The days when temperatures climbed into the seventies are behind us. We now are happy if it reaches 65°F in the warmest part of the day. But this is great weather for doing chores that would make you sweat, and wearing my bee suit is much more comfortable than it was in August.
We have had frost warnings at night, but no actual frost. The fleece has come out of the closet for late-night dog walks. Flannel sheets are on the bed, but for now we are sticking with blankets instead of the down comforter.
It’s been sunny, which is our saving grace. The sun heats the house, and we are still making 40 kilowatt hours of electricity on a good day. This is more than we consume, even if the heat pump kicks on a few times. The unusual weather we experienced this spring and summer may have returned to normal. We’re crossing our fingers that the winter is average instead of extra cold or snowy.
We haven’t lit a fire yet, but we can smell wood smoke in the air and know one of our neighbors has. I did split and stack more firewood this weekend.
Honeybee Report
Fewer bees are flying, and the last two feedings have been with the thicker two-to-one syrup, which is made by dissolving 32-pounds of sugar into two gallons of water. It takes quite a bit of stirring even when I heat the water over a propane burner. The concept behind the thicker syrup is that it is easier for the bees to dehydrate and store for the winter.
I removed the mite treatment strips I added last month, which gave me a good look at the hive populations. Of my ten hives, five were loaded with bees. Three were in pretty good shape, and two didn’t look as strong as I would like. I’ll be happy if I come out of winter with seven or more hives.
The hives are as prepared for winter as I can get them. The screened bottom boards are sealed, and all but the largest hives are set with the smallest opening on the entrance reducer. I’ve got foam insulation and the Reflectex in place to provide some insulation.
The last flowers to bloom are dying off. The goldenrod goes from bright yellow to a sad brown in a hurry when the temperature drops. Pretty soon, the natural sources of pollen and nectar will be gone until early March.
Garden and Chickens
Somehow, the garden continues to produce two kinds of lettuce, although the spinach and kale didn’t amount to much. We are very close to the point when the cold will kill it all, but every day with fresh lettuce is a good one. My wife harvested the last four peppers and will coax them into turning yellow or red on a sunny windowsill. She has already made roasted peppers on our barbecue grill, which is her favorite way to eat them.
My wife has also been planting bulbs and bare-root shrubs and bushes. By planting them in the fall, the roots develop over the winter and they grow faster in the spring.
The chickens continue to lay 11 or 12 eggs a day, not bad for 15 hens that are more than two years old. I’m glad I gave them a reprieve when their laying slowed down this summer. It will be interesting to see how well that holds up in December through February. I’d be happy getting three or four eggs a day during the darkest days of winter, but in the past there have been days where we get one or none. We’re keeping four or five dozen eggs on hand to give us a cushion for when the hens slow down.
When the temperature drops below freezing, I will put the acrylic panels back on the chicken coop windows, which only have screens on them right now. This will help keep the chickens warmer.
Winch Install
I finally installed the winch on the Polaris Ranger UTV. Removing the bumper and bolting on the winch wasn’t difficult, but neither was it easy because there isn’t much room up under the bumper for a socket. Between the terminals and the bolts holding on the bumper, I used 10, 12, 13, 15 and 17mm sockets and wrenches on this job. That is pretty darn close to the whole set.
Wiring things up, adding a switch to the dashboard, attaching a battery disconnect, and fitting everything under the hood was at least as time-consuming as bolting on the winch. I also had to be careful drilling screw holes through the Ranger’s plastic components so I didn’t hit something on the other side.
I watched multiple how-to videos to make sure I wasn’t screwing anything up. There was no video about installing my exact winch on that exact machine, so I had to watch people install other winches on my Ranger and my winch on Hondas and other vehicles and then extrapolate. Everything worked out OK, almost.
When I went to put the bumper back on, it didn’t fit. I called it a day and slept on it. When I work up, I realized what I needed to do.
I had to remove the winch plate, then remove the winch from the winch plate, and bolt it back onto the plate using the lower set of holes. (The manufacturer did not specify which set of holes to use.) Installing it the second time around went faster, but I would have preferred to avoid it. After moving the winch, I fit the bumper back into place. It was a tight fit. If the winch was 3/16 of an inch thicker or wider, it would not have fit.
For anyone searching the Internet who stumbles across this in the future, here’s what works: If you are using the Rough Country Winch Plate to install a Badlands Apex 5500 winch (with the synthetic rope rather than the metal cable) bolt the winch to the lower set of holes on the winch plate, as show in the photo. Doing it right the first time will save you time and trouble.
Easy Wiring Harness
I have to give Polaris credit. The Ranger is set up very well for installing aftermarket upgrades, and their Pulse Power Plugs make it easy to tap into the ground, ignition, and power lines. With this experience, I am confident that I could easily install light bars and other electronics with ease.
I may install an LED light bar on the front just to have brighter lights, but I’m going to wait until winter and see how often I drive it after dark. What I miss is having a dome light inside the vehicle. I didn’t realize how useful it is to have a light on the ceiling when looking for something in the under-seat storage bins. I’ll probably just stick an inexpensive battery-powered LED up there with a piece of double-sided sticky tape rather than wire something up.
As planned, I now have a dedicated USB adapter in one of the 12-volt power ports on the dashboard. It provides a standard USB charging port and a USB- C/Power Delivery port. I carry the cables and a second adapter in a Ziploc bag in the glove compartment. This is useful for charging phones, drone batteries, and other electronics. I don’t expect to need to charge my phone while driving around, but this is a cheap way to be safe rather than sorry. It could also be useful if we need to use the UTV as an emergency bugout vehicle.
While working on the UTV in the garage, I hooked up my trickle charger and topped off the battery. Since I usually take short trips, I thought it could use a boost.
Winterizing the Garden Tractor
We have a garden tractor that is used as a lawn mower. Every year, I let the engine run to use up all the gas in the tank. Then I try to start it a time or two to use up every drop of fuel in the carburetor. Even though I use ethanol-free gasoline, I figure this keeps the fuel from gumming up the carb over winter. So far, it has worked just fine.
After replacing the battery early this year, I think I will remove it from the tractor and store it in the garage. It will be much warmer there. I hope that will add a couple of years to its service life.
A Canine Visitor
One morning last week, we heard the baying of the hounds out tracking a bear. Around lunchtime, one hound wandered across our property. She was at loose ends, having lost the bear and her pack. She was neither friendly nor aggressive, showed some interest in the chickens, and largely ignored us. I called the phone number on her collar to see if they wanted us to hold her, but no one picked up. The dog was outfitted with a GPS antenna so her owner could track her, but we never saw them. I assume she got back home OK. By crossing the mountain, the dogs can get here faster than the vehicles, which have to go the long way around.
I support hunting, and as a beekeeper I don’t mind knocking back the bear population, but I don’t find it very sporting to shoot a bear in a tree. I have no problem with others doing so, however, especially if it’s a family tradition or they need the meat. Besides, every man should have a hobby, and I bet running dogs is fun, regardless of whether they are chasing a raccoon, a bear, or flushing a pheasant.
I think it’s too bad more Americans don’t hunt. I grew up with hunting. In the 1980s and 90s, it seemed like everyone I knew went hunting. Even when I lived in New York City, I knew people who went to their family’s camp upstate to go deer or bear hunting.
Hunting and fishing are both alive and well around here, but I have lived in cities where almost no one goes hunting. We could use some more hunters. Besides, it’s a great excuse to get out into the woods and practice some of your survival skills.
