Dang, it's cold outside - Winter ramblings

[Blunt Object]

It's 70 degrees F here in my part of south Florida, but it was 68 degrees a couple of hours ago.  It's supposed to hit 79 tomorrow.  I don't know what all that white stuff is all over the ground and everything in everybody's pictures, but it frightens and confuses me.

I know about the Florida white stuff. I watched Miami Vice as a kid.

[D-Eg]

That's a little far from where I was, as I was in Portage La Prairie, on the other side of Winnipeg.

I don't know if it's the same as it was in the mid 80's when we left, but it was always good fishing pretty well anywhere you went!

Def

It's always been good fishing for us - great country, like us, a pitiful leader.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I'd agree with that, but let's face it, the intelligent people we want in those positions are too smart to take them.   

But that's political and we don't do that here.

Def

[AzteCypher]

the intelligent people we want in those positions are too smart to take them.   

 

[D-Eg]

I'd agree with that, but let's face it, the intelligent people we want in those positions are too smart to take them.   

But that's political and we don't do that here.

Def

first reaction is  second reaction is  then 

[MadPlumbarian]

I just took the dogs out after their dinner at 5ish and dang I was ready to pull the zipper down a little and yet it’s got a windchill of 12f°out! It’s just so much warmer than it’s been for the last week, of course the sun went down in like 2min and so did the temp by 6°!
JR

[D-Eg]

too funny - it's 12 degrees 

[AzteCypher]

We finally got above freezing today and a high of 69°F tomorrow. 

Then we go back down to a high of 43°F on Friday.   

[MadPlumbarian]

  Woohoo, it’s up to 22°f, of course the windchill is 12° and it’s snowing, so I’ll have to go out and clean all the sidewalks, walkways, and driveway, then of course it’s suppose to snow tonight, so I’ll have to do it alllll over again! But at least it will be in the 20’s..I just need a break..
JR

[Blunt Object]

Pretty much had it with snow... I like it and stuff but it doesn't have to keep coming on and on...

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yeah, it gets old fast, doesn't it?   

Def

[D-Eg]

no kidd'n we got an inch and a half the other day. I mean, it's all gone now, but we got snow this year.

[Pacu]

Ice, then three days of downpour rain so everything is a swamp, now it's 70 degrees out.    Texas weather.

[AzteCypher]

Where in Texas you at Pacu.  We're in Liberty Hill, 20min west of Georgetown.  I wouldn't mind the cold lasting a little bit longer as I hardly get to wear my sweaters and such.  Didn't even get to use the fireplace that much this year.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I guess it's my turn now....

Last weekend we had a decent sized snowstorm following a week of extremely cold weather.

This weekend we are getting another good sized snowstorm which started last night and is expected to continue through Monday.

I drove Megan to the airport early this morning in the Jeep and even in 4WD it was a bit dicey at times. 

I shoveled the snow from one driveway already (I have two) they the Jeep back in when I got home, but between the snow falling and the wind blowing it around, you'd never know it.

They say we are supposed to get about 40 cm (16 ish inches)  this weekend, so that's fun.  My shovel will be getting a lot of exercise.

Def

[AzteCypher]

Whoa... that nuts man.  Be safe out there.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Winter storms are always fun.  I drove Megan to the airport at 3am yesterday, and even though I am driving a Jeep in 4WD, I was passed by a bunch of people on the highway.

I was doing 70km/hr, but it's a 110km/hr zone and many folks think you do the speed limit, regardless of the weather!   

Just after lunch yesterday the police posted a notice for people to stay off the road and avoid unnecessary travel, and the malls were closed.  Public transit was closed shortly afterwards.

Of course, the biggest challenge is what to do when you have two feet of snow and a dog that's barely a foot high.

I had to dig a path into the yard for Dasher to make sure he had a place to take care of his business.  As all of my previous dogs have been quite large, deep snow has never been an issue until now!

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

I'm not sure where this map is from, and I'm not sure of they have mistaken centimeters for inches, but I am in the 48-60 section.

Inches may be more accurate as I'm already over 60 cm, and there is more on the way.

Def

[AzteCypher]

My old buddy Tex didn't like it when it snowed and iced here in Texas a few years ago.  He hated going out in the snow and of course he couldn't find traction on the ice.  Since he was older, I gave him a pass and let him do his business a lot closer to the back patio than usual.  There were a couple of times he didn't even get off the patio so I ended up having to clean that up before it froze over. 

People always seem to disregard the weather when driving.  It always seems to me that they're driving worse during bad weather when it's just really the weather bringing out the worse in people. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I had to shovel my front step at least four times yesterday because the snow was above the bottom of the door.   

My tiny dog Dasher is having trouble going outside, partly because it's cold and partly because he can't get anywhere.  Within two minutes of being outside he's picking up his paws and then desperately trying to get back in the house.

It's not overly cold, but we've been having 60km/hr winds to go along with the heavy snowfall, and so whatever you shovel is filled in less than an hour later.

I park my Jeep and trailer in the front driveway (I have two) and yesterday I got a new snowblower, which meant I had to take my trailer out.  I had no way to get the trailer back into the driveway to assemble it, so I took it to Megan's parents' place and put it together in their garage, which was good because it meant I was able to test it on their driveway.

When I got home I spent an hour or so doing my front driveway with it, then I went to my rear driveway to tackle the pile left by the plow.  By the time I was done that, I needed to go back and do my front driveway again.   

After blowing out my front driveway (again) I circled the block to get a good angle to back the utility trailer in and saw one of my neighbors was stuck halfway in her driveway.  Her car wasn't able to get over the mess left by the plow, so I hurried home, parked the trailer quickly, I hitched from the Jeep, parked it, grabbed a shovel and headed up to my neighbor's place to help dog her car out.

When that was done I was making my way home when I spotted another neighbor shoveling so I gave him a hand too.

I shoveled so many freaking driveways yesterday, by hand and with the blower, which is also not as easy as it looks, plus loading and unloading the 200lb plus crate it came in....  I was so exhausted and sweaty last night that I could barely make it into the shower when I got home.

Samsung Health says I did just under 18,000 steps, and considering most of those were through deep snow, with a shovel, or wrestling a 200 pound machine, I am surprised I can even move this morning.

You know....  To do it all over again as the wind is still howling, and the snow is still coming.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Here's the new blower for anyone that is interested.  This is after clearing out Megan's parents' driveway and just before clearing mine out.  You can see how much snow is built up on my trailer from the road, which gives you an idea of how much snow we have.

Also, the only thing more challenging than being on the highway in this weather is being on the highway with a trailer in this weather.  I don't want to tell you how close I came to sliding sideways at 70km/hr into a concrete barrier last night.   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

After a week of slightly above freezing temperatures and lots of sunshine, much of our snow melted, then solidified, leaving large piles of sense snow and ice in a lot of places.  Sunday morning I was able to finally dig out my front steps.

Attached are a couple of photos from the day after last week's storm, and the snow I was cleaning out to get to my front steps.  Bear in mind, that was thick, heavy snow and took almost an hour to do!  Imagine shoveling wet cement and that's about the same consistency and weight! 

And the last photo, well, that's why you don't use a porta potty on a job site in the winter. 

Hopefully we will find the guy that was in it some time in spring   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Oh yeah, and the reason for bringing this thread back up is that we had another snowstorm last night, so I have to start all over again.   

Fortunately, my snowblower is ready to go, so it shouldn't take too long today!

Def

[SteveC]

We've had a non winter here in Minnesota. It has been warm and less than five inches of snow since last fall.


 

20240201_080223.jpg (Filesize: 270.69 KB)

Quite a contrast from last year


 

20230223_153542.jpg (Filesize: 398.95 KB)

[AzteCypher]

That's just nuts.  I've worked with cement before so my respects on getting that work done.  May I suggest a flame thrower though.  It might be a tad more efficient and perhaps way more fun? 

[GearedForwards]

Winter this year is just plain weird, it was 15.5C and humid here whilst delivering packages today. I had put thermals on like some fool and was resigned to sweating like a pig for 3 hours.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I cleared seven different driveways today, and both of mine twice for the equivalent of none driveways.

Plus my front steps again.

And I went to work.

Then I watched the sidewalk plow on my neighborhood get overpowered by the snow and almost roll.   

I may have tried to help him, but they have been hitting my retaining walls a lot lately and causing a lot of damage.

Def

[Sea Monster]

I'd move.

Not even try to sell the house, just go. That looks like a nightmare.

[Grant Lamontagne]

You are lucky you aren'ty neighbor.  I'd given serious thought to emigrating to Oz in my 20's mainly to get away from winter.   

And every winter since I have kicked myself for not doing it.   

But apparently canoes are insanely priced there so maybe it's best I'm still here!   

Def