November has arrived

Yes, I know... it's on the calendar so what's the big deal? Just that the earth signs, here in Maine at least, concur.

A couple of days ago we were blessed by some more serious winds than we've had of late. K commented that this was the "leaf stripping wind" and it appears he was correct. Most of the deciduous trees are now bare, and the bushes as well.

Today we got our third snowfall and the first to happen in the daytime for multiple hours. Most of the afternoon into the evening, snow was falling as I worked in the garage, assembling the fence panels for which I had cut the wood yesterday. There were lots of big, fluffy flakes and in late afternoon, they began to accumulate a bit, making the first "sticking" snow. The forecast was for it to continue into the night with an accumulation of several inches but I do not see than happening now, unless there are more waves of precipitation to come. We will see.

I took the funnel and measuring tube out of my rain gauge in anticipation of having a bit of an accumulation of snow gathering in the 4" cylinder, to be melted and properly measured as liquid tomorrow morning. I have yet to set up the snow accumulation measuring station, but the parts are more or less in place so if there is any accumulation tomorrow morning I will be able to at least take a ruler to it.

The fence, which will enclose the dog yard and hopefully keep Coffee confined, is being made from a load of cull rough cut lumber... mostly 1x6 and some 1x4 boards. I do not have a count of the number of panels I have made, but I used up nearly 100 verticals -- all of the 1x6s. I decided to save the vertical 1x4s, of which there were only a handful, to go with parts cut from the remaining long 1x4 to make a gate. The gate will not be installed until next year, when we get "real" fence posts set. For now, the wooden panels will be held in place by being bolted to metal posts, the kind most often used for electric or wire fencing.

Neither of the dogs jumps against the fence, though at times they lie -- and lean -- against the bottom and the posts should hold against that. The main issue with the current fence -- plastic netting held in place by cheap plastic step-in posts -- is that while Brandi, the full grown Saint Bernard, views it as a barrier, Coffee, the now 5 mo old pup, see it as not even a challenge any more. She just walks it down and is out.

Cutting the wood yesterday and assembling panels today has left me tired and sore in many places but feeling pretty good. "Making sawdust" as my dad used to say, is fun.

Now, if the ground will just hold off on that freezing thing until after next week and we can get the posts driven and the fence up!...