Frozen Pipes

 Mark was up early to keep the fires going. We had another below zero start and only single digits all day.  The predicted low tonight is -10.  Sunday is going to have a cold start but end up at 21 degrees ABOVE zero and Monday's high supposed to be 33 degrees. It has been a while since we saw above freezing temperatures.  I had 4 loads of laundry today and Mark brought 4 loads of wood to the door before heading up to the barn to feed the cat. He also was able to start the golf cart and drove it down to the garage and plugged it in. This afternoon I was in the middle of browning 5 pounds of ground beef when Karin called. I had to finish this 5 pounds,

brown another 5 pounds and mix it all with spaghetti sauce before I could head over for tea. We were having a nice visit when Phil called to report no water at the barn. He checked out the pit and found the shut off was frozen.  After getting 3 extension cords, the hair dryer and letting that run in the pit for about 20 minutes we had water in the barn and best of all no leaks. Below I am hooking the hair dryer up to the 3rd extension cord.

Below is the hair dryer in the pit on high. 

I put the lid back on and went back inside to warm up while it ran. After 20 minutes I drove over to the barn and checked every bathroom faucet first to make sure they all had running water and second to make sure all of them were turned off before leaving. When I got back to the pit I needed to make sure the turn-off had not cracked and was pleased to see no spraying streams or even any drips.

It was good we caught the freeze before it froze solid. Mark found a tarp to place on top of the pit cover then made sure that was covered well. He also went to the barn and turned on the kitchen faucet so it was running just a tiny bit. We were so glad for the wood burners today. Sitting in the dark with just the firelight warming up the living room and rec room is very soothing.

The extension cords will be taken back to the barn tomorrow as long as nothing freezes tonight.