1/8-10/08 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 12:45. There was about a foot of new light powder snow and the driveway had not been cleared. The snow was so light that I had no trouble backing into the driveway and I had no trouble driving back out. I usually do that to turn around so I was trying to turn to the left to go back down the road. The compact snow on the road was so slick that I got stuck crosswise in the road. I put on the new chains and then drove out, backed up the road, and drove into the driveway and parked. Then I shoveled the new snow away from the front and sides of the pickup.

I put the snowshoes on and made trails to the trailer, compost pile, cabin, and privy. It was pretty easy since I already had a firm trail under that new powder. I started the heater in the trailer and built a fire in the wood stove in the cabin. Then I moved my gear in and had lunch.

After lunch I measured 5' 5 1/2” of snow on the ground and then went up and sanded the varnished surfaces that were due for another coat.

On Wednesday, there was some new snow overnight. I planed, scraped, gouged, chiseled and otherwise prepared the last of the Grid A cap log. I was glad to get that done because that log was awful to work on. I had to fight with every square inch to get it ready for varnish. I got a start on planing the log below it and it is much easier to work on.

I decided not to build a fire in the stove just to save time and to compare how much difference it makes. The temperature was 30 degrees but except that my toes got a little cold, it was still comfortable working. I think I'll light fewer fires from now on.

Bert and Ernie visited and I gave them a few dog biscuits. I also took a few pictures to record how deep the snow was. It hasn't been that deep for a long time. I think it is so beautiful with all that snow and all the trees loaded down with snow.

The snow hadn't slid completely off the big side of the roof yet so there was a huge amount up there. It had slid a little, though, and a couple feet of snow was hanging down over the edge. Snow had melted a little over the roof, but when it ran over the edge, it froze pretty quickly. So there was a lot of ice in the overhanging snow, which made it strong enough not to break off. Instead it curled under the edge of the roof so that the icicles that had formed were now horizontal, pointing at the cabin. It was pretty neat. I took some pictures of that.

Before I quit for the night, I swept and vacuumed so I was ready to varnish in the morning.

On Thursday morning there was a foot of new snow on the ground. It was light powder so I could easily walk on the trails without snowshoes. It was still snowing and there was a major storm coming in so I decided to leave early. I varnished the prepared surfaces, which was the entire length of the Grid A cap log, cleaned out my brush, closed things up, had lunch, and left for home at 11:30.