Snow

[Bruno of NH]

Forecasted for 3 to 6 inches 
We got 42"
The plow wasn't on the truck.
Big Bob's getting a work out.
It will take 2 days to dig the mill yard out.

[Walnut Beast]

Stay safe and be careful to everybody back East being affected 

[mike_belben]

Holy smokes!

[woodroe]

Geez, 42 " ,that  isn't even funny.  Good luck with digging all that out.
I'd have trouble digging half that out with my tractor.

[mike_belben]

Thats a dozer job!

[SawyerTed]

Wow!  42" that would be a disaster here!  

Stay safe, stay warm and be careful!  

[Bruno of NH]

I wish I had a dozer  :D

[woodroe]

Sounds like one for the snowfall record books.
Never seen anything like that here in 60 years.

[thecfarm]

woodroe,That must of been back in '69?  I was only 8 years old and I was having fun climbing on top of the shed roof and jumping off into the snow.
A couple feet will slow things down here. Had one of those storms and an hour drive home turned into 2 hours.

[Southside]

Went to bed one night in March when they were calling for 6", seemed to be about that on the ground, same thing - didn't bother with putting the plow on.  Woke up in the morning had over 30" - driveway was 1/2 mile long.  Managed to get my truck out to the road but could not get it back in to get the plow, ended up riding my Ski-Doo in and out for 6 weeks.  

Good luck there Bruno!!  

[Walnut Beast]

Bruno keep us posted on the nasty situation. Stay safe 👍

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, snow like this has a way of slowing production a bit. ;D We only got about 18" but its hard to tell with all the wind we had, maybe more, who cares? All I know is I got to work on it at 6am and didn't quite until 4pm for just my two driveways and down past the shop, a path to the shop from the house, paths to the storage sheds, clearing the fronts of those and the beginning of paths to the wood racks.
 I have to finish the paths to the wood racks tomorrow, trim up other works, and repair the wood rack covers that collapsed under the snow load. Gonne be another wet cold day for this old guy tomorrow. By 8pm, I felt like it was midnight, and after I do the house and shop stoves, I am headed to bed.
 Bruno, I feel for ya man, but we don't exactly live in the sunbelt.
 Every time we get snow like this, I think of the winter of '93 (referred to in our house as "the winter from Hell") and I had a cousin in Texas who asked "I don't get it, why do you have to plow it, why don't you just let it melt like we do?" So I went out with a buddy between blizzards and a video camera and just shot video of houses with 4' icicles covering the front of the house, folks up on their rooves with snow blowers, road intersections where you could see no oncoming traffic because the plow berms were 15' high, and I sent it off to her. She called me when she got it and just said 'Nevermind'.  :D :D :D :D
 Hang in there Bruno, it will melt. ;D (Today, I wish I had a dozer too.)

[Walnut Beast]

Greenhorn between that water problem and snow you have had your hands full 🙄

[Southside]

OG - My wife grew up for the most part outside of Colorado Springs.  She moved to Maine and didn't understand that once the ground turns white, it stays white until some years May.  Of course growing up I had never heard of such a place where the snow melted during the winter.  That would wreck havock on the trails and what a mess ice fishing would be!!  

Now down here if the weather man even says the "S word" - EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING including the active duty bases close down for days on end.  Different worlds! 

[Stephen1]

We've got the cold, but no snow to speak of yet. The lake has 3" of ice and we are hoping after tonight we might get to go skating tomorrow or saturday.
Good luck Bruno!

[Old Greenhorn]

Greenhorn between that water problem and snow you have had your hands full 🙄

Nah, not really. It's just all part of the game. You play the hand you are dealt. No big deal, just takes more time is all.
SS, the Springs are kind of dear to my heart, what a wonderful place and so many treasures there, Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, Seven falls, and many dozens of other things that bring one joy, and the weather is remarkable. I think if I added up all the days I spent visiting and tramping around there, it would probably add up to 3 weeks or so. My Brother was married in the Springs in 1967 and that was my first visit for a week, could not wait to get back and see more. I have stories, but another time. In fact, I have a photo on the wall near my desk that I took of Seven Falls at night around 1976, it took second place in a photo contest I entered it in, but no matter it is still one of my favorites and has been on the wall a long time.
New England, OTOH is 'different'. 9 months of winter and 3 months of poor sledding is what my Vermont family likes to say. I never understood why Upstate NY is not considered part of new England. Heck our local city here (Kingston) was burned by the Brits during the early days of the war for independence and it served as the Capitol, of NYS for a while during the war. True that most of the settlers were Dutch with a few Germans thrown in but still. But, as usual, I digress.
We were talking about snow in NH.
BTW, every time I hear somebody say "look at all the SNOW! Isn't it SO pretty?" I want to punch them in the throat, is that a bad thing?

[barbender]

Dang, you guys got walloped!! We are having an unusual winter...no snow on the ground, the lakes have nice clear ice on them. One phenomenon that I have seen pictures of is people are seeing all the turtles underwater through the ice. People think they are trapped, but they hibernate under the ice🤷🏽‍♂️ Sorry you guys are having to dig out of that much!

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah, that is a load of snow.  That'll keep a man busy for a few hours if he has a lot of stuff to dig out.

Winter 2008 here was a bad one, never any huge storms, but lots and lots of them and real cold. Nov1 to May 1 2 storms a week it seemed. 8 feet of snowfall. The robins faced 4 feet of snow when they arrived. Year before we never had any snow at all. :D

[celliott]

We got lucky I guess, in northern Vermont. At my house in Danville, we got maybe 5", which was 4 more than I expected. Where I work in Eden sugaring (consistently gets dumped on with snow every year, 4-6ft, we had a foot two weeks ago) we got an inch up there. 
Not that I wish it upon anyone, I have to deal with large snow amounts pretty regularly, I'm glad we didn't get anymore than we did. Still tapping without snowshoes.

[A-z farmer]

Wow Bruno that is a big wallop of snow .Bee safe digging all the white stuff out.
Thecfarm I remember that storm here in New York in 1969 we had to dump our milk for a few days because the milk tanker could not get to us .But I can remember finally seeing the Walters sno fighters 
With the v plows coming to plow our roads .So years later I bought those two trucks just to have .What I did not realize was that those old gas trucks used gallons of gas per mile and my attraction to them soon went away after buying the gas for them .

[Ed_K]

 We were between the 2 snow bands that hit eastern N.Y. and the band Bruno got hit with. I heard on the news that N.Y. got 42" and you read bruno's. We only got 19" but that was enough to keep Rita busy on the deck and walkways and me on the Landini/ snowplow. I ended up cleaning drive twice.

[Peter Drouin]

42" here too. Lucky I have a 1044 lull I can put a 5yard bucket on. 
Can't move the snow with the GMC 3500 with a 9' plow. : :D :D
Then I can start with the roofs I have. :D :D :D My poor back. 

[curved-wood]

Bruno and Peter have stolen all the snow !  Nothing here,  zero , bare ground,  but cold

[PoginyHill]

A light dusting in northern Vermont. Thankful only because maybe the ground will freeze before we get an insulating snow pack. Last year we started with snow, THEN the cold weather. Makes for a snowy, muddy mess.

[chevytaHOE5674]

Seems strange its 2/3 of the way thru December and the east coast has piles of snow and in snow central UP here we have maybe 3" on the ground. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Seems strange its 2/3 of the way thru December and the east coast has piles of snow and in snow central UP here we have maybe 3" on the ground.

I am QUITE certain you will catch up and surpass us soon enough. :D

[Chuck White]

Wow, some of you folks really got hammered!
It seems that the storm crossed NY, below Syracuse and when it hit Mass., it turned North and started dumping!
Here in the center of St Lawrence County I only have "maybe" 1½ inches!
When I got up this morning, we had -6° F, our coldest day yet this season!
You folks with large amounts of snow to remove, please remember to take it easy, some of us know what shoveling snow can do to us old folks.
Good luck to all.

[K-Guy]

We definitely got off luckier than you Bruno. I live just south of Bangor and only got 3-4". Go figure. say_what

[SwampDonkey]

We never got any snow from that system. I can still walk around the woods with no snow shoes. The first snow we got was 10", but melted from the bottom up and there might be 4" now. Ground was super wet with 14" from fall rain. ;D The snow sure did lean over some cedar and spruce, still snow stuck on trees here from that 10" storm 2 weeks ago.

[Bruno of NH]

-17° this morning
Another day of struggling 
Can't move South you good guys have all the sawing sewn up

[Bruno of NH]

With Equipment break downs I will be lucky to open up after Christmas

[petefrom bearswamp]

Only 10" here but 30 miles south in the Binghamton area was 40"+
My brother just outside of Schenectady got 31" and his snow blower broke down.
He is just a young pup of 81 and needed to shovel his car out.

[Southside]

Bruno - I hear you on the snow, but just think, 100°F  and 95% humidity from July - September.  Makes for awesome sawing weather.  

[moodnacreek]

42" is way too much work. Think of all the lumber you could make with the same amount of effort and fuel.  We got 13" here and I broke the snow plow frame on the jeep. Almost predictable. Good thing I have a 4x4 tractor loader but no cab.

[sawguy21]

  That is too much to deal with at once! It is like spring here, just a few patches and the grass is greening up, but we will get cold and snow. Still, we won't see -17 and 40 plus inches, at least we had better not!

[Bruno of NH]

Big Bob is out .
My newest helper left the fuel cap off durring the storm water in fuel. It won't stay running.
Can't get filters till monday 

[Peter Drouin]

Hard to get good help these days Bruno. I get some old bricklayers to work part-time for me. They do everything but run the mill. Even help customers load up. A little more $$$$ but worth it.
good luck.

[Edvantage]

Murphy's law - no plow on truck and you get buried. I'm sitting here waiting for snow to try out 3pt blower I just adapted to skidsteer and we don't have any snow to speak of!

[brianJ]

Murphy's law - no plow on truck and you get buried. I'm sitting here waiting for snow to try out 3pt blower I just adapted to skidsteer and we don't have any snow to speak of!

The most bestest investments are those that prevent snowfall in the first place.

[Walnut Beast]

Big Bob is out .
My newest helper left the fuel cap off durring the storm water in fuel. It won't stay running.
Can't get filters till monday

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully you will get big Bob going Monday. Besides the fuel cap how is your new helper doing?

[SwampDonkey]

Was 10F this morning with frost on the trees, warmed to 32 by afternoon. Never had a fire since 6:00 am because of all the sun, solar heat.

[SawyerTed]

Bruno - I hear you on the snow, but just think, 100°F  and 95% humidity from July - September.  Makes for awesome sawing weather.  

I'm sympathetic to our brothers to the north and the challenges the weather creates for them.  I'm not cut out for that no doubt! 
However, I will gladly take the heat and humidity over all that snow!  If I have to saw in July and August,  I saw between 6 a.m. and noon.  Forget sawing after 1:00 p.m.  Mostly I stop around June 20 and start around September 1.  I didn't do that my first summer and soon realized it was a mistake.

[mike_belben]

Hang in there bruno, thats a tough row. 

[Bruno of NH]

My decision to work getting the skid steer tire fixed before the storm wasn't the right one.
Should have got the truck ready.
With lost business and missed order dates this ones 
Going to be hard to over come.

[mike_belben]

So will the one after it.  Dont focus on the negative, youll never run out of things to resent.  Think of how many people had roofs cave in and be happy your issue is just a backlog.  When times are down you gotta find ways to lift your own spirits.  

If its that bad, take a day or two off.  The customer can wait.  Their happiness does not trump yours.  

[Old Greenhorn]

So will the one after it.  Don't focus on the negative, you'll never run out of things to resent.  Think of how many people had roofs cave in and be happy your issue is just a backlog.  When times are down you gotta find ways to lift your own spirits.  

If its that bad, take a day or two off.  The customer can wait.  Their happiness does not trump yours.  

Good words of Wisdom from Mike. We hall have those years where we just miss to mark on winter prep. If I had not been retired I would have been in a mess myself, but I could take a day and a half to do it all at once. Never had that luxury before. Still, I have some damage control yet to do. You would think by now that we all pretty much know this 'Snow Thing' happens about every year, but still we learn the hard way. This just wasn't your year for a good start off and frankly, it did hit you with a vengeance unlike most other years. What happened to the "work into it easy with an 8" snowfall"? Did that contract run out? ;D

[Bruno of NH]

My brother in law came and helped me get Big Bob running.
We didn't have new filters did the best with what we had.
2 young guy who had worked with me before came and helped me clean some roofs off and get the plow on Henry.
One stayed and ran Big Bob and I plowed with Henry.
Henry was tough it has highway tires on it. That's what was on it when I got it and they are new. I need a set of chains for the rear with 42" of snow.
I'm looking for a used set for Big Bob for the rear.

[mike_belben]

I dont know what size tires are on that but walmart used to stock truck chains thatd fit a 33x12.5 mud tire.  


Glad your makin some headway bruno.

[barbender]

I have a set of those on my Case 1845 I bought years back when the local Walmart carried them. I haven't seen tire chains in there in a while. I think Bruno's machine runs bigger tires, as well. My are 12x16.5.

[Bruno of NH]

Big Bob has 15x19.5 tires on it.

[SwampDonkey]

Tractor supply probably has chains. I'm pretty sure I've seen them in the Houlton, Maine store. Can't get any further out in the boonies than that, except maybe Alaska. ;D

[mike_belben]

Maybe a truck dealer, fleet pride or hale trailer will have some for trucks running super singles.  Maybe even a loves or pilot. 

[Bruno of NH]

Glenn 51cub
Stopped in today to help me.
Skid Steer wouldn't start.
This time starter solenoid. 
Just had the starter rebuilt

[mike_belben]

Oh those chinese solenoids pith me off. 


Put a blowdryer to it.  Good chance you got snowmelt frozen inside.  Dont wack the solenoid body too hard if its a sliding iron core bendix kicker outter style. that just dents them then they wont engage. 

[Corley5]

Tire Chains-Best Snow Chains-TireChains.com  Free shipping if you spend enough ;)

[Peter Drouin]

Glenn 51cub
Stopped in today to help me.
Skid Steer wouldn't start.
This time starter solenoid.
Just had the starter rebuilt

You can't just keep cranking them. Have to let them cool off some.
Starters will burn up.

[moodnacreek]

On some skid steers [on some wheels] you have room on the wheel disc section to drill a circle of holes and then bolt short sections of log chain around the tires. I saw this done on Gehl skid steers at a cedar mill in the northeast kingdom.[ That was Conley,s .]

[Gere Flewelling]

Bruno, BB Chain in either Milford NH, or Concord NH are your best sources of tire chains in NH in my opinion.  They operate out of the Chappell Tractor Stores.  I have been purchasing tire chains of all sizes and types for many years from them.  The salesman "Tucker Siros" has a sales truck and can deliver them to you.  Web site is www.bbchain.com  Prices are usually decent as well.  GF

[barbender]

Chains will make your life way, way easier Bruno. I have tracks on my skid right now, they're Grouser brand and pretty clapped out. Actually worthless on snow and ice until I put some carriage bolts on them for cleats, now they work good. Otherwise I have a set of plain pickup tire chains I usually run on the rear. Chains all the way around would be better. The way skid steers operate (skidding🤷🏽‍♂️) they ice everything up pretty quick to where plain tires can't do much. And be careful, I use to hit the ground daily when I worked my chained up skid on a logging landing, they really make the ground icy. I even tried wearing those strap on ice cleats, but then I'd slip when I got on the skidder🤷🏽‍♂️

[Edvantage]

I run chains on all 4 skidsteer tires. Bought online from walmart last year was very inexpensive. Should have done that a long time ago. Let some air out of tires than put chains on and air up chains never loosen up. For many years I had been welding every link on worn out chains because I had chains on the rear only and was spinning too much. Chains on all 4 and I can stall the engine before I spin.

[chep]

What a difference a week makes huh bruno? !!! Merry Christmas.  That rain took all the snow down your way? Cos it did up here. Like it never even fell... I always laugh at how much time we spend moving snow and then have it all melt away once we are done...

[Bruno of NH]

We lost most of it.
It's going to rain again New Years .
Then I hope it all goes 
That way I can get my act back together.
Still have issues with Big Bob 
Put all new fuel filters on it yesterday. 

[Stephen1]

I run chains on the rear of my skid steer, they have nice lugs all the way around. They really make a mess in the gravel,  but work great with snow and ice.  but I am only moving a small amount of a yard for snow and mainly in febuary to clear the yard for syrup season.