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travellerw
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# Posted: 15 Feb 2025 12:25am
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We could have picked a nicer weekend to come out as it's -25c (-13f). However we haven't been here in a long while as life just got in the way.
It's days like this I'm glad I have an oversized wood stove. It took 2 hours and 15 min to take the cabin from -23 to +15.
Anyone else make the trek this weekend?
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neb
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# Posted: 15 Feb 2025 09:06am
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Very nice!!
I get to the ranch often and when I'm there I want to be there.
Yep minus weather forever it seems. Takes a while to get things heated up but is so enjoyable on a cold wintah day.
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paulz
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# Posted: 15 Feb 2025 09:20am
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Yikes, that is cold!
Yep, finally back to the cabin yesterday. My wood stove is larger here too than at the house, and so much easier to load up.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 15 Feb 2025 10:26am
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It was a minor blizzard here last night, we drove into town (5.5mi) about 4:30 for a V-Day supper and a couple errands in clear cold, 20ish f, then home about 6:00 with visibility about 1 car length ahead  , glad it wasnt far.
We could have been at cabin 45min N....declined the urge, and been snowed in hoping the little JD1025r with bucket would start. I do carry one of those Dandy lithium jump start packs, love it.
If we had I take a guess the cabin may have been 15f so not as long a temp rise needed as yours to get to comfort; wow, 2.25hrs for you to go up 38 degrees. Our 30k btu lp unit starts putting it out right away, no need for a wood stove to finally get kickin. If we did have a wood stove Id want an lp unit too so it would get that head start while the wood got going.
So here we are, in our 940sf country 'cottage' watching more fluffy snow lightly falling and 23f. We had 2 nice adult white tailed deer in the back yard earlier. I have a lovely view out our big windows while sipping a German dark brew coffee and munching a cream filled 'longjohn'. Its tough out here on the frontier 
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DRP
Member
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# Posted: 15 Feb 2025 10:49am
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We had a visit from a power contractor just after breakfast. They are out in pouring rain attending to 4 trees on the line and one break, and that is just the neighbors property, its still a ways up the mountain to the breaker above that but happily it is in the works. We cut pushed, carried, dragged and burned all day yesterday. Several new pine and cherry logs at the mill. Looks like next winter will be the winter of cherry firewood. I did bring the propane heater home from work just in case but have not needed it.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 15 Feb 2025 11:56am
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Cherry! That's like burning a doctor's office
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 15 Feb 2025 05:53pm
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Quoting: gcrank1 Cherry! That's like burning a doctor's office
Depends on the species. (1200 world wide) Kwanzan cherry you can burn all day. Black cherry especially from the mountains of North Carolina they use to make furniture. I have a nice slab of black cherry from NC that has curly figure. Soil type and environment will also effect the wood.
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travellerw
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# Posted: 15 Feb 2025 08:03pm
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It ended up dropping to -33C (-27F) last night. My wife and I were both tired and didn't stay up long enough to totally heat soak everything. So even though it was +15 or more, the moment the fire went out everything that wasn't up to temp sucked all the heat. We woke up to a pretty cold cabin in the morning even though I started a fire at about 4am. It was about 3C (37F) in the morning.
Unfortunately, our skidsteer wouldn't start either (sigh battery dead and froze, new battery required). So I can't plow. Since we haven't been here since the beginning of December, its pretty deep. If we get anymore snow, it will lock us out until the spring. 16" is about the max my old Silverado can make it through in 4X4. Thank goodness its been a cold year as we usually don't get a ton of snow when its cold.
However, its still wonderful to be here. No neighbours for miles, warm and snuggly. Enjoying a beer and movie by the fire after an awesome dinner. It really makes all the hard work worth it for weekends like this.
Here are a couple of pics from today!
PXL_20250216_0052035.jpg
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PXL_20250216_0051443.jpg
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 16 Feb 2025 10:06am - Edited by: paulz
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Quoting: travellerw However, its still wonderful to be here. No neighbours for miles, warm and snuggly. Enjoying a beer and movie by the fire after an awesome dinner. It really makes all the hard work worth it for weekends like this
Been thinking the same. No neighbors, warm and snugly (the dog too). Good movie last night. Dry morning for a break, night log fire still going.
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spencerin
Member
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# Posted: 16 Feb 2025 10:34pm
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I'm going for the first time in a month myself. It's cold and snowy here as well, at least for southern IN anyway. I'm only going for the day to take care of a couple of small projects, but even a month between trips feels way too long.....
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 17 Feb 2025 11:26am
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Great that you have a rig that can get through that much snow! No 4x4 here in even low clearance
We likely have 6-8" at cabin since Fri night so with the snowplow berm at the front of the driveway we are blocked out.
Im needing to replace my '08 Kia Sportage 4dr SUV, 2wd V6, and been looking longingly at the smaller Jeeps (like 4-8yr old used). Thing is for us the all year 4x4 or awd 'mileage penalty' for only a few times a year use troubles me. The old Kia has averaged 23.3 mpg and most of the mileage since 2020 has been back and forth to the cabin. It's essentially my 'work station wagon'. I had to look hard to find one in 2wd back 10yr ago, but that was before the cabin. How priorities change.
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travellerw
Member
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# Posted: 17 Feb 2025 01:01pm - Edited by: travellerw
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@paulz Love the windows.
Even though its a long weekend here, we ended up coming home early. Even though the cabin was lovely, there was nothing for me to do. I didn't have any projects inside and with it being so cold we couldn't do anything outside. I could only watch so many movies.
@gcrank1 If you are mechanical and handy then I would suggest auctions. You can get some amazing deals. I bought that Silverado from a government auction. It was used as a "electronic warfare" vehicle in the Canadian military. It only had 48000km (29000ish miles). Paid 14K for it and it only needed tires. The military had changed EVERYTHING before they sold it (shocks, ball joints, brakes, ect ect). Pretty insane deal for a Duromax/Allison combo with a ton of upgrades.
Another option.. Find a 2011-2015 Subaru Forester with a blown engine. Buy a used engine from one of the salvagers (like LKQ). Easiest engine swap of most vehicles. Even with minimal knowledge you can complete the swap in about 8-10 hours in a driveway. End up with a nice AWD for about 3K. They get pretty darn good mileage.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 17 Feb 2025 02:42pm
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Quoting: travellerw @paulz Love the windows.
Thanks Trav. Yeah, got lucky there. The back wall faces the steep hillside, no view there. Just the headboard, woodstove, shelving and kitchen on that wall, bathroom on the other. This way we can gaze out, day or night. Not much to see, just trees, but at least relieves any closed in a box feeling.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 17 Feb 2025 02:59pm
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They bring the outdoors in...well sorta 
We put big windows in the N, E and W of the end of our new cabin so we can sit there anytime and look out on the meadow and edge of woods both sides, like a windowed in porch effect. We have seen more critters since then in less than a year that we saw in the prev 4 years with the original shack.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 26 Feb 2025 10:17am - Edited by: gcrank1
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Wha Hoo, we are going to today, should be there by 11am (last time was 1-27 and 15f). We have had an above average warming trend right on the heels of the deep cold so it is 38f now and maybe low 50s this aft.
The snow has melted well and a friend checked our driveway, it is a pretty clear drive in.
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travellerw
Member
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# Posted: 26 Feb 2025 12:40pm
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Have fun and enjoy it. If your weather is like ours, its almost like spring out there.
Sigh, I'm stuck home this weekend working on a bedroom for our daughter in the basement, and switching a Subaru engine. Would rather be at the cabin.
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MtnDon
Member
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# Posted: 26 Feb 2025 03:54pm
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We came back from 5 days at our cabin in the Jemez. We were last there for New Years. Then it snowed just enough to make sections of the dirt roads not easy to drive safely without chaining up. Now what snow fell is almost all gone except on the north-facing slopes.
This February is the second warmest in 131 years of recorded data. The record was set in 1957. If the warm weather keeps up we will break that record. This is not good. We have been in a moderate drought since last summer. Seventy miles to the north friends are in a severe drought. The soil not covered by snow around our cabin is dry and dusty.
Highs in the mid-fifties, lows around 27. Only need one fire in the wood stove per day.
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DRP
Member
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# Posted: 26 Feb 2025 07:58pm
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Hey Don,
I hope you all are well and ticking right along. I put in a Mr Cool this summer, I never thought that would be needed. I was sweating in a T today, there was a bit of frost this morning but it was gone quickly. I wish we could share some water. I saw a trailer go over the dam and river cleanup this year will be all hands. We've had the Helene cleanup trucks here all winter, they were almost done with their part and about 2 weeks ago we had a pretty severe icing, which took out power for a week and stuff is still shaking out. The 18 year old in me tried to move a treetop in the road rather than going to get a saw. Today was my first day back. They've cleared several roads 3 times. I bought the mill after a similar icing in '92. The pines along the drive and below the garden are now ~80' tall and we are harvesting them, a number were stripped/broken and they are ready. Mud is the problem here right now, I have several down but we aren't freezing hard enough to skid logs without making a mess.
DonP
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 27 Feb 2025 09:52am - Edited by: MtnDon
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Quoting: DRP The pines along the drive and below the garden are now ~80' tall and we are harvesting them
What diameter have those pines reached? Most of our 75 footers are skinny, because of the rainfall difference. 16 to 18" precipation here equals lots of tall trees at about 12 inches or smaller. Some 16" but it is rare that I want or need to cut something my 16" bar cannot handle.
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DRP
Member
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# Posted: 27 Feb 2025 09:29pm
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The ones along the drive were young when we bought, they might be 45 years old. I thinned them fairly well at that point. Those are 2' or close to it. Our neighbor at the time planted the ones below the garden as a screen between us 35 years ago. They were overstocked/never thinned. There are many in the 10-12" range, the ones right along the garden are up to ~2' but large limbed on that side. Very telling on management, that stand has no real value and would not respond well at this age. I imagine they would just windthrow if thinned now. So that is more of a salvage cut. The new neighbors are happy to help harvest and saw those and a delightful change. I'm sure there will be enough in their pile for a horse barn.
We hit 60 today and now howling with flurries expected. I was just getting ready to post and the power blipped, stuff is still shaking loose out there.
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