The mild winter weather came to an end on December 16th. Overnight the temperature dropped significantly, and we got a little snow. By the morning of the 17th it was -20C, and it stayed there pretty much all day. It is supposed to get even colder in the coming days. The good side to this harsh winter weather is that it knocks back the Mountain Pine Beetles. I was reading a news report the other day that said that the infestation in Jasper National Park is over, and the beetle numbers are way down. That said, significant areas of pine forest have been wiped out. So far there are only a few dead pine trees in the Nordegg area, so the infestation doesn't seem to be as bad. Maybe this cold weather will halt it here as well.
The deer have been hanging around a lot. Once it winters in, and the bears are in hibernation, I feed them a little oats. Its not that they really need it to survive, I just like to have them coming around. There are at least a dozen white tail deer that are coming around. There are three big bucks that survived hunting season. One of them has already dropped an antler and looks kind of ridiculous with just one. There are two young spike bucks with tiny little antlers, and at least seven antlerless does and yearlings.
I set to work on a bunch of chores on Saturday morning. I swept the snow off the weather station and then brought in some firewood. I checked the ATV and the battery is taking a little bit of a charge, but not enough to start it yet. I did the dishes, took out some garbage and did a little general tidying, Then I headed over to the guest cottage.
I put up the ceiling trim in the west bedroom. It looks a lot better with that trim in place. I need to get the floor tiles installed before I can do the baseboard, casing, and corner trim. But I don't want to put down the floor tiles until I finish all the woodworking projects. So, after that I installed the polished stainless steel backsplash beneath the range hood. I didn't want to do any painting right now as all the moisture in the paint just frosts up the windows when it gets this cold. So, I did a little sheet metal work, making a custom duct in the cabinet base and then cut a register opening into the front of it. Then I went up top onto the small loft above the bathroom. I bought some heavy electrical cable and pushed some of it up through the ceiling opening that the plumbing vent goes through. I will run this down into the crawlspace and it will remain just a rough in for future use. Some day we may install solar panels on the roof and this will allow us to hook them up without ripping open any walls or ceiling. While I was up top I also installed some wood covering to the exposed plumbing vent pipe.
Margarit is coming out to join me for the weekend. So I am preparing a nice dinner for us, and put a chicken in the oven to roast. I also started the fire in the cottage so that it is warm when she arrives. I usually keep it fairly cool during the day as I am always working next door.
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