Winter Storm Harper

Today is not a day to be putting your tongue on the pump handle. It was -0.4°F when I got up this morning. The almost-full moon was just going down. Hilda didn’t think I should open the coop when I went out at 7:00 for fear that the girls’ combs would freeze. The alternative was for the hens to stay in the coop and get pecked by Juanita. She is just mean. I watched her do it! Bianca cowered in the corner beneath the nest boxes while many of the others huddled together behind the waterer. In retrospect, we should have sent Juanita to the butcher in July. Oh well. The should-haves don’t count.

We have settled into our new normal with having a cat around. This week Skippy learned to leap over the camping mat that was blocking the doorway to the store room. I’d found him back there twice before I witnessed the jump. The other way he could have been getting access was by climbing over some boxes that were blocking entry next to the upright freezer. Once we knew where the problem was, we could solve it by shutting the door.

Skippy does not seem to have a deep understanding of cause and effect. For example, after he has been sitting on my lab for a while, he will get up and check to see if there is any food in his bowl. No one has been anywhere near his kennel since he last checked. Apparently, he believes that food can magically appear without human intervention.

What? The food dish is STILL empty?

Winter Storm Harper was scheduled to arrive late Friday afternoon. To my astonishment, the College sent out a notice shortly after lunch that it would close at 4:00. I got my haircut at 1:30 and was home by 2:00. After washing my hair, I made a cup of tea and settled into my chair with Skippy on my lap. We waited for the storm, Skippy and I, feeling all warm and cozy and relieved that I had nowhere to go until Monday. During these moments, winter is enjoyable.

Hardly a flake had fallen by the time the College closed. In fact, it was probably midnight when I noticed that I couldn’t see the grass anymore. By morning, we had 5” of snow.

Harper's five inches of snow

After the chicken chores and breakfast, I went out to brush off the solar panels. I saw a few patches of clear sky and didn’t want to miss out on the electricity. The east side wasn’t too bad. Much of it had been blown clear by the wind. The snow covered progressively more of the panels going west until the last couple of rows were completely blocked. The biggest snow drift ran along the second panel from the top. Of course. It couldn’t be where I could reach it easily.

I got Mr. LongArm (this is the real name of the pole) with his brush out of the garden shed and got busy.

Me and Mr. LongArm brushing off the solar panels

On the panels with more snow, I brushed it down to the last two rows and then shortened Mr. LongArm to pull it down the rest of the way. The trouble was that the wind was coming from the north (directly behind the panels), which created a Venturi effect as it passed underneath the panels. As soon as the snow cleared the bottom edge, it was blasted upward at high speed, filling not only my coat pockets but also my nose. Not pleasant.

After a little more than an hour, the panels were as clear as they were going to get. And the sky had clouded up again, so our production was not very high after all.

As clean as the panels were going to get

 I’m glad to have the panels clean today. The air has a special clarity when it is too cold to hold any moisture. The sky is bright, deep blue. The snow is blindingly white. And the solar panels are cranking out the kWhs.