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jdemaris
02-15-2007 15:58:25
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Well, I've been pretty stupid this year. Every winter for the past 30 years I've been careful about being prepared. Backup electric power, 1000 gallons of diesel on hand, lots of firewood, 6' snowblower mounted on my 1020 Deere tractor, plow-truck with chains on all four wheels, etc. Seems this year - up to last month - we had the warmest on record. And, since Al Gore's been whooping it up about "greenhouse warming" - I got kind of lazy. No chains on my tractor and parked in my barn - backed in - instead of blower facing out. Also setup a new plow truck this year - it's never been tried out. My old favorite - a K5 diesel Blazer is in my shop getting some new sheet metal. I set up a 79 Blazer with four sets of chains and plow and figured it would do. Well . . . whatever could go wrong, did go wrong. Last week my property up north got 12 feet of snow - I should of taken that for a warning.
Yesterday - we got the heaviest, fastest, and deepest snow I've ever seen here. Also the coldest. It was 2 degrees - and usually when it snows it's around 20 F. So, first - I tried to plow with my "new" plow truck. It has the 203 transfercase - that was once full-time 4WD but was later converted to part-time. Well - come to find out - it's "no-time" 4WD. I could jam on the shifter and make it work now and then - but it was a lost cause. Before I knew it, the snow was 3 1/2 feet deep - at the least - and 6 feet in the wind-blown drifts. My truck was stuck. So, I went to get my tractor. Then remembered, my Deere was at a remote barn and the snow was over 6 feet deep from drifts. My six-foot blower was on my little IH B-275 and facing the wrong way. The barn door - under an eave had about 8 feet of snow. I spent most of the day - getting the IH started - since it hadn't been plugged in. And, had to put some chains on, etc. Finally got it going - and found out quick - I really miss my Deere 1020. The IH B-275 is a great little tractor - but NO power steering and TOO fast in reverse for the snowblower. Well, I finally got all the needed snow moved, but what a mess. Now, I'll be shoveling roofs for the next three days - at least. Here's a few photos - the one with the extremely deep snow roadside is from up north by Oswego - 12 feet in 7 days. In one picture of my barn - my little 81 diesel Chevette is totally buried. Guess I should of parked it inside.  
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