Coffee 1-23-16

freetown fred wrote:Soooo, you're likin the plow truck aren't ya??????????????

FF,if you are asking me......NO,NO,NO !!!!!!! I hope this is the only snow we have to plow this season . If we would have had the $$,i would have paid someone to clear it with a tractor. I wish we had a farm tractor with a loader & a snow blower on the 3 point.

Well WH, I have the tractors & snowblower & I wouldn't trade my beast truck for the world. Ya need to angle that blade a tad more--LOL AND, at least have 1 set of chains

The snow/wind finally stopped around 10:00 am. The official snow fall was 25 inches. Since we had been trying to keep ahead of the snow, finishing the shoveling wasn't going to take too long but then our new neighbor insisted on doing the final lap of our sidewalks and driveway with his snow blower. Yey! Still it took me 90 mins to dig my car out. Oh my gosh, there was no place to put the snow but up. Throwing snow over your head gets old fast, believe me.

We're not even going to touch the truck for a couple of days; we don't drive it much anyway. It has rear wheel drive. After this blizzard I'm going to consider getting chains for it. Mostly just to have them. We could have gotten out with the chains on the packed snow today. We'll see.

I'll be at home the next few days, School's been canceled for Monday and Tuesday. I hope everyone is warm, Take care, Lisa

It may take them a few days to dig the buses out.

freetown fred wrote:Well WH, I have the tractors & snowblower & I wouldn't trade my beast truck for the world. Ya need to angle that blade a tad more--LOL AND, at least have 1 set of chains

I had the blade angled all the way ! The biggest problem was that after pushing for about 20',the plow would start riding up on top of the snow,when the truck got on that & would spin from too much piling in front of the blade,the truck would sink. I could use the power angle to push the truck back sometimes,2 times that didn't work,it then took an aluminum scoop shovel to get the truck free again. Chains would likely have been a good idea,if I had them on all 4 wheels. FF, you have to remember too, that even tho our temp only went up to 20*,this snow was a HEAVY snow,not that fluffy powder you guys upstate N.Y. usually get.

Wow.... What a storm! I'm glad everyone here seems to be staying safe.

windyhill4.2 wrote:

freetown fred wrote:Well WH, I have the tractors & snowblower & I wouldn't trade my beast truck for the world. Ya need to angle that blade a tad more--LOL AND, at least have 1 set of chains

I had the blade angled all the way ! The biggest problem was that after pushing for about 20',the plow would start riding up on top of the snow,when the truck got on that & would spin from too much piling in front of the blade,the truck would sink. I could use the power angle to push the truck back sometimes,2 times that didn't work,it then took an aluminum scoop shovel to get the truck free again. Chains would likely have been a good idea,if I had them on all 4 wheels. FF, you have to remember too, that even tho our temp only went up to 20*,this snow was a HEAVY snow,not that fluffy powder you guys upstate N.Y. usually get.

Yes it was. That's why I had to hook up the snow blower to the tractor, the front end loader was taking way too much time and effort.

Hell WH,the couple times I been stuck WITH chains on, we weren't talkin shovlin out--we were talkin BIG 4X4 JD tractor from up the road--wouldn't even try w/ the 8N LOL-- all part of the snow-mania.

windyhill4.2 wrote:

freetown fred wrote:Well WH, I have the tractors & snowblower & I wouldn't trade my beast truck for the world. Ya need to angle that blade a tad more--LOL AND, at least have 1 set of chains

I had the blade angled all the way ! The biggest problem was that after pushing for about 20',the plow would start riding up on top of the snow,when the truck got on that & would spin from too much piling in front of the blade,the truck would sink. I could use the power angle to push the truck back sometimes,2 times that didn't work,it then took an aluminum scoop shovel to get the truck free again. Chains would likely have been a good idea,if I had them on all 4 wheels. FF, you have to remember too, that even tho our temp only went up to 20*,this snow was a HEAVY snow,not that fluffy powder you guys upstate N.Y. usually get.

freetown fred wrote:Hell WH,the couple times I been stuck WITH chains on, we weren't talkin shovlin out--we were talkin BIG 4X4 JD tractor from up the road--LOL-- all part of the snow-mania.

freetown fred wrote:Well WH, I have the tractors & snowblower & I wouldn't trade my beast truck for the world. Ya need to angle that blade a tad more--LOL AND, at least have 1 set of chains

Yep,the better they push,the harder they get stuck.

FF,when it gets real tough to move snow you bush hog it ?

Nope I just sit on the 8N & wait for first mowin come spring--4-5 ft of snow gets ya real humble

freetown fred wrote:Nope I just sit on the 8N & wait for first mowin come spring--4-5 ft of snow gets ya real humble

I would much rather have spent 2 days mowing grass than to waste that much time moving snow.

Hard for me to believe, up here in the mountains with the threat of lake effect always present we didn't get a simple dusting out of this. Several spots in the lawn are showing grass. I know, surely my turn is coming sooner or later.

So we finally got all the cars dug out. Between yesterday and today, it took the 5 of us about 20 man hours to move an amazing amount of snow. It got hard to throw it over the berms and In the end we were desperate to find places to move it to and had to carry it 15 or 20 yards before we could dump it. It's a good thing storms of this size only come around every 5 years.

The Marks Brothers did great. We never did lose power. The roads are still bad, even the main roads. We've seen the plow once and the road has not been treated at all. School will be closed until Wednesday for sure but maybe more depending on the clean up. The sidewalks are not all cleaned yet and that puts people walking in the streets which are narrowed and slippery due to the snow and ice. When you add cars and buses things can get interested quickly.

We are supposed to get rain tomorrow night which will add to the mess. It won't be freezing but there will be no place for the rain to go. They are worried about flooding now. That means falling trees due to the already soaked ground. And that may be when we lose power. Yeah, something to look forward to!

I hope everyone is warm and toasty this evening, take care, Lisa

I did a little slushy snow clean up today with my tractor,got quite a bit of bare blacktop now. Most of my day was on the phone & walk-in customers wanting parts,first phone call was at 6:10 a/m . We had 4 snowblowers dropped off for repairs,I picked up 2 more & a generator,so 7 pieces today,i only got to work on 1 because of the many phone calls & walk-ins. When it rains it pours !... It is hard to believe how bad alot of the secondary roads are too drive thru,quite a few single lanes,takes more patience .