Nordegg in January

I headed out to Nordegg on the weekend of January 18 and 19, just as the cold snap came to an end.  I managed to pick up my truck, with the new clutch installed, after work on Friday evening.  Saturday morning I headed out to the cottage.  It wasn't as cold as it had been, but was still in the -20's as I drove out.  The poor old truck seemed to be laboring a little, but the clutch worked fine. 

When I arrived I plugged the truck in and got a fire going.  Our electric furnace had functioned just fine through the cold snap, but the gas furnace I left on in one of the bedrooms had gone out.  Propane gels at -42 and I know it got close to that over the past week.  But by this time it had warmed up to a balmy -24C, so that should not have been an issue.  I turned on all three room heaters but none of them would work.  I went outside and checked the intake/outlet vents and all of them were frozen shut.  I cleared the two on the lower level.  Once I'd done this, those furnaces lit and stayed on.  I didn't feel like dragging out the ladder to check the one on the upper level, so I lived without that one.  The wood stove started to warm things up nicely, but when I turned the water pump on, it wouldn't pressurize.  I checked the recording thermometer that I have downstairs and the temperature never dropped below +8C, so it could not have been cold related.  Of course I hadn't brought any water with me, as I didn't anticipate this problem, so I had to live on milk and beer.... mostly beer.

I visited with my neighbors on Saturday night, and had a few too many barley sandwiches.  I spent Sunday nursing a headache before eventually heading home.  It warmed up nicely to about -3 late Saturday night, when I staggered home at about midnight.  On Sunday it was sunny and warm and bounced up to about +5 by the time I left.

I came back out, again by myself, on the following weekend.  This time I dragged my old snowmobile along with me on my little trailer.  It was much milder this time around, with daytime high temperatures above zero and night time lows in the minus single digits.  I tried a few more things with the pump, with no success.  I guess I have to get my plumber out here to help me with this.  I unloaded the snowmobile, and took it out for a short spin.  Not a lot of snow left in the open, so the riding was limited.  I loaded up one of the side-by-sides to take back to the city as it needs to be serviced before spring.  I booked Monday off work as I have a trade contractor meeting me out here to template for granite counter tops.  That process was completed fairly quickly and without incident so I headed for home in the late afternoon.  It sure felt a lot like I expect retirement to feel.  All the weekend people headed back home on Sunday evening and on Monday I was one of the only ones around in the subdivision.  It was very relaxing to say the least and I look forward to the time when this will be a regular occurrence.  But for now, I have to keep working as the company transitions into new ownership.  Only 333 days to go... but who's counting.
During the following week my plumber went out to the cottage and checked the pump for me.  Seems there was some debris from the water tank that was preventing the check valve from closing.  That resulted in the pump draining back into the tank.  He installed a new check valve, primed the pump and tells me that everything is good to go.  I guess that's why he gets paid the big bucks...!  I'm usually pretty good at diagnosing mechanical problems and can usually solve them on my own.  But this one had me stumped.