Keith B

By keibr

Clearing snow and building walls

Day 3 of snow clearing! We've got down to the cellar and taken the snow off the kayak tent (day 1); we've cleared the doorways and the parking space and around the camper (day 2); and today's job was clearing a path up to Betty's. Jan had a meeting in town so this one was mine!
I cleared up to Betty's (Jan's work area) and went in to check everything was okay - it was. The air-to-air heat exchanger (see picture) has been working for 15 years, and keeps Betty's at 15°C in winter. That feels warm when you've been outside a couple of hours. (On my recent trip to England I heard that heat exchangers aren't suitable for cold climates - an interesting idea when they are used all over Sweden and Finland! We do need a bit of extra heating when the temperature drops below -20°C, but that's not a problem you'll often come across in England.)
Then I went out to the veranda. Last winter we built a wall on the north end of the veranda and it worked well. It kept out most of the snow, and reduced the breeze so one could sit outside in comfort with just a touch of winter sun. When summer rolled around we took away the wall, which is just two white plastic roofing sheets held in place by suitable screws. On the spur of the moment I decided to re-fit it, which meant digging some more snow to get to the shed where the roofing sheets were rolled up. It was getting dark but that's what head torches are for!
So that's the picture when the job was finished. It's taken from the shed doorway and shows the back of Betty's with the extra wall in place. The snowy tree and the snow on the roof are illuminated by my head-torch, which adds a bit of drama to an otherwise rather cosy shot.

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