well the big one struck, 7.1 and about a hundred others of various sizes but Smylies survived it apart from a TV, Play station ,glass and a couple of precious ornaments, all kinds of reasons have been given why we came of relatively light but we are fortunate .business will be slow now for the next couple of weeks with people gathering in other places for their skiing. We have completed today the first stage of the heating improvement with the commissioning of the heat exchange wetback system. At this stage we are running on 2 radiators to bed the system in but we are hopeful for a complete system for the hostel within 12 months. The next step is the solar panel /heat exchange system for the gas boiler which we are hoping to have going by the summer. A big thank you to the Tsutahara and Iwaya ski teams ,we enjoyed your company tremendously and look forward to seeing you all next year.
well the winter is underway, not quite the snow levels as last year but enough to enjoy, everybody started on their predicted starting time and we are looking forward to some more snow. On the home front the sheep and alpacas are happy with their new hayrack ,we found out alpacas don't like noisy steel bridges to cross, so become very friendly when you want to hand feed them because they were hungry and not due to your get friendly program. We have installed eco panel heaters in motel 3 and 1 and the staff rooms and will continue to evaluate them, at this stage they live up to their stated m2 coverage .,also the new fire place in the hostel is working well with prolonged time between fills. The next step is to install the radiators in the hallway and middle room and possibly lounge depending on capacity. The laundry is just about finished and 2 new dryers installed, of course the washing line with still be the preferred option for us.
A quick update, the leaves have finally dropped and it is raining cats and dogs, however the good news is that it is also snowing up on the mountain, not long to go now.
summer is here, it took a while but we have had some good weather in the last month, January was a wet and cloudy month February it started of the same but then the sun came out and we have had fine weather since. On the home front we have tackled the garden in a big way with Keiko's Father out here for 2 weeks . We now have about 35 trailer loads of branches that have to be chipped but the effort has been worthwhile, thank you Toshi senior