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Winter is coming!

So far, this fall of 2018 has been dry and cold in our northern town!
This morning it was a cold 19 degrees (-7 C) and we've had the temperatures staying around that 20-degree range (-6 C) and getting in the 38 (+3 C) to 41 (+5 C) for the "high".
This time last year we had already had about a foot of snow and quite a few days of rain but the temps were in the 30s at night and 40s for the highs.

A couple of weeks ago we did have the first snow of the winter of 2018/2019. Only an inch and it has since melted but there will be more snow coming! Maybe tomorrow night as a storm system is pushing through for Thanksgiving day and the weekend.


















Stacy has been inspired to try to make hard candies for possibly some holiday gifts. On YouTube, she came across the videos from the Hercules Candy Company, a family run company in the New York area where one of the family members began recording and posting videos of how it is done the old fashion ways of primarily done by hand only without the machines that you may have seen on TV shows like "How It's Made" that can make hundreds of whatever an hour.
Even though there are numerous warnings of attempting to make hard candies at home, we thought, why not?
So, she gathered some of the items needed to hopefully prevent very bad and painful burns from handling basically molten sugar to make hard candy.


Above: on the two marble tiles Stacy found for exactly this job are the two batches from the one copper pot of sugar. Poured out and cooling to be able to start molding into candies, the over 300 degrees, very hot (148 C) molten sugar, looks good here. 
Below: in the one batch Stacy added some peppermint flavoring and this red food coloring spot to be mixed in. 



Above: the results of our first attempt. Not pretty- at all! But they still taste good! Stacy wants to try again and she's gotten a few more things to help the process work more smoothly, and make the results look better!

As we, and the area, get ready for winter, some of the things that have to get done for the coming cold are, make sure all the hoses are water free and stowed, that we have enough firewood since much of our house is wood heated. The roof is cleaned off with as much of the leaves and branches that can build up on some areas and roofs of the buildings on the property. 
The snow removal equipment is ready to go. I have enough of the ethanol free premium gas for the snow thrower and chainsaws if needed. Luckily, our area has a couple of gas stations that sell the ethanol free gas because that is the only gas that should be used in small gas engines as the ethanol literally eats the rubber gaskets in the carburetors and fuel lines. We know this from the money we've spent on carb rebuilds after ethanol fuel was being left in the equipment. 

The RV's are "winterized" so the water pipes, water heaters, water tanks, and water pumps are all water free so the water can't freeze, expand and break the pipes etc. 

You don't work outside very long without wearing layers of clothes to stay warm!

So, enough for this post. To all readers, I hope it will be or was a good Thanksgiving holiday for you and yours. 

Tad



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