Winter blues

[DMiller]

Or at least blue fingers, toes, lips, MAN IS IT COLD!! Got up this AM to 10 degrees, going to hit zero come Wednesday and the old Fat Allis sits numb alongside the shed, wouldn't even try to get the monster started right now so little outside activity as to getting grade fill moved where I need it. New house is taking FOREVER to get roughed out and ready for drywall, just completed the electrical rough in and the plumber is working the last copper feeds so can get the insulator back in to finish spray foam.

 

[AllDodge]

Yep way to cold for this guy, 20 this AM and going to single digits.

 

[td25c]

We are having about the same forecast , supposed to get a little snow in the morning .

The garage / shop sure turned out nice . I bet the 180 Allis tractor is parked inside . This is a tough time of year to be building a home if there is much outside work . Seems like everything takes twice as long .

 

[Andrew_D]

No sympathy from up here guys.... no sympathy!

Yesterday dropped to -37ºC. With windchill it was around -47ºC to -52ºC depending which weather station you listened to.

Friday night we had a snow storm - around 8" (6"-12" depending where you looked) then dropped cold. So Saturday I went to start the blade tractor. It was -30ºC in the morning, -25ºC by the time I got it going at 2PM. Plugged in over night = no go. Had to put a charger on the battery and a propane torch under the pan for 5 hours to get it to go.

Andrew

 

[Dickjr.]

No sympathy from up here guys.... no sympathy!

Yesterday dropped to -37ºC. With windchill it was around -47ºC to -52ºC depending which weather station you listened to.

Friday night we had a snow storm - around 8" (6"-12" depending where you looked) then dropped cold. So Saturday I went to start the blade tractor. It was -30ºC in the morning, -25ºC by the time I got it going at 2PM. Plugged in over night = no go. Had to put a charger on the battery and a propane torch under the pan for 5 hours to get it to go.

Andrew

That sounds rough. We are supposed to get to -4 Wednesday midnight to Thursday morning , needless to say I hope to wrap up a project tomorrow. -40 sounds unbearable. Question is once you get the tractor started , does it operate any way near normal? What kind of tractor is it? A lot of my work now is finish grade , its not near as cold here but ground is froze a few inches deep. If it crunches up it works ok , some hard pan won't break up. Trenching and such is not bad.

 

[AllDodge]

No sympathy from up here guys.... no sympathy!

Yesterday dropped to -37ºC. With windchill it was around -47ºC to -52ºC depending which weather station you listened to.

Friday night we had a snow storm - around 8" (6"-12" depending where you looked) then dropped cold. So Saturday I went to start the blade tractor. It was -30ºC in the morning, -25ºC by the time I got it going at 2PM. Plugged in over night = no go. Had to put a charger on the battery and a propane torch under the pan for 5 hours to get it to go.

Andrew

Dang, the last time I was in those temps was when I was on a USCG Ice Breaker in the 1970's. I guess you get use to the weather were you live but that is just way to cold for me anymore.

 

[old-iron-habit]

Been nice and warm for this time of the year up here in northern Minnesota. No tourists make local travel ever so pleasant. Wind chill has not even hit -40 yet this year.

 

[grandpa]

Been nice and warm for this time of the year up here in northern Minnesota. No tourists make local travel ever so pleasant. Wind chill has not even hit -40 yet this year.

50 below for tonight..... but I like your optimism......lol

 

[bushcat]

-40 something here also, I think it's time to book a trip south for my wife and I

 

[Dickjr.]

You guys are hardcore. We had a guy move down here from Canada , I always thought he was "on the run" nice guy anyway. The dude come to work in December it was 35* wearing shorts and a hooded sweat shirt. I thought he was just going on and had other clothes with him. Worked all day never shivered or nothing , us locals had insulated bibs on. I've never experienced anything any colder than -15* there about, the wind chill was lower. One thing , the humidity in the summer here gets to a lot of people including myself. The ohio valley catches all the pollen from the west , it sets here for some reason , allergy is terrible. Maybe I need to plan an ice fishing trip in Minnesota. I live with in 20 miles of all the major distilleries , 12 miles from Makers Mark , so I could bring plenty anti freeze.

 

[grandpa]

-40 something here also, I think it's time to book a trip south for my wife and I

I'll drink to that ; :drinkup

 

[DMiller]

Dickjr, Have been to the Bourbon Trail twice now, still have a few select beverages from those visits I nibble at occasionally including Makers 46, some good stuff there! Curled up with a glass of Bourbon Crème from Buffalo Trace just last night, nothing better than 40 proof chocolate milk!

 

[Andrew_D]

That sounds rough. We are supposed to get to -4 Wednesday midnight to Thursday morning , needless to say I hope to wrap up a project tomorrow. -40 sounds unbearable. Question is once you get the tractor started , does it operate any way near normal? What kind of tractor is it? A lot of my work now is finish grade , its not near as cold here but ground is froze a few inches deep. If it crunches up it works ok , some hard pan won't break up. Trenching and such is not bad.

John Deere 9300 4WD with Leon Blade. Works same as anything else in the cold - let it warm up for 20 minutes and give 'er! We have a 2 foot length of hyd hose with a hydraulic coupler on each end so that we can plug it into one set of hydraulic outlets and let them circulate. On these tractors, the hydraulic flow is adjustable from 0.1-10.0 and you can only run it at about 4. Any higher and the restriction from the cold oil will actually pop the couplers out of the bodies at the back end of the tractor when it's this cold.

Andrew

 

[Andrew_D]

Cold front has passed. We are back into normals of daytime highs of -15ºC and overnight lows of -25ºC.

Andrew

 

[Andrew_D]

Next storm arrived mid-morning. Visibility 1/8 - 1/4 mile. Winds 40mph.

Andrew

 

[old-iron-habit]

Maybe I need to plan an ice fishing trip in Minnesota.

Give me a shout if you want to come up fishing. I retire on January 20th. On the 21st we will be in my cousins 12' by 24' sleeper fish house on Lake of the Woods. Walleyes have been on a decent but not spectacular bite.

 

[Dickjr.]

Maybe I need to plan an ice fishing trip in Minnesota.

Give me a shout if you want to come up fishing. I retire on January 20th. On the 21st we will be in my cousins 12' by 24' sleeper fish house on Lake of the Woods. Walleyes have been on a decent but not spectacular bite.

Retirement , I hope one day I can use that term. I've been at this since 1996 , and consider my business to still be in its infancy so to speak. I'd love to see the goings on up that way some day. From where I'm at you can go 800 miles south and be in 75* weather or 800 miles north and be in - 40* weather. Its not unusual for us to get a little taste of both. Thursday it was -4 here , I know a long way for -40 , then Monday it supposed to push 50*. 30* here with no wind and sunshine is actually decent work weather. I had some friends that bought a farm up in MN once :cool2

 

[old-iron-habit]

. I had some friends that bought a farm up in MN once :cool2

If I ever hit the lotto I am going to buy a farm here and farm until the money is all gone. Actually, southern and western Minnesota has great farm land. Here in the arrowhead country, we grow only rocks, trees, and walleyes.

 

[Andrew_D]

The weather folks are calling for -5ºC (23ºF) for the end of next week!!!! WOW!!!!!

(I might have to dig out my summer clothes again )

Andrew