Anyone want to go Ice Skating? Winter storm of 09!

Norm · February 05, 2009, 07:27:38 AM

I wish we could send Kathy a message to see if she really know what Larry says on here! :D

semologger · February 06, 2009, 12:11:11 AM

This was my Driveway. I didnt like cutting those trees. When you cut the tops loose from the ice the trees would spring up about 8 foot. Talk about taking your head off. Im just glad i didnt have a long ways to go.

LeeB · February 06, 2009, 11:29:38 AM

WooHoo. Lindy has power at last. She saw a crew on the road yesterday and stopped to talk to them. They were from central Texas where we came from. They told her at 2 -3 more days still. She went to the liquor store and bought a few various types of lubrication for them just for being around to help. Power was on in 2hours. Sometimes greasing the wheel helps.

beenthere · February 06, 2009, 03:18:20 PM

Similar experience as Lee during our last ice storm...the crews were tired, so we took them some refreshments. Learned that they needed to quit as they were out of sharp chains and saw gas. Neighbor and I offered our saws and told them where the line was down. They came right away and had us up and running with power in less than an hour. They seemed very happy to help us out, and said they were done in this area and wouldn't be back anymore....was going to be up to a different crew to finish up. :

:

That was after being out of power for 7 days.

Good to hear your family is back with power...now time for you to come home for your rest... ;D ;D ;D

Kas · February 06, 2009, 03:50:21 PM

Beenthere, I'm relatively new at posting but have been reading these forums for years. I really enjoy the talk of helping crews out like that, and of helping others when needed. I know we used to help the public out whenever we could, regardless to whether it was our job or not. When I was up in the UP, especially in the winter, you just did not pass by someone that needed help. No asking was necessary, it's just what folks did. And it always seemed to be paid forward. The way we looked at it was the taxpayer was paying us Coasties, and if there was something we could do to help them, we did it. Didn't matter if it was our responsibility or if it didn't fit our "job description". We lived in the community, we did whatever we could to help. Even helped rebuild a bar that burned down one time, just because we could help. Heck, what else were we gonna do? The lake was frozen, no need for us on the water in the winter, and we had lots of bodies available to help. 'Course, sailors and bars kinda go together. But that wasn't the reason. And it wasn't just in our communities, did the same things when on the road too.

Kind of a long winded way to say thanks; yes it might of had a benefit for you, but I bet the crew really appreciated the consideration and the end of a long hard day. Good to see folks lookin out for each other.

Larry · February 06, 2009, 05:57:45 PM

LeeB, thats a smart lady...you have any trouble keeping up with her? ;D

We got our power back few hours ago...feel like I won the lottery as lot of folks still out.

LeeB · February 06, 2009, 06:05:26 PM

Don't I wish BT. Stilll got 2 more weeks to go. Afraid there won't be much rest this time around either. Sounds like I got my work cut out for me this time off.

Woodwalker · February 06, 2009, 08:23:54 PM

She went to the liquor store and bought a few various types of lubrication for them just for being around to help. Power was on in 2hours. Sometimes greasing the wheel helps.
[/quote]
My crews were in the Mountain Home area and from what they have been telling me that wasn't lubrication you wife provided, it was anti-freeze.
It's been quite an event. Numbers I've seen on damage are extensive. 4,883 utility poles down or severely damaged by the ice storm, 14,498 spans of distribution wire were down, 712 distribution transformers damaged, 4,253 crossarms were damaged, and 3,162 individual service lines requiring repair and more than 5,000 out of state linemen, field support personnel and tree trimmers have responded.

semologger · February 06, 2009, 09:21:27 PM

The linemen have had there work cut out for them thats for sure. Thanks to these haed working guys we have power again. I wouldnt want to be in thier shoes they have been going non stop here in Mo. Hang in there LeeB hopefully you will be able to pay that electric bill soon enough. Just think of it this way your bill will be cheap this month. Congrats on getting power back on guys.

ARKANSAWYER · February 07, 2009, 12:08:03 PM

Oh how nice to have power at home again. Wife is such a pleasure right now.
Here is my Bronco. The pine came up by the root ball and just laid on the truck. It is up by several feet now. There is a hickory broken off laying on top of that. then there are several others tops laying around. The truck is un hurt and if the trash was cut out behind it I could just drive it out right now.

Lots of trees on the place look like this. They are just splinterd to the ground.

When I do have trees still standing, they are missing their tops. Most will bush out and keep growing if the stems are not broken. Next fall will be a real fire hazzard here.

LeeB · February 07, 2009, 01:50:12 PM

With all the debris. I'm thinking flooding on the creeks might be bad in the spring.

Larry · February 07, 2009, 04:26:48 PM

With possible heavy rains next week Rogers, Springdale, (especially) and Fayetteville are very concerned about flooding right now.

I have a bunch of trees that just fell over from the weight of the ice. In one place it looks like dominoes where 10 trees fell.

Typical one here...white oak and looked like only one of the top limbs was cracked before it fell. I'm gonna have to study up on how to cut down? these sort of trees.

semologger · February 07, 2009, 05:41:45 PM

Larry we cut a job like that after a twister hit here one time. It was a mess the saws keep on getting pinched. My guy cutting had 30 something years experiance he knew what he was doing. Also the stumps would spring up and land back in the whole. Once we got that job done we didnt even ask for any more.

The ground is so wet now anymore rain and most of the trees will prob be falling if we get any wind.

stonebroke · February 07, 2009, 07:49:25 PM

Larry
There is only one way to cut trees like that, VERY CAREFULLY. Watch out. Those trees are how people get killed.

Stonebroke

LeeB · February 23, 2009, 10:59:58 AM

Finally made it home last Thursday night. Damage not as bad as I expected. A lot of tops out, but most of the trees should survive. I been cutting dowm trees around the house for the last three days, well ok, hard and heavy since yesterday. Most of those were ok, but Lindy wants everything that can fall on the house gone. We were pretty lucky. No damage to te house or buildings to speak of. Our biggest worry now is fire. there wil be plent off fuel come fire season. I could probably get a lot more done if I didn't pull out every saw log and go saw it up as soon as it's down. :D

ARKANSAWYER · February 23, 2009, 08:04:38 PM

That is the best way to do it Lee. If you pile up the logs till the messed is cleaned up the will have stained by then. Also if you are getting pretty wood it makes you want to go get another log. The logs will keep better standing then bunked waiting to be sawed.

LeeB · February 24, 2009, 07:35:35 AM

Found some storm damage to the house yesterday. :( Seems that it happened right after the tree I was sawing did a piroette and crashed the hand rail on the porch. >:( Good thing it wasn't three feet longer. it would haveing taken out the kitchen window too. It started out falling the right way and then did a spin on the stump and fell 90* out.

WDH · February 24, 2009, 08:21:31 AM

Sometimes porch rails have wood magnets in them

.

DanG · February 24, 2009, 10:11:35 AM

Quote from: WDH on February 24, 2009, 08:21:31 AM
Sometimes porch rails have wood magnets in them .

I'm interested to learn just how you came across that tidbit of information, Danny. Is that something they teach in Forestry School? :P ;D

WDH · February 24, 2009, 10:43:07 AM

No. I learned that one from the School of Hard Knocks :D.

ID4ster · February 24, 2009, 12:27:17 PM

Enjoy these ice storms and cold weather while it lasts. The experts from Princeton and Stanford and around the world are saying that global warming is occuring faster and will cause damage at lower levels than they previously thought. Soon we'll all be taking lessons from Jim in Peru on growing tropical trees and all this ice will be a distant memory.

ARKANSAWYER · February 24, 2009, 06:53:12 PM

Well that is good news! 8) Soon I will have ocean front property!

isawlogs · February 24, 2009, 07:18:50 PM

Well thated be fine by me , I am about ready for some palm trees and a visite from Tom And DanG , 8)

Larry · March 07, 2009, 08:52:10 AM

The towns are making great progress with storm clean up. Should have most of the mess gone by middle of April. Some of the cleanup contractors got the job not because they were the low bidder but because they knew what FEMA requires.

Larry is making quite slow progress cleaning up...anybody want free firewood? :D :D

ScottAR · March 08, 2009, 03:48:52 AM

I got the head gasket hopefully repaired on the backhoe today so my
cleanup efforts should resume shortly. I still need to hook up a
couple things and put some water in it and see if it runs out. :