10 inches snow, Dead Snowblower, LOTS of shoveling, Next Freeze Dryer Batch - Wednesday

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Woke up in the morning to 2 inches of snow fallen and through out the day it just kept dumping. By the time it changed from snow to rain we had 10 inches fallen on top of the couple inches that were on the ground already.

A month or so ago I had gotten the snowblower running, albeit a bit rough, but it ran. So I went up to get it going so I could clear the snow and it didn't want to start. I checked the oil and put the dip stick back in, screwing it down tight. I hit the starter button and all of a sudden the oil dip stick blew out of the hole and oil shot out and all over the place. I knew that wasn't good and after getting it to start up I choked on the thick cloud of smoke it emitted then I saw it. Oil was blowing out the exhaust.

So the engine is toast. I have another old spare 5.5hp Honda motor that has been in the shed for 10 years which just might be a good enough swap. I have to get the old Honda running first before attempting anything so I can make sure it is still good.

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As can be guessed this all meant that I was going to be spending the day with a shovel in my hands. I cleared pathways to the sheds, the studio, the coop. I spent a while building up the sled run using the landscaping rake which gave us a good base for it now that it is raining. The worst part of it all was having to clear the driveway which I managed to get all but 20 feet or so done. I did not want to have to do it all today with the rain making the snow weigh a shit load more.

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Throughout the day I was trying to get the trays prepped for the next load in the freeze dryer. The avocado and the rice and chicken had been outside cooling for a day already and I wanted to fill the rest. I cooked up a batch of plain spiral noodles mid day and got them on a tray to cool outside.

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Then for dinner we made a big pot of spaghetti and once we had eaten I poured the leftovers onto the trays and then filled the remaining space with mixed berries. I got them all in and the machine running before we went to bed and it is plugging away this morning.

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I am soooooo sore this morning from all the shoveling and I have more to do to finish the driveway today. I have managed to get every one of the 12 ARISS ISS SSTV images. They are not perfectly clear but for my first go at it I am still stoked. I have gotten some images from my SDR and Discone antenna on the house but the rest have come from various websdrs around the world. I have applied for my certificate as well which is cool being the 20th anniversary edition.


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Bummer about the snowblower! We discovered neither of our generators was running about this time. A friend of ours got the one at the house running, just in case. But he's not been able to work on the one at the barn....

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