Winter 2023 Arrives! 

Well, we saw it coming…. And the weather changed a little earlier this year. Our first snow flurry day was October 23 and the temperatures the past week have been a balmy -3 to -7 on average! PERFECT weather for grabbing that cup of hot chocolate and watching the Packers get dealt another loss, well, they finally won yesterday, woohooooo! (Lisa and Colin are shareholders of the Green Bay Packers, hence the passion)

The summer clothes are officially gone and “so yesterday”! Some don’t like the cold, but for those of us who experienced 6 months of grey and rain each year for 20+ years simply appreciate that we are not trying to always stay dry. (just throw on a toque!)

There are still a couple of tasks to do outside which will probably get done this week sometime as it is supposed to warm up to 5 degrees at some point. That is the day the drill is operational! Very challenging operating a drill with it being cold as your hands just freeze. We have to cover up an opening on the storage garage(done) and the writer wants a door handle on the garage door(done). It used to have operable garage door openers for the individual doors it appears but no longer. Now they are just manual lift but very light. We will need to access this garage regularly through the winter…..  for the plow blade, so easier access is essential. The wind and snow actually will pound against the storage garage doors as it is in direct line from the North Easterly winds.

There has been discussion of a home gym which seems very plausible as winter removed that every day work on the farm. Most of the tasks inside the house are nowhere near as physical as those outside so a home gym is most likely going to happen very soon here.

The Christmas Lights outside have been re-hung with some very innovative new clips. The new clips made life very easy, we picked them up at Canadian Tire, naturally of all places, where else! They made a big job a lot smaller! Click Here to check out the clips….  

Outside Wifi

Well we ran the cable and mounted the TP-Link Outdoor Wifi Port so we could have access to wifi while outside and in the barn. It is the first step to getting cameras in the pigs pens as they would be viewable only through wifi.

Eventually, we will get the cameras and then wire them up as they will be solar powered so running wires is something we will have to do unfortunately from the camera to the great outdoors.

Kudos to Ashley for braving our attic and running the cable from the garage to the office in the house where our main wifi set up is located. Looks like we may need some new insulation up there eventually! Some of the insulation that came down as she went up looked pretty old but it still seems to be keeping us toasty! We have 3 attics, 2 in the house and a separate one for our garage. With each addition comes a new attic, lol, kind of like the water heaters and furnaces if you recall from one of the original blog posts.

Security Cameras

We have a couple of security cameras setup now and a third is still to be installed (done) but the delay on that one was location location location! (I think we have the location figured out now)

With the new outside wifi port, placing a camera to face the barn and wellhouse area is not an issue at all anymore. The outside wall of the storage garage will be home to 2 cameras and a motion light.

The Decko cameras we purchased for the compound security aspect are pretty easy to set up and also very cool with Night Vision. They don’t swivel or pivot, they are stationery, but the way they are currently angled, the range of vision is absolutely optimal. The cameras feed onto a memory card we have installed in the camera or to a cloud based service ($$) where we can see any incidents that may have occurred. When it detects motion in its view, it starts to record. So far, they are awesome, but the true test is our winter months. They are supposed to be good in extreme cold so we will see.

Crafts and Creations

Tis the season…. Lisa and Ashley have been busy making crafts with the wood from our downed Spruce tree earlier in the summer. It is like an army of snowman and Santa Claus’s in the craft room. (Yes, there is a craft room)

The creations are amazing, and they will be selling them locally along with some other projects about to start like cinnamon scented pinecones and bacon flavoured dog treats!

The craft room smells amazing though with the cut-up spruce tree wood.

Quad

Well, we bought a quad for the farm along with a plow blade for it so we can use it to clear snow. However, this won’t be it’s only purpose of course but right now, yes, we will be using it to clear the snow down our driveway. The setup is so easy using a winch system with a mounted plate on the underside of the quad. In seconds you are hooked up to the plow blade and off you go!

The quad is a CanAm Outlander DPS 850; 854 CC and almost 80hp.
https://can-am.brp.com/off-road/ca/en/models/previous-model-years/2023/outlander.html#dps

It has some real pick up and go! We went with a larger model because of the plowing specifically as we wanted to make sure that we would be able to plow without power issues. This definitely should not pose any issues at all.

We will also be using it in the pasture and around the property for a lot of different tasks of course. Right now, it is definitely just fun to jump on and go for a quick run around. It is cold now, so your face freezes pretty quick at the higher speeds, lol.

In the new year, we will look at getting a little utility trailer made for it. Our current flat deck trailer was a custom build by a local guy and he did an amazing job. We would like to get a little trailer that is strong enough to carry dirt and stone but also has the capability of carrying ladders and wood out to the pasture if required. Most Quad trailers simply can’t do both and most don’t have a drain hole in the bottom either if you need to spray it out. Our trailer guy will be getting a call in the spring.

We will also be getting the quad plated eventually so we can venture off the property and onto our local farm road legally.

So Many Holidays…..

Happy Belated Halloweenie

Well our awesome home grown pumpkins went to Payton for their Halloweenie Home. Wow they did an awesome job decorating for the spookie season. Our Halloween here on the farm was very quiet and uneventful. Not much out here in rural Streamstown.

Payton apparently cashed in pretty good on the sugar so when she comes to the farm next, there should be no reason for a shortage of energy… lol.

Remembrance Day Come and Gone

Hope you got your poppy and supported our veterans. Even after Remembrance Day has concluded, be sure to take some time and remember those who sacrificed so much for us all. You may not know someone personally who has served, but it doesn’t change the fact that our service men and women have and continue to sacrifice every day. Thank them for their service.

Are You Ready for Christmas?

Get those cards in the mail early to avoid any slowdowns from a heavy parcel season. Today the writer purchased Christmas stamps for all those cards we have so now it is time to get those cards written up and ready for the post in a few weeks.

Our Christmas is perhaps looking as it may be very quiet. Just some good cooking, a little Baileys and a lot of sports hopefully. Colin is very busy working on marketing and planning for the farm while Lisa and Ashley are hard at work with creating more from and for the farm. By the time Christmas gets here, the Christmas season will be more like a holiday we are sure.

With Remembrance Day having passed, Lisa has begun the Christmas transformation. When she is done, the house will definitely be fulfilling the Christmas Spirit requirement! I am sure we will be posting pics again this year of the beautiful tree she decorates!

Our Spring Order Is In!

Life changes when you have acreage for sure. We found an awesome supplier of trees, shrubs etc here in Alberta where the cost is not a killer. We want to build up some of the open spaces with trees and shrubs. Some for privacy and some for windbreak. We also bought some raspberry bushes and an apple tree. Where do we shop you ask? Well, it is a company called TreeTime.ca and they are solely an online entity but sell in mass wholesale to all of Canada. However, they also offer smaller bundles.

If you have acreage or a large backyard where you want to acquire shrubs or trees, it is worth a look at https://treetime.ca . You have to pre-order for the Spring and I can tell you for a fact that they do sell out of many items very quickly. The site just opened up on Nov 1 for ordering. They ship you your order out on a date you request based on your climate. The site is informative, educational, and straight forward. Check it out. No, we don’t make commission, they don’t have an affiliate program, wish they did. We just want to share something awesome with everyone who follows our blog.

In Closing

We will leave this posting as our last until Christmas. We wish everyone safe travels and good health as winter arrives coast to coast. As the Christmas season approaches, please be safe and keep warm!!!