Owly055
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2014
- Messages
- 3,008
- Reaction score
- 686
This morning I woke up to calm conditions and nearly clear skies, with a thin layer of high altitude cloud and bright sun shining through it............. after a 24 hour blizzard. Horizontal snow from the north east, leaving drifts many of which are 4' deep in wild patterns through my front yard, and completely burying my 2010 Subaru Outback. Temp is a comfortable 5 deg F (with the sun). The weather was so bad yesterday, I never left the house except to go out to the shed to crush grain to brew with. What better way to spend a 24 hour blizzard at near zero temps and winds gusting up to about 40, than brewing??
Fortunately the temps being close to zero, the snow was fairly low density even though it was drifted. A little while ago, I set out to bust out while the snow was still fresh, the best time to do it. Backing out, I managed to bust through several deep drifts before getting bogged in deep snow and having try to return to my original position. "Vehicle Dynamics" was messing me up before I thought to switch it off (on by default). With my foot in it, I managed to spin my way back up to the house and was ready to make the final dash for the road without vehicle dynamics messing with my throttle to prevent spinning, when my friend and neighbor showed up with the real deal. His John Deere 8440 with a Dengleman dozer. Here's a photo of an identical tractor & dozer.
http://4873243b380905b4e738-e1a31d54592383ac84b0789311581a78.r64.cf2.rackcdn.com/large_9094350.jpg
It pays to have friends!! He had me liberated with a single pass of course, and cleared the entire town in a few minutes. My own 3 yard Allis Chalmers TL 645 loader like this one: http://www.lucasplantsales.co.uk/uploads/lrg/14-8097396.jpg would have done the job had I plugged it in, but a bucket really doesn't handle snow plowing well. I regret not having taken photos before the mess was disturbed, but oh well!! I've seen a lot worse. A number of years ago we had just over 3' on the level with no drifting, and back in '78/'79 it snowed and blew and snowed and blew for months, and we were driving on hard packed drifts over fences, etc. In the sub zero temps the drifts would pack down like concrete.
I find it hard to get excited about winter anymore.......... H.W.
Fortunately the temps being close to zero, the snow was fairly low density even though it was drifted. A little while ago, I set out to bust out while the snow was still fresh, the best time to do it. Backing out, I managed to bust through several deep drifts before getting bogged in deep snow and having try to return to my original position. "Vehicle Dynamics" was messing me up before I thought to switch it off (on by default). With my foot in it, I managed to spin my way back up to the house and was ready to make the final dash for the road without vehicle dynamics messing with my throttle to prevent spinning, when my friend and neighbor showed up with the real deal. His John Deere 8440 with a Dengleman dozer. Here's a photo of an identical tractor & dozer.
http://4873243b380905b4e738-e1a31d54592383ac84b0789311581a78.r64.cf2.rackcdn.com/large_9094350.jpg
It pays to have friends!! He had me liberated with a single pass of course, and cleared the entire town in a few minutes. My own 3 yard Allis Chalmers TL 645 loader like this one: http://www.lucasplantsales.co.uk/uploads/lrg/14-8097396.jpg would have done the job had I plugged it in, but a bucket really doesn't handle snow plowing well. I regret not having taken photos before the mess was disturbed, but oh well!! I've seen a lot worse. A number of years ago we had just over 3' on the level with no drifting, and back in '78/'79 it snowed and blew and snowed and blew for months, and we were driving on hard packed drifts over fences, etc. In the sub zero temps the drifts would pack down like concrete.
I find it hard to get excited about winter anymore.......... H.W.
