The past few days have left no guesses as to why Mums, Daddies, and friends of Mums and Daddies go to Florida for the winter.
On the farm we are doing well under a blanket of snow, but it's the here again, gone again, wind that's a cause for concern.
A chill factor at -10f or below can freeze the water in the youngstock barn, create hard drifts in busy driveways and contribute to the non-starting of vehicles and equipment stored outside.
It's a huge problem to keep it 80f in the cheese plant when it's windy. If the furnace can't reach or maintain that temperature for 24 hours, the cheeses will not develop properly.
The great irony is that if we actually get it that hot without also creating a tropical humidity, the cheeses will dry out and be ruined anyway.
(There's a double Adirondack under there.)
On days like these, it seems more prudent to stay home and save on milk, cultures, and fuel oil, rather than to go through all the effort and not make any money.
The end of 2009 was a "no cheese" week. My husband Dan winterized the plant by duct taping the seams around the doorframe on the wind side (west).
I thought that was all kinds of crazy, but it worked, and it's now warm where we keep our coats and boots.
Hooray for duct tape!
As a result, I had two half-days off which I'm counting as a "staycation." I didn't get to go anywhere, but I did have time to think. Always a dangerous exercise.
I think that in addition to replacing the windows in the house (always needs doing, but never gets done), the upstairs bathroom could be spiffed up, replacing sinksets that have corroded and rusted through. The sheet rock tape has separated at the ceiling. That should be seen to as well.
Assessments like this always roll toward a repaint or renovation.
Since taking stock of home defects doesn't cost anything, I added professional closet organization to the wish list. Or maybe I should just throw everything out that I haven't worn in the past ten years? That'd free up some room.
While I tallied theoretical expenditures of time and money, Dan continued "buttoning-up" the barn buildings, stuffing insulation where the wind whistles through. The large animals can handle the cold as long as there are no breezes.
The layer pullets are feathered out and have access to the open-air hen pen; he's left the heat lamps on so they can return to their "hot box" if they want to. It also keeps their waterer from icing over.
The semi-feral barncats have several locations in which to hang out, including where we keep freshly gathered eggs. A few have figured out how to grab them out of the wire basket, break them open, and eat them.
I think the activity gives them something to do when it's too cold to go outside and hunt. We all gotta stay busy at something.
