Good morning all,

I woke this morning to a wintry mix, most rain. It's supposed to be like that for the next 24 hours but no accumulation. Bummer, we have had no measurable snow since Halloween.

Wow, Freddy what a cool thing to be a part of. My grandmother wrote in her diary of cutting ice on the Cedar River (Iowa) and storing it in the ice house. It was a huge thing - like barn raising or threshing picnic. Although we do get ice on the rivers and lakes around here it's almost never thick enough to walk on; you'd be taking your life in your own hands.

Well lots to do but nothing I have to do today - after my bee class that is. DK is so corny. He asked me last night what kind of grades everyone got in this class. I told him that it wasn't graded, you just got a good feeling. So he says, mmm, I'd have thought everyone would have gotten bees. HA HA. Yep walked right in to the one! I'm so glad I can make him feel good about himself. I hope everyone has a great day. Take care, Lisa

Hey, Wood n Coal - thinking of you this morning as I hit the top of my loading door frame with a full scoop of nut coal.

lowfog01 wrote: I'd have thought everyone would have gotten bees.

Good one! Me think's DK & I would get along just fine.

Fred... Glad your eye is doing OK. Is this easier?

Hey Freddy is that iced coffee? The wife wants scrapple, potatoes & eggs and I’m the cook.
Valentines day is Tuesday and now I am also supposed to take her out for dinner today as well, damn I hate these made up holidays designed to separate me from my little bit of hard earned money. These days work is harder and money is less.
Thank god for refrigeration. If we had to rely on cutting ice around here our food would have spoiled a few years ago. We still get some cold days and nights but it is the sustained cold that is missing. I’m not complaining though because I can get used to these mild winters and it is easier on the wallet no matter what you burn for heat.

Good weekend everyone.

Coffee is almost gone by me (wife is still sleeping). PRobably make some pancakes with the good PA Syrup (and yes they are starting to tap! I just asked a friend of mine).

We got a dusting of snow (less than 1/2"), supposed to get a few inches today and turn really cold like 5 degrees tonight and tomorrow night! The stoves are just humming along. Still have about 2-3 ton in the bin, so shouldn't be a problem till spring.

Not too much else happening, need to finish a few woodworking projects, and start another.

Enjoy the day and weekend!!

Good morning all, I may or my not have some good news for those lacking snow, we got around 3" since last night with more coming all the time. Guess it all depends on how fast it moves & still havr enough moisture to snow, temps in the teens but not much wind. We would be in trouble if they still had an ice harvest here, lakes were never frozen over enough for ice fishing so far, there were a few that tried but didn't get far, lucky for them they didn't get far enough to be over their heads. The Koker is still humming along just fine, hope everyone stays safe & warm.

Well,I heard a call for weak minds that enjoy a hot cup,so I have stumbled through the door! Good Stuff! I remember the last of the Ice Houses on Kelley's island in Lake Erie. True,it would not be good for ice this year. It's snowing pretty hard now,with more to come. I'm not far at all from Sam,yet due to Lake Effect it can change between the two of us. And to my sharp-shooter pal Freetown Fred,stay with it,for I hear the Fog will clear !

Good morning Everyone!!! Thanks for the coffee, but I have to catch a flight to PHL in a few minutes and go home for the first time in two weeks. I will gladly offer you a cup from O'Hare airport if it's not too old from sitting in a pot all morning.

Well let's see, I need coal again, so We will be making the pilgrimage to Harmony on Tuesday!! Sabeth is so excited to celebrate Valentines day in a coal breaker!!! Nothing says love like coal dust kisses!!!!

My oldest son John Paul just made the Dean's list at Bloomsburg University. So we are happy about that!! Now he may get a scholarship so I don't have to write another $7,300 check!!!

Well I must get aboard now, May you all have a great weekend and GOD bless you!!!

Good morning. The coffee is excellent. We are holding steady at 15 degrees, and expect to hit zero sometime tonight. Maybe I will give the EFM a quick brushing this afternoon.

All this talk about coal and ice harvesting. Anyone ever wonder why many of the old coal dealers were in the "Coal & Ice" business? Makes sense to me, the coal was going North and the ice needed to go South. Ice made a great backhaul, and it helped balance out the seasonal aspect of selling coal. My grandfather's barn had an ice house inside. I'll have to ask dad to be sure, but I think they had a stone or concrete lined pit below the floor that they stored the ice in with sawdust. One thing is for sure, there was no shortage of ice on Lake Champlain. Sometimes it gets to be several feet thick.

Time for more coffee...

Keep the dawgs off the saw cutting area......and the gentlemen who have consumed tooooo much coffee! Think about this when you are at the 'Social' this summer enjoying a 'mint julep' chilled with ice "Cut from a pristine lake in Maine....or NH, or Vt, or Mass. Big snowmobile event here this weekend.....trucked snow from a ski area to a huge field.....pro teams from everywhere.....should be the 'mud bowl'. Exit 17, off I-93 Boscawen, NH (Concord area).....Its 32 here........oops, bring your jetski, the Merrimack River is only 200' from the field used, and NO ICE! Unbelievable.

Whistlenut, there were bigger things to worry about than dogs.
http://www.vanishedamericana.com/the-wa ... g-in-1907/

Well, I missed coffee. What a beautiful day yesterday.The temp got to the upper 40's. A little chilly Wednesday morning.....was -24. Working the weekend again. Suppose to be -20 wind chill all day tomorrow.....will be the coldest daytime temps yet. I'm glad it's February and not December. Burned 4 tons so far and have 2 left. That should last me til mid to late April and may have to buy another pallet to take me to June. You guys can have all the ice and snow you want......there's plenty here. Come on up! Snowmobilers are loving it! A lot of people from PA, Mass and NY in this area riding. Rick, you'll have to come further north this year. Talked to a friend of mine who lives in Jackman and he said they don't have much of the white stuff there. Have a great weekend all and stay warm!

Last night winter arrived,, 6" of snow, 5*, and 20+mph winds.. naturally,, it was the day scheduled to move the 'new' used Gorton Mill to my buddy's shop.

So I got up early,, actually LOKI got me up earlier than the alarm,, and myself and two others took two trucks, and a trailer, a skid steer with forks, and chains, snow shovels, etc..

We used chains and the winch on my truck to drag the mill out onto the parking lot, then figured how to position the skid steer's forks, and chained the mill to the skid steer, then drove the whole deal up onto the overloaded trailer, strapped and chained it all down.. tarped the mill, the snow on the roads was by then salted and we didn't want to give the mill a salt bath..

The tow vehcle and trailer has some serious maintenance issues, so I'm very glad we got the mill to it's new shop.. without ending up in a ditch or running into anyone.. the roads were a mix of 1" ice, 5+" snow, or 2-3" of salt slush.. that wide trailer was throwing an impressive roostertail of slush onto the opposite lane. I stayed back with my flashers on.

The mill is getting thawed and cleaned, the new phase coverter will show next week, and soon I'll be playing on my new mill. I've got a lot to learn, but looking forward to it.

LOKI , the new 'pup' is doing well, he's going to work out well.

OK, since I didn't sleep much or very well last night, I feel a nap coming on..

Thanks for the coffee Freddy..

Greg L.