Dang i hate winter

when we get heavy wet snow . Ya can't blow it so that means i will have to go out and get a tractor and blade and make the long cold ride back to the house . stupid weather guessers are not sure how much will come down and everybody is in panic mode . Schools are all closed already ain't seen a car go by in and hour and a half, Ain't seen a plow yet. Myself i really don't care , got food , got snacks , got lots of human antifreeze . I could hole up till it melts.

They're forecasting doom and gloom for overnight up hear along the St. Lawrence. Sleet freezing rain and snow. I hope not, I've got a truck due to show up here at 9am to load hay. I hope the driver is playing it safe.

Biggest part is gonna miss us, they claim you're gonna get it.....we'll see.

I haven't even had the blade on a tractor yet. WHOA WAIT I DIDN"T SAY THAT. Great now I'm going to get dumped on.

Sounds like a typical night for around here. No bad weather tonight... Just some freezing rain and light snow. Was surprised how often school was called off the day before the storm actually hit this winter but now, after the fact, it's usually been well worth it.

Dad always says oh it'll be alright, it's not going to do anything...we ain't gonna get nothing. Irritating how often he can be right without watching the weather news.

Got my antigel by my side. Bring it on Winter

Josh

Well atleast it ain't me . I got conned into hauling a load of HAY out of south Dakota years back , Took a Cell hut from Masslion Ohio to Min.temps dropped down to -45 that night even with the cab heat up and the bunk heat on high the cold came up thru the mattresse , just glad i had a sleeping bag as i had to put that ontop of the blankests and put my Carharrts on to sleep. the first night . Had problems getting the load off because the hyd's on the crane wer stiff and would not work and they had to tarp it and put four huge space heaters under the tarp to warm it up. Got that off late in the day and called in and was told that they found a load of Hay out of souther S D going to Miami Fl. paid really good. so ok BUY i ain't loading it and i am not unloading it . So the ground rules were set and off i went . Got close to the farm and there was a small truck stop and i bedded down for the night . Next morning it was Friday and the farmer meet me along the road and took me back to his farm . Backed into the shed and he had four guys there to load . Took them a half hour to figure out how to load a RGN But they got started with one guy on the loader with a grapple and four stacking . We put down two big lumber tarps on the deck and put down six layers and tucked the bottom tarps in and kept on stacking till we were at 13 foot 5 inches high . we had 852 bales on and put the other two lumber tarps on top and tied it down with ever ratchet strap and binder i had . Then off to the co op to weight it . I weighed in at 80200 full of fuel . It was a light drizzle rain and it seamed to be getting colder by the min. One of the helpers came over to us as we were talking and said his wife just caleed and said that there wasa Blizzard moving in Fast and it was moving at 60 MPH . OK i am out of here and maybe i can get running and stay ahead of it. What the fastest way into Iowa , so he tells me and i am out of there . I turned every pony loose under the hood and flipped the switch to dig up 200 more ponys . I was flat hauling the mail east bound . IN about twenty miles the rain turned to freezing rain and the mirrors are icing up so if the mirrors are icing so is the road . As i made the last turn to the right i saw this hill going UP into Iowa and it was time to lock the rears in , i pawed my way up that hill but there was no more hammer down as first off i am on a road i have never been on in my life and there are curves and small hills . and Oh here comes the storm . My game plan was to run across 3 till i got to 35 and drop down 35 to 80 , yea that did not happen You could not see that far and i knew i could not stop so i kept on going . I came across a little fuel stop and the snow let up for about fifteen min. as i pulled in , i went in and got some chicken and taters a six pack of pepsi and just the short time i was inthere the heat from my tires melted the snow under them and i was almost stuck . It took some rocking to get her to move and when she moved i was out of there . I kept looking for a road that i might remember BUt yo could not see nothing I was still on 3 and still moving at 40-45 mph. It was getting late when the storm let up just a little and i saw a cross road up ahead and a road sign , it said Waverly this way and Charles City that way. Wow i am way east of where i wanted to be but they this will work , Right turn and now headed into the storm . Down thru Waverly , down thru Waterloo and down to Cider Rapids and I 80 . what a mess only one lane and everything is moving at 15 MPH , Ok enough of this these freight haulers can't drive So out into the deep snow i go and start picking up speed , snow is deep but i have traction and i am going , next thing i know here comes some of the braver ones behind me . I am in about 18-24 inches of snow and moving . When one of the trucks yell at me on the radio and said i was doing a fine job of plowing . well gee the trailer only sets about four to five inches off the ground and i just happened to look at my axle gauges and they are pegged to the max i have now over 48000 on the drives and over 48000 on the trailer . The whole bottom of the trailer was packed solid with snow and ice the back of the tractor was packed solid with snow and ice from the deck plate to the top of the headach rack m there was only a couple inches of space under the top deck and the drive tires . I made it almost to Iowa City before i could not go and had to find a place to lay down . Pulled in to a small truck stop and found a hole and died . It took me 13 hours to get that far across Iowa. Next morning i woke up and had a bite to eat and was ready to do battle with the roads only to find out that the south was totally shut down , so it was were going home the pike is open and IF i can get this load on the pike i will pike it to I 69 and drop south and come across Rt 6 or if i have to down to U S30 to the house . Then i will pull out Monday for Fl, Well that did not work out as another storm came in and shut us down . ok Tuesday Nope got hit again I pulled out Wednesday afternoon way over weight and had to tip toe around scales eating up time . Used one road that has been closed to big trucks for years due to the bad hill and curves on the mountain . I had no problem with it just let the jake take her down . when i got into N.C. it was WARM and i started to melt . The road was dry inft. of me but behind me it looked like a storm came thru Water was running off me like crazy . Almost got nailed as i went thru the ag check station in Fl as i was still way over as i was explaing to the cop Why i was so far over he looked out and his nice DRY lane was filling with water and he came out and looked at the truck and said he had never seen a truck so covered with snow and ice in his life. I made it down to Ft. Pierce and bedded down at the flying J and darn near flooded the parking lot . The next afternoon while we were unloading on the west side of Miami we found snow in the middle of the load of hay and i was still thawing out . It took till Saturday for the last of it to fall off while coming home . So yea i have hauled HAY in a snow storm before. I really miss driving . Seams that since i started driving i have only missed out on two year of not driving in major snow storms. and at that time i was ducking bullets and mortor round. I have never had a snow storm shut me down unless the law said no travel . Before i got running If i was out there untill they pulled me off if they could get to me i kept on going . Forty three years ago i would be headed to or already at a strip mine loading the first load for the day . Getting to the mines was fun empty The close one was fifteen miles from here the far ones were seventyfive miles over the old roads with lots of hills and turns . we were out and moving way before the state boys even got to there trucks . Then there was the county roads , yea sometimes we would get hung up and have to walk to get the loader and dig our way out of the mine to get to the trucks and drag them in one at a time , but hey when ya got a 988 or a 275 Michigan or a big 745 A/C to work with even a drifted in road that is drifted 15 20 feet is not a big problem .

Keep it up, Vet, I love your stories!

How deep of heavy wet snow ? Maybe you need bigger horses on that blower ? My little el cheapo MTD walk behind does a decent job with wet stuff. Way better than a shovel !

Well I got about 3 inches of snow. Most this winter. Didn't need to, but I got on the tractor and cleaned both drives, one to house and one to pole barn. This was my first and perhaps last snow of the winter. Didn't want to think I put the snow plow on the tractor and not use it.

My guy got here. Luckily he's been here at least a dozen times and knows the routine. He's a good driver. They've sent me guys right off the boat before. We're getting him loaded as fast as we can and hopefully can get him out of here before it changes to freezing rain. Were putting small squares in a 53' van so we don't have to tarp and all that. I hope he can get out once we load him. I might have to get the neighbors with a big tractor.

Some years ago I found I disliked the cold rain, wet heavy snow and bottomless mud of a mid-south winter even more than I dislike the sub-zero cold, the deep snow, frozen ground and white outs of a northern winter. I guess everyone has their own preferences!

Lookie up on U-tube how to keep a snow blower from plugging up. Guys take out the air clearance with little rubber paddles. Look into it.