Here we go again.  Temp 16F and pouring the snow.  Overnight accumulation is around 5-6".  I just hope that it continues to snow if it is going to do anything.  Prediction for the PM is to change over to Rain, freezing rain, sleet and back to snow again.  Opened up the drive for the wife to go to work.  Now for the second cup or is it the third cup.   

I guess it was about 8" down here. I've been playing in the shop working on a larger version of one of these on these snowy days;
http://www.armure.ch/WALKING.htm

Ah-ha!!  That's what the funny gear things are for. Cool!   Are you going to motorize it? Make a remote control?

One of the guys is trying to figure out how to pedal power it leaving the front wheel and frame of a bike and using the pedals to turn an axle that spins the center gear on each side. The crawler mechanism will replace the rear tire and it'll steer with the front wheel. Something to get the kids started and then let them run with that one or...
It's reminded me of experimenting with a new piece of furniture coming online in a factory. We started with conduit linkages but I remade them in beech today. I think I made a dozen gears before the light bulb lit. With the gear they are low speed and I think we could do a session making charcoal, then a pattern set of gears, mold them, melt aluminum and cast them. All kinds of ways to get into trouble 

I got the drive between shops and out to the public road plowed but it has turned to sleet, I don't think we're done with this one yet,

When is this winter going to end already?  It goes from heavy snow, to crazy build up of ice storms, to warm weather where everything melts... within hours.  Yesterday evening was rain, a TON of rain, all the sewers backed up, hydroplaning like crazy cause of small ponds all over the road surface... (people still honked at me for slowing down though - morons) then overnight switch to freezing rain.  Schools all closed today, power outages everywhere... I think I will finally lose our tree in the backyard, it's leaning pretty heavily with all the ice buildup... 

What did that damn gopher say? 

Weather is just as wacky here as it is up north.  17F yesterday morning, warmed up and dumped 2-3" of snow overnight.  23F this morning.  Calling for the Mid 60'sF by Monday. 

Insanity... 

We had a province wide blizzard warning on Wednesday, well the warning was in effect since the Monday or so. 
They said 12" of snow with 80 kph winds,  suggesting people should stay home.  I set my alarm for an hour and a half later than usual, figured I would wake up, have a coffee, slowly start shoveling... get to work eventually.  I woke up, looked outside, nothing.  The claimed we had 2-3 inches... but my truck was clear and free of snow (maybe too much wind).  Got to work in 15 minutes, roads were baron, nobody in the office... everyone took the day off for the same reason. 

It was about -4 F yesterday, calling for 53 F next week.  But who knows at this point.... 

Can't wait for the snow to melt.  I need to get to the land and see where the snow melt runoff flows.  I stopped building my road last summer because I hit an area that had different vegetation and almost looked like a path... afraid there might be seasonal water flow in that area.... need to get there after the snow melts to see the ground but before the ground thaws and water is already gone.  With this funky weather, it will be very hard to know when to go. 

Quote from: Adam Roby on March 05, 2016, 08:58:54 AM
Insanity... 

We had a province wide blizzard warning on Wednesday, well the warning was in effect since the Monday or so. 
They said 12" of snow with 80 kph winds,  suggesting people should stay home.  I set my alarm for an hour and a half later than usual, figured I would wake up, have a coffee, slowly start shoveling... get to work eventually.  I woke up, looked outside, nothing.  The claimed we had 2-3 inches... but my truck was clear and free of snow (maybe too much wind).  Got to work in 15 minutes, roads were baron, nobody in the office... everyone took the day off for the same reason. 

It was about -4 F yesterday, calling for 53 F next week.  But who knows at this point.... 

Can't wait for the snow to melt.  I need to get to the land and see where the snow melt runoff flows.  I stopped building my road last summer because I hit an area that had different vegetation and almost looked like a path... afraid there might be seasonal water flow in that area.... need to get there after the snow melts to see the ground but before the ground thaws and water is already gone.  With this funky weather, it will be very hard to know when to go.

Yes there is nothing more troublesome than investing the time and energy into building something that may eventually be muddy in the summer and a ice skating ring in the winter.  Driveways are the most neglected portion of home building.  Luckily I got mine right.  Used native material ( creek rock) as fill.  But did not immediately grade level.  I allowed sufficient time for the water to drain and then graded.  Coming off the main road I had to build up some 8-10 feet to the bridge approach. It held great.  Followed by stone and eventually bit the bullet and paved it.  The paving has proved to be one of the best investments I made.  No more mud, no replacing stone thrown off by traffic and a breeze to plow the snow. 

Well it's been 21 years since and I noticed that I have some settling at my bridge approaches.  Nothing major only 2" or so on alternating sides.    No fault of mine in that I imagine the underground water from the creek has caused it.  Plan is to cut out 4' on the approaches, add stone and compact and replace those areas with concrete. 

Good luck on yours.

With the weather being as it has been for the last couple days I have to remind myself that it is too early for summer. I think I will leave the snow shovel out a little longer just in case. Mother Nature can be a big tease sometimes.

Currently 76F and has been in the daytime for the last week.  I looked back and this date in 2013 we got 8" of  snow.  Go figure.   

April 7th, we got 2 inches of snow today.

When, oh when will the white stuff be done?  Oh when, oh when will it sun?

Poet I am not, but getting impatient I am. 

Quote from: Adam Roby on April 07, 2016, 07:23:26 PM
April 7th, we got 2 inches of snow today.

When, oh when will the white stuff be done?  Oh when, oh when will it sun?

Poet I am not, but getting impatient I am. 

Had to take my wife to Morgantown ( Home of West Virginia University) for a medical procedure today. 49F when we left and by the time we hit the higher elevations near home the rain turned to snow.  Haven't seen a forecast other than flurries predicted but some are saying 4-6" of the white stuff.  Par for the course as I took the snow blade, chains off the tractor and the 4 wheeler.

It's supposed to hit 118° this Saturday here in Phoenix. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! 

November 21st...



We made snowmen last night... my 6-year old daughter, wife and I outside until 8:30 PM in the front yard making snowmen...  gotta stay young! 

15F yesterday.  I had hoped to run a log or two through my sawmill just to get a better feel for winter sawing.  The logs were all frozen to the ground.  Gonna take a little more grunt than I could muster yesterday.  Now my mind drifts to thoughts of a tractor to supply that grunt.

Rain, thunder, lightning, windy, 44 F, though snow and 23 F is forecast for the mountains.

We're still hoping for moisture, we got a spit of sleet/sprinkles/flurries Sat but not enough to even go inside for. We stopped harvesting cohosh in the woods short of what the herbal company wanted. We've been dividing the root and replanting a piece with a bud and roots in each hole as we dig them. The soil is now so dry they won't make it and the thousand or so we have replanted probably aren't going to make it either. We have many thousand in the woods but I don't want to mine them out. The conditions just aren't co-operating this year. This is also part of a university research project, and that is good data too, don't count on a crop every year. Doing the math, we got a great price and still minimum wage is a goal for next year, must be some form of farming. That is a minor inconvenience compared to the mountains south of here, I feel for those folks. We've been in and out of some of the smoke and have had a few smaller fires here.

Mornings in the mid 20's the past few days, we got up into the 40's today. High winds last night, probably some 50's and quite breezy today.

Usually if I can bump or snatch the log a little with the truck or tractor it'll break loose. Frozen logs are fine to saw, as are thawed. Partially frozen can be interesting, generally ok but as the blade encounters frozen and thawed wood it can start wandering around, just one to keep in the back of mind if things aren't acting right.

Here in upstate SC, it's been warm and excrutiatingly dry. We'll sail past Thanksgiving without the first frost. That's about a month late. We've been dry since about March, and have had little rain at all for the last 3 months. There are a lot of big forest fires going on, and some days the smoke is awful. I'm thinking about investing in cactus futures...

It has been quite a snowy winter this year, surprising quantities have fallen. 
Last night another 1-foot of the stuff fell, and another 6 inches coming in the next couple days.
Surprisingly the city (at least at my city home) has been doing a pretty good job with the clean-up... and even more surprising is that the schools are all still open for business.  What ever happened to snow days?

My biggest worry in my country place.  I haven't been there in a couple of weeks, been so busy just haven't had the time.  There must be at least 2' of standing snow, with probably 3 layers of 1-2" ice within.  I have a 3-4' overhang on each end, just worried they can't support the weight.  I refused a couple of guys 2 weeks ago when they showed up out of the blue shoveling roofs... was worried if they were inexperienced and damaged anything I wouldn't know until the snow melted or I got a leak in the roof... they'd already be long gone by then.  Now I am having some doubts...  maybe I should have done it...  decisions, decisions.  My driveway is about 120' long and on a pretty intense slope (mountain side).  Delivery trucks can't back up the driveway because their bumpers hit before the truck can pivot.  Once up the steep slope, I've got probably 20-22 steps to get up to the house.  Once there its nice, but all that shoveling just to get in the front door is enough to make you want to close it down for the winter. 

I wonder if there are any bylaws against building a "tempo" over the stairs (snow shelter).  That would at least save some back pain.

I'm glad to not have to shovel snow very often.  That said, we got 2.5 inches overnight. Hoever, it is warm enough it has not stuck on the driveway.

Quote from: MountainDon on February 13, 2017, 10:38:53 AM
I'm glad to not have to shovel snow very often.  That said, we got 2.5 inches overnight. Hoever, it is warm enough it has not stuck on the driveway.

Same here Don.  Mildest winter that I have seen in years.  But I will take it.      Can't believe it is Mid Feb already without a considerable snowfall like winters past. Hope I am not speaking too soon.

It is crazy how different regions have such drastically different weather, some with much more snow and others with almost none compared to "normal".  Right now if my Jeep is parked in the street in front of the house I can't see it, the snow banks must be 6-8' high.  You almost have that tunnel effect driving down the street.  I wanted to take a picture of my shed but forgot.  Its one of those small metal sheds (reinforced internally with a 2"x3" skeleton), and its currently sitting with at least 3' of snow on top of it... so a 6' tall shed stands 9' tall... pretty crazy.

Anxious to see how the land is doing in upper NY state...  last year the brook ran dry from lack of snowfall, I should have a waterfall this year! 

We've been quite warm, I was welding in a T shirt yesterday when I realized I was getting a tan. This is the mildest winter I can recall.
It's trebuchet's this time around for the school intersession break. The kids will build tabletop models then we'll go for a walk through the woods and discover a big one in a field at the state forest. I got a pair of rocks on the big boy and test fired it for the first time a minute ago, about 500 lbs of swinging rocks and steel, the frame seems to be strong enough.

Crazy how things change.  Was almost no snow left, warm weather was here... felt like spring.
We're in the thick of a big snow storm right now.  16 inches of snow with 60 MPH winds...  roads are insane, schools already automated calling us to say they'll be closed tomorrow.  May be the last hoopla before the flowers start blooming again... as someone else said, hopefully that means my brook will be flowing nicely this spring.

Most of the time I don't really realize I live on an island until it rains non-stop for weeks at a time and we start to flood.  I personally am above the flood zone so far, but there are many who are now under water.  Friend of mine has been waiting for it to go down and can now no longer leave his house.  They called in the army to help out but they came a bit too late by the sounds of it.

We just got an email from the school board, all schools are closed until further notice.  Some are flooded, some are being affected because the bus companies are under water, some because people are stranded on different islands.  Scary how fast a city can come to a screeching halt by mother nature.

Nothing like some of the flooding we've seen on the news down south, but still hits home. 

Be safe.
Help your neighbor if you can.

Snow...In May, in San Diego County, 30 miles north of Mexico.  Anyone still in angst over global warming is welcome to come see it.  Bring your snow shovel.