• Let it snow..

    From Rob Mccart@1:2320/105 to ALL on Wed Jan 21 08:10:40 2026
    I've been telling people I have been getting off fairly easy this month
    as far as weather goes. There were bothersome days but I was getting
    less snow here than most areas around me..

    That ended this week.. I got over 2 feet of snow on Saturday,
    and so I shovelled about 250 feet of pathways around my property.
    Then overnight the next night I got another 6 inches or so with
    enough wind to totally fill in all the work I had done so I had to
    shovel it all again on Sunday.. Monday we got about another foot of
    snow so, start over.. And then today we got high winds and another
    6 or 8 inches of snow so tomorrow I'll have to see if I have to do
    it all again.. Oh, and they say it will be dropping down close
    to -30c (-22F) next Friday and Saturday night..

    I'm getting too old for this crap..

    (And I'm not looking forward to my snow plow bill for this month..)

    ---
    * SLMR Rob * You're never too old to do goofy stuff!
    * Origin: Capitol City Online (1:2320/105)
  • From August Abolins@1:153/757.21 to Rob Mccart on Wed Jan 21 09:01:00 2026
    Hello Rob!

    [...] I got over 2 feet of snow on Saturday,
    Then overnight the next night I got another 6 inches or so ...
    shovel it all again on Sunday.. Monday we got about another foot..
    And then today we got high winds and another 6 or 8 inches of snow..

    I've had my fairly long driveway, a turn, and a barnyard area plowed about the 3rd time in about a week. A total of 9 times time this year sofar.

    (And I'm not looking forward to my snow plow bill for this month..)

    Why not look to get a decent snow blower? Surely that would take would be a good investment, and basically a necessity for country living.

    --
    ../|ug

    --- OpenXP 5.0.64
    * Origin: Stare into this point intently ->.<- (1:153/757.21)
  • From Rob Mccart@1:2320/105 to AUGUST ABOLINS on Fri Jan 23 08:11:06 2026
    [...] I got over 2 feet of snow on Saturday,
    Then overnight the next night I got another 6 inches or so ...
    shovel it all again on Sunday.. Monday we got about another foot..
    And then today we got high winds and another 6 or 8 inches of snow..

    I've had my fairly long driveway, a turn, and a barnyard area plowed about
    >the 3rd time in about a week. A total of 9 times time this year sofar.

    Before this past week it had been plowed here about 10 times too.
    Sometimes he does it and I don't realize it since I don't head
    out to my car where I could see it very often.

    I don't think my plow guy has been in for close to a week though.
    I went out to dig my car out yesterday, major pain getting to it,
    and if he'd been in in the past 4 days then it had grown a lot
    of new 3 foot drifts since then.

    Last night we got another 8 inches or so, probably closing in on
    about 5 feet of snow in the past week, and I destroyed a pair of
    admittedly very old snowshoes trying to walk on top of 3" feet of
    snow to get water rather than shovel a path down to a solid base.

    (And I'm not looking forward to my snow plow bill for this month..)

    Why not look to get a decent snow blower? Surely that would take
    >would be a good investment, and basically a necessity for country living.

    A lot of the worst parts I clear snow from is up and down rough
    bedrock hills which wouldn't work with a snow blower. The actual
    driveway bits usually don't get that much snow since they are
    flat enough it blows on past. On the hills today there was 2 to 3
    feet of snow but on the driveway less than 1 foot..

    Plus, he's not just doing a driveway here. He's plowing 1/2 mile
    of road before he gets here and then not much for my car but
    a huge area (maybe 30' x 80') for the next door neighbours.

    I also don't want to get into anything too costly since I don't
    know how many more years I'll spend the winter here.
    I've been having some serious second thoughts this past week.

    This is quite possibly the worst week for snow I've ever seen
    here including the 13 years in the past when I was wintering
    here all the time. It was on average colder back then and you'd
    have the odd day or two of bad snow, but not 5 or 6 in a row..

    Latest info now says it will hit -41c (-42f) Friday night.
    That's actual, not wind chill temperature..

    I hope they change their mind on that before then..
    A couple of days ago they were talking -31c (-24f) instead,
    which was bad enough.. B(

    ---
    * SLMR Rob * The view is better from the Cheap Seats
    * Origin: Capitol City Online (1:2320/105)
  • From August Abolins@1:153/757.21 to Rob Mccart on Fri Jan 23 19:02:00 2026
    Hello Rob!

    ** On Friday 23.01.26 - 08:11, you wrote:

    I don't think my plow guy has been in for close to a week though. I went out to dig my car out yesterday, major pain getting to it, and if he'd been in in the past 4 days then it had grown a lot of new 3 foot drifts since then.

    Yep.. same here.. too much snow one day after the next. I am so sick and tired of it.


    Last night we got another 8 inches or so, probably closing in on about 5 feet of snow in the past week, and I destroyed a pair of admittedly very old snowshoes trying to walk on top of 3" feet of snow to get water
    rather than shovel a path down to a solid base.

    How do snowshoes get destroyed? Were they wood types? The modern ones seem so small and made out of plastic.


    Why not look to get a decent snow blower? Surely that would take would
    be a good investment, and basically a necessity for country living.

    A lot of the worst parts I clear snow from is up and down rough
    bedrock hills which wouldn't work with a snow blower. The actual
    driveway bits usually don't get that much snow since they are
    flat enough it blows on past. On the hills today there was 2 to 3
    feet of snow but on the driveway less than 1 foot..

    But if you can't drive up to the cottage and leave the car out by the end of your lane, then you *do* have a lot of snow on the driveway! :D If not a snow blower, then how about an ATV that can be fitted with a push-blade?


    I also don't want to get into anything too costly since I don't know how many more years I'll spend the winter here. I've been having some
    serious second thoughts this past week.

    This kind of weather is UNLIKELY to occur multiple years in a row. So.. maybe you will be better off next year.


    This is quite possibly the worst week for snow I've ever seen
    here including the 13 years in the past when I was wintering
    here all the time. It was on average colder back then and you'd
    have the odd day or two of bad snow, but not 5 or 6 in a row..

    I agree.. the total accumulation seems untypically high this season. However, the pile on the roof has not been as high as it has been just a couple years ago - I suppose the few milder days in January melted most of it.


    Latest info now says it will hit -41c (-42f) Friday night.
    That's actual, not wind chill temperature..

    Yep.. we're in for a deep freeze over the weekend. I added some gasline anti- freeze to my truck. I might consider wrapping the battery with a warmer while parked at the house during the day.

    --
    ../|ug

    --- OpenXP 5.0.64
    * Origin: Stare into this point intently ->.<- (1:153/757.21)
  • From Rob Mccart@1:2320/105 to AUGUST ABOLINS on Sun Jan 25 07:33:56 2026
    I don't think my plow guy has been in for close to a week though. I went out to dig my car out yesterday, major pain getting to it, and if he'd
    been in in the past 4 days then it had grown a lot of new 3 foot drifts since then.

    Yep.. same here.. too much snow one day after the next. I am so sick and
    >tired of it.

    Yes, it gets to you after a while. You expect the odd day or two but
    not a solid week of windy, drifting snow days.

    But my plow guy finally showed up Saturday. He even went out of his
    way not to bury the front of my car too badly, but you can do just
    so much from the truck. I had about 3 or 4 feet of snow a few feet
    out from my bumper that I had to shovel off, snow that was hardened
    from being plowed first.

    I spent 2 times 3 hours shovelling snow on Friday and Saturday.
    I had to do the main paths due to my snow shoes falling apart.

    How do snowshoes get destroyed? Were they wood types? The modern
    >ones seem so small and made out of plastic.

    Yes, mine are the big old wood and leather lace types but they
    are about 35 years old and the leather bits have rotted a little
    too much. Carrying water on top of 3 feet of medium soft snow
    put a lot of stress on them and one foot went right through the
    bottom, ripping the leather, and on the other foot the bindings
    broke loose completely..

    But.. Today a local lady who lives a bay over from me and uses
    part of my driveway to jog or snowshoe depending on weather
    said today she has some extra snowshoes that were just left in
    their place when they bought and she will give me another pair.
    Hopefully they are in better shape than mine were..

    That said, I only used mine one day last year, and likely
    would have only used them a couple of days so far this year
    which is why I never bought newer replacements.
    It's not a lot of fun carrying pails of water wearing snowshoes.

    Why not look to get a decent snow blower? Surely that would take would AA>> be a good investment, and basically a necessity for country living.

    A lot of the worst parts I clear snow from is up and down rough
    bedrock hills which wouldn't work with a snow blower. The actual
    driveway bits usually don't get that much snow since they are
    flat enough it blows on past.

    But if you can't drive up to the cottage and leave the car out by the end of
    >your lane, then you *do* have a lot of snow on the driveway! :D If not a
    >snow blower, then how about an ATV that can be fitted with a push-blade?

    I have about 400 feet of paths I need to keep walkable, and the actual
    flat driveway part of that is maybe 70 feet long. I suppose I could use
    it out on the ice as well, but that also gets less snow accumulation.

    I'm trying to avoid more gas powered tools to store and take care of..

    I also don't want to get into anything too costly since I don't know how many more years I'll spend the winter here. I've been having some
    serious second thoughts this past week.

    This kind of weather is UNLIKELY to occur multiple years in a row.
    So.. maybe you will be better off next year.

    One hopes.. I was thinking last year was bad and expecting this year
    to be better.. and it started off that way after the first couple
    of weeks in December, but then this last 8 or 10 days happened..

    The plow guy had said that last year was the worst year for snow
    he'd seen in the 8 years he'd been plowing this place out.

    This is quite possibly the worst week for snow I've ever seen
    here including the 13 years in the past when I was wintering
    here all the time.

    I agree.. the total accumulation seems untypically high this season. However,
    >the pile on the roof has not been as high as it has been just a couple years
    >ago - I suppose the few milder days in January melted most of it.

    I was looking at the roof of one of the out buildings here and
    there is 3 or 4 feet of snow over almost the whole roof.
    I also had to knock probably 100 lbs of icicles from one side of
    my place 2 days ago too.

    Latest info now says it will hit -41c (-42f) Friday night.
    That's actual, not wind chill temperature..

    Yep.. we're in for a deep freeze over the weekend. I added some gasline
    >anti-freeze to my truck. I might consider wrapping the battery with
    >a warmer while parked at the house during the day.

    I'd think gas these days has enough ethanol in it that it wouldn't
    freeze but maybe you know better..

    The snowshoe lady above said that they couldn't get either of
    their cars running today, not even with a jump from another
    car. They were working on getting a heater under the hood too.

    I decided to just leave the one baseboard heater on last night (-41c)
    and I left the small heater on all night in the bedroom (plus my
    electric blanket).. When I woke up this morning it was about 2c (35f)
    in here and my pails of water on the floor in the kitchen had ice
    growing on the insides and across the top, up to 1/2 inch thick..

    When I went out to the bay for water, the spade I use to chop the
    ice that forms on the hole had frozen so solidly into what was wet
    snow the day before beside the 'box' that I had to go and get
    an axe to chop the ice around it to break it free.

    The fun never ends.. B)

    ---
    * SLMR Rob * Elvis has logged off...
    * Origin: Capitol City Online (1:2320/105)