Winter Where You Are!!

[BIGNASTY]

Mike you don't have a temp gauge in the overhead of your truck? I don't think mine is all that accurate, I don't usually look at it much don't need to be told its cold just roll down the window and I will get the idea.

 

[mwilson]

Mike you don't have a temp gauge in the overhead of your truck? I don't think mine is all that accurate, I don't usually look at it much don't need to be told its cold just roll down the window and I will get the idea.

Both trucks have the overhead temp display and both vans have it in the cluster. This one pictured was in the Jetta.

The Jetta did not have one from the factory. The temp can change drastically during my commute, for example wet roads in Bangor and then it turns to black ice 20 miles up the road.

I saw a 10 degree temp fluctuation just this morning coming down, -9 below at the house and 1 above when I arrived here at work. The road chemicals that were applied last night were frozen over due to the low temps. Once it warmed up to zero I knew that I was good to go faster thanks to the temp gauge..

Mike.

 

[jgillott]

OK, I hope you guys don't mind me blowing off a little steam in this thread. Winter where I am right now is like a scene from Bill Murray's Groundhog Day. It's like this is never going to end. Every blasted day is the same. Snow, Ice, cold over and over, day after day.

I had to pay for a wrecker to yank one of our trucks out of a ditch for the second time in less than 2 weeks today. Last weekend, my brother-in-law went over the side of a bank while plowing a driveway with the '04.5. $100 later, and a frustrated tow truck operator, and the truck, plow and spreader where back up on the road. This morning, I went for a slide nose first in to a ditch with my '07. Apparently a middle age fat guy and snow on top of ice on top of snow don't mix at 4:30 AM. We were close enough to the house that I tried to yank it with one of our other trucks.....of course it wouldn't move. And who had to show up with the wrecker.....the same guy that pulled the '04.5. He only charged me $75 this time. Of course he had to laugh at me and tell me that he enjoyed us keeping him employed lately. To top it all off, the front air dam on the 1/2 got cracked in this unending heavy snow and ice. Not sure when that happened, but apparently Dodge plastic and these drifts on our roads don't mix well. If this winter doesn't end soon, I'm not going to have any vehicles left.

 

[BIGNASTY]

OK, I hope you guys don't mind me blowing off a little steam in this thread. Winter where I am right now is like a scene from Bill Murray's Groundhog Day. It's like this is never going to end. Every blasted day is the same. Snow, Ice, cold over and over, day after day.

I had to pay for a wrecker to yank one of our trucks out of a ditch for the second time in less than 2 weeks today. Last weekend, my brother-in-law went over the side of a bank while plowing a driveway with the '04.5. $100 later, and a frustrated tow truck operator, and the truck, plow and spreader where back up on the road. This morning, I went for a slide nose first in to a ditch with my '07. Apparently a middle age fat guy and snow on top of ice on top of snow don't mix at 4:30 AM. We were close enough to the house that I tried to yank it with one of our other trucks.....of course it wouldn't move. And who had to show up with the wrecker.....the same guy that pulled the '04.5. He only charged me $75 this time. Of course he had to laugh at me and tell me that he enjoyed us keeping him employed lately. To top it all off, the front air dam on the 1/2 got cracked in this unending heavy snow and ice. Not sure when that happened, but apparently Dodge plastic and these drifts on our roads don't mix well. If this winter doesn't end soon, I'm not going to have any vehicles left.

For me I like the Challenge of the winter, this one's been a tad Brisk!! but I will store it in my memory so when it gets warm this summer I can think back to how cold it was!!

 

[jgillott]

I agree with you on enjoying the challenge of winter. But, this year, I can't seem to keep ahead of the game.

Oh, and just for kicks.....

 

[BIGNASTY]

Jigllott

I can get a grip on what your saying if I had to work it would be different, I do have the option of staying in after I get the animals fed, but that gets pretty old fast also. Trust me I remember the days of throwing iron on a gas truck to go up into the mountains to make a fuel drop, I don't miss that at all.

 

[jgillott]

Jigllott

I can get a grip on what your saying if I had to work it would be different, I do have the option of staying in after I get the animals fed, but that gets pretty old fast also. Trust me I remember the days of throwing iron on a gas truck to go up into the mountains to make a fuel drop, I don't miss that at all.

A buddy of mine was able to retire last spring at 59 1/2. He and his wife purchased a house north of Orlando and moved down but kept their house here. When they moved down, he told me that they were going to come back once a month or so to check on the house etc. Haven't seen them since September. Can't say that I blame them.

 

[BIGNASTY]

I took a little impromptu trip to TN it was pretty brisk down there too, its a different cold there its a lot more wet than what we get. FIL/MIL used to head to FL before we moved here. We asked them to stay in MT year round. I told them not to worry about the snow and wood cutting that I would take care of that and their trips into the BIG town for appointments if they would stay. I think that when I get 80+ I might think about warmer places during winters I don't know I really like this place, the 3 seasons are something that living in So Calif we never got.

 

[jgillott]

I went to see Larry the Cable Guy in Pittsburgh last year. He had a quote about our area that I think describes it the best. "You people have 2 seasons here....Winter and July". If I live long enough to retire, which I doubt the way things are going, I'm finding a place a lot warmer than this.

 

[BIGNASTY]

That's the problem that I have is I cant take the humidity, when I went to Vietnam I was seriously thinking of just ending the misery of the climate and just running into the VC camp to get it over with quicker than what the country was trying to accomplish. I could not drink enough of ANYTHING to stay hydrated. Humidity sucks!!! and Ive had enough of California so this I think this going to be the place they plant me.

 

[jgillott]

I'm the opposite. I love to go to Florida in the heat of the summer. Give me mid-high 90's with the humidity and I'm at home. I even enjoy going for a jog or playing golf in the heat of the day down there. Of course, I'm only there a few weeks out of the year, but I love it when I'm there.

 

[BIGNASTY]

My idea of a summer time activity, after a long day on the trail and a few beers with lunch Yaaaaaaaaaaaa don't get much better than that right there!!!

 

[jgillott]

This is my ideal summer. Hitting a ball around a place that looks like this. Every half hour or so, someone drives up in a cart and gives you another beer or 2. Who cares if I'm the second worst golfer to ever play the game.

 

[jgillott]

This is my ideal summer. Hitting a ball around a place that looks like this. Every half hour or so, someone drives up in a cart and gives you another beer or 2. Who cares if I'm the second worst golfer to ever play the game.


View attachment 87851

 

[BIGNASTY]

Wouldn't mind raising hell in the golf carts, and I really like the driving range but never did get to involved in the rest of the game. Our golf course runs during the winter they use orange balls so you can find them and the greens are snow dyed green. FIL and friends play when ever they can -20 kind of takes the fun out of it :-laf

 

[jgillott]

FWIW...They claim that you get better distance out of the golf ball when you freeze them. They should really go at -20, that is if they don't shatter off the tee.

 

[BIGNASTY]

If that is true they for sure wont let me out on the driving range. most times the last the ball is seen is when its still on the rise and going over the end net wall. :-laf That's the only club that I own is a Big Bertha driver. They see me get out of the car at the range, oh no he's back!!

 

[GCroyle]

A Small Woodpile

BIG,

This is a yard that processes SYP. The pile really doesn't show up well in this pic, I was sorta shooting into the sun so its backlit. In the center is a center pivot crane that feeds the mill. This mill is just down the road from the Lady in Black, Too Tough to Tame, Darlington Raceway. SYP is planted in harvest rows out here, maybe 8' X 8' on centers or so, don't really know the dimensions, but all lined up for future harvesting.

The split wood is Oak with a little Hickory its roughly 3 std pallets stacked as a rough cube and the loose wood in the front is that Willow Oak that don't split. Gives us something to do.

 

[Wayne M.]

Mmmmm. Darlington. Visited there once on a quiet day. I'd be involved with something like that. There are a zillion tracks down there. That's my summertime love. Especially when the sun goes down and it cools off.

 

[BIGNASTY]

BIG,

This is a yard that processes SYP. The pile really doesn't show up well in this pic, I was sorta shooting into the sun so its backlit. In the center is a center pivot crane that feeds the mill. This mill is just down the road from the Lady in Black, Too Tough to Tame, Darlington Raceway. SYP is planted in harvest rows out here, maybe 8' X 8' on centers or so, don't really know the dimensions, but all lined up for future harvesting.

The split wood is Oak with a little Hickory its roughly 3 std pallets stacked as a rough cube and the loose wood in the front is that Willow Oak that don't split. Gives us



something to do.

Looks like you've got some work to tend to Pard, some nice looking rounds to split by hand with an ax. I like the workout doing it the old way. grab the end of a two man buck and get a good back and shoulder workout. Who needs a gym!!

We have a lumber yard in town they do all kind of special cuts and size lumber, beams mostly and they have all the normal lumber sizes. They make pellets for the wood stoves and have a pressure treatment facility for the fence poles that they make. Just a small amount of the post that the son used the Ford tractor and the post hole digger attachment come spring he has at least 2 times this many more to dig and run wire on.