Vermont Coldness.

2-14-26 VERMONT: We came up on Thursday in sunshine. Scott had shoveled and opened the garage door for us. We settled in, and later Lily, and Danna arrived with Matt, Harrison and Sharon, and Sharon little dog. 

The big news is that I was about to start the laundry Friday morning when I noticed that the bathtub next to the laundry was half full of waste water. From prior experience, I knew that it meant that the drain from the house to the septic tank was blocked by ice. When the house is unoccupied in a cold winter, tiny leaks from faucets drip, drip, drip and freeze in the drain until it’s blocked. When the house is in use, all the drain water flow keeps the drain open. We used to turn the water off in the winter months when we were not here, but with horses in the pasture, the water needs to stay on.

Help was supposed to arrive yesterday, but got pushed back to today. We are still waiting for the plumbers to get here with a steam pipe gadget to melt the ice dam. 

If it hasn’t occurred to you, dear reader, we can’t let water go down the drain, so no toilets, no sink use, etc. We put tubs in the sinks to catch water from toothbrushing and stuff, and we dump it outside in the snow. Most of us go outside to pea. Steve and Diana, our neighbors, said use their toilets whenever. 

I filled the feeders here yesterday but have had no customer as yet. We had an American Goshawk at the feeder in NJ, looking for a tasty songbird.  I also saw two raptors high in an oak tree on one of my walks, but the iPhone pic just showed silhouettes. Much tweaking of the images  didn’t help.    

We have lots of snow flakes in the air today but no accumulation as yet. There’s more than a foot and a half on the ground. All the guests, except for Harrison, are skiing at Killington today. Winnie the guest dog has been good, but needs a dog sitter.