And the winner is 240 days. The propane ran out just after I signed off last time and turned the stove on to make bagels. This is a substantial improvement on our propane consumption. In the twenty eight months since we put the new solar panel system in and added the electric fridge we have averaged $17.00 per month on propane. We are pleased. February 7th, we put on two new forty pounders. When we get to town again we can fill the four empties and return two of them to the manifold.

Thursday, while the sun was still shining, we had a small fir tree try to fall behind the greenhouse. It got hung up in a nearby arbutus. We were worried that if there was a heavy snow and wind, it would take the arbutus with it and maybe land on our stone pillar.

Nothing E likes more than firing up the chainsaw. It took a little sawing and a tow from the truck to unhook the tree and get it down without hitting the pillar but it was fun and a welcome opportunity to get out in the fresh air away from the kleenex box.

We only had a bit of snow yesterday and although the winds were heavy they came from the northeast and didn’t really affect us. Friends on the other side of the island would have been hit harder.

We had heard a large thump during the evening so the next morning walked around the neighbours property to see if there was a tree down. We couldn’t see a problem any where but caught a glimpse of our lonely house out

on the rock