Freeze Continues, Utd Suck, Frozen Creek Hockey, Crazy Ice, Fire, Grilling, Balsa Plane - Sunday

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(Edited)

Wow, we got down to -6F yesterday morning at 4:30am, a real heat wave. I spent my morning writing my posts and watching the sun come up over the hillside and blast its light through the windows. It has been super clear skies which has helped the arctic cold settle in better.

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9am Man Utd's match against Tottenham started and they were doing good until they weren't. The team is going to have some SERIOUS changes happening with the new ownership involved and I am for sure anxious for them to begin. Something has to change with the club because they are languishing right now. They have to lose a bunch of dead weight and piss poor attitudes to have a chance to move forward properly. Does go to show that money doesn't always win titles. Utd eeked out a tie which they didn't deseerve.

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Once the match was over I was getting dressed to go wander and the boys decided to come with. We headed to the big creek and the tunnel to see the ice thickness.

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Holy thick ice Batman. Well over a foot thick in many spots thanks to the constantly running water freezing as it builds up and flows over itself. Even the ice right next to the open flow of water was more than thick enough for me to stand on it without it even cracking.

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Portals in the ice in various places that allows the air into the water flow. Dangly bits of ice were everywhere.

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The tunnel is over 200 ft long and this is the first time I can remember it freezing to the middle. Goes to show how extreme this blast has been.

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The ice crystals that grew everywhere were super amazing looking but nearly impossible to photo well in the shadowed light.

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The falls ice has growths of ice crystal in little florets across the face.

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There is some ice that is SUPER clear for the entire depth but most has air bubbles and is a bit more milky looking.

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The boys had a blast skating/sliding the ice.

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The moss is handling the temps just fine and has a nice coating of snow across the boulder.

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Down to the little creek we went were we found the ice just as thick but in the lower parts of the creek it is flatter which made for much smoother ice.

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At the Y in the creek the ice had built a really nice section of flat smooth ice and the boys spent bunch of time sliding all up and down the creek.

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The tunnel for the main creek to go under our road has a bunch of grasses hanging down and they are built up with some amazing ice.

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I tromped back to the house and the boys followed so they could grab their hockey sticks and a couple pucks. They then spent the next hour smacking the pucks back and forth on a nice length of the creek that end to end is about a hockey rink length. There are a few portals in the length but not many and they were able to have a blast.

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Back in the house for the afternoon we finished watching the rest of season two of Good Omens which is for sure going to have a 3rd season with the way the last episode ended. Then we watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade so the boys have now seen the trilogy.

I got the fire going in the pit for grilling dinner but I ran back in the house as it was a bit too chilly even with the fire burning.

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I got our burgers on and grilled then toasted the buns over the flames at the end.

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I've had this idea in my head for a while now and finally managed to find the pieces I needed to make it work. The balsa gliders really are a perfect platform for adding a motor to and I found my tiny drone motors, finally. In my kit I have motors and extra batteries. In my electronics supplies I had the perfect battery plug and micro switch.

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It is SUPER simple direct drive of the motor by the battery with the switch on one leg only. I marked out the center of balance for the plane before adding anything and am trying to find the just right spot in the balance. I punched a small hole in the cockpit wood and mounted the switch through it. I soldered all the wires where I had to and used the pin wires where I could.

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I have to mount the motor fully and solidly now but the proof of concept is here and the motor is pushing enough air, just not sure if it will be strong enough for the total weight of it.

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I'll see today if it will manage to fly or just fall.

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Damn it's cold out at night. If I sat with my head too far above the water my ears started to freeze. I kept getting masses of ice building up on my hair and getting out my robe was insanely cold despite my body being so hot from the water.

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Calling for positive temps today so might make it to the teens. Boys are off school and will be spending a bunch of time on the ice most likely. Kraken play a morning game today since it is the holiday so will hopefully watch them kick ass. I have my clothes to wash, make more tortillas, finish then test out my little balsa airplane, ensure all the animals are doing okay and waters are filled, the kitchen needs cleaning, and I'll come up with something for dinner this evening.


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11 comments
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That is some chilly weather! Your glider is super cool. It reminds me of the kind with the rubber band that would be wound up and then let go of to drive the propeller.

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It is exactly one of those but I have removed the rubber band powered prop and installed the electric motor in place. The prop on my motor is TINY but at full bore the thing actually has some trust.

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Nice! I really loved those when I was younger. They were so much fun!

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We've had a bunch of them as the boys love them and they break super easy, I managed to save this one box of 2 that I am working with. I sprayed one in lacquer so the wings stay attached and in place and this one I built for powered flight, though no control surfaces just propulsion.

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Ha! I was wondering about how to add what you call 'control surfaces'! Would be neat for sure. Have you played with the big styrofoam ones much? I got into them for a while also and whoa can they be fun.

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I've had one many years ago but haven't dove back into them yet. The things have gotten WAY better than they used to be for sure. Specially with all the drone tech out now the quality of rc gear has gone up drastically.

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I no longer think about United, lol
They are just going to give me some headache…

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It's a slow motion car crash happening and I can't stop staring at the spectacle.

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That grass with the frost on it was so lovely! Cool the boys got to play hockey on the ice. Wondering how cold it got in the greenhouse?

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I'll be checking today. I didn't want to open the inner plastic and let heat out so didn't check. I know it froze pretty bad though with the -15F we got. The heaters just couldn't keep up.

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