SNOW!!

[dtoots1]

well guys....we have the snow coming down today only bout an inch now but still coming. Put the old girl (jd440) to work the past month and cleared neighbors trees in his backyard and fencerow. Only problem got into to a bunch of 5 with roots all tied together and the old girl couldn't do, probably the operator (me) so we cut them down and will backhoe em out. Sure is a handy little ol girl.

He had about 5 tall evergreens about 80 ft high had to hire down with hi lift out front and to side of house 30 inch trunks. Sure was interesting to watch!
All down safely.
Got some before pics and will take a few of the after yet...i think i missed the pics of the evergreens tho too busy loading the 20 foot limbs.

now to add pics.

after

after

after

[CuttingEdge]

We are getting snow now and have had a few inches over the last week or so. Nothing extravagant, maybe 10 inches total, just enough to plow once, with another plowing now due. The 350D handles it pretty well because part of its job is the barnyard, then a half mile logging road for the logging trucks to navigate.

That has a 9% grade, and if anyone knows truck drivers, they cry like a woman giving birth, so the road has to be down to gravel before they will navigate it. As one trucker said, "It does not look like 9% grade going up, but it sure looks it coming down." It does not help that they must make a 90 degree turn at the bottom or launch it off a 6 foot embankment, so I guess they have reason to whine. I tell them to watch another episode of Ice Road Trucker's and give it another gear; so you see, I am not that sympathetic...on the outside.

Myself, I have slowly gotten used to 10 degree days and logging in the snow again. I love wet clothing after the first twitch and shivering from wind knowing I got another 9 hours to go. Talk about a logger whining like a woman giving birth huh? (LOL)

But we are gearing up for Christmas and its been nice to help a few people who are having a tough go of it. We went to a banquet last fall for a Drug Addiction recovery group called Teen Challenge and took on one of the guys daughters. She is 18 months, and he has been in the 15 month program for 12 months, so has not seen her much. Being in rehab he cannot afford, nor be able to buy gifts for her, so we took that on. Then a friend of ours had her boyfriend leave her, and left her 9 and 11 year old daughters with a dismal looking Christmas. I am not having that. I love my kids, but they get doted on from their family, and these two other girls have no family, so the community got together and Katie is buying presents for them tomorrow. I am pretty proud of my community. I put a last minute cry for help out for them as Katie and I are tapped out with our (4) daughters plus the Teen Challenge guys daughter, and yet people gave us over $400 so they could have a decent Christmas.

I makes a man mad when we cannot get out a tangled mess of stumps, but when everything is calculated, what is a snarl of stumps when Christmas is upon us? I am in no way implying that stumps frustrated you Dtoots, I know you will get them out. I am just saying I need to always keep things in perspective. So; hug the family, help other less fortunate if you can, if you can't...just be understanding, and be thankful we have equipment to save our backs.

Merry Christmas JDCrawlers.

[Lavoy]

And once again, the snow gods are not amused and we have virtually nothing. Have not had the sleds out, have not done anything but take the groomer out of storage in case it does snow and we can groom. This will make 4 years of marginal snow or too many warm days late that melt the little snow we had so we lose our base. Going to Montana in a week or so, hope they have good snow there. Our local snowmobile club might make a trip to the U P in Feb, looks like lots of snow there.
Lavoy

[dtoots1]

the pics job and the one before (horse paddock for other neighbor young couple in there 20s) were basically volunteer work got 10 gal gas for paddock and pic job several gift cards for a meal at applebees plus just got 50 bucks to keep machines going. so it aint all for nothing but they sure do appreciate it and so do i..got a bit to finish..tis mud now and will wait for another freeze...

now to get that dumb hydraulic tank drained...if i can find a square socket for the plug for the old girl and a new plug

[CuttingEdge]

We are up to about a foot of snow. The Soothsayers (weather forecasters) have really been off this year. Weather Underground showed no snow for yesterday, last night or today, and the local soothsayer said we would only get an inch.

It must have been one BIG INCH as I fired up the bulldozer and plowed snow out of the driveway and logging road up into the woods today.

My days of snowmobiling are over, but I had many over the years. My last sled was a Yamaha Vector 4 stroke; that was a nice snowmobile in its day (2006).

[dtoots1]

well i like to blame it all on the canadians!!!!...BUT most of mine comes up from TEXAS...all that moisture from the gulf likes to meet that cold canadian air!!!.....Akron is actually at the edge of the Lake Erie snow belt but we have been well known to get over 3feet at one time or another. i don't have to use the jd440.....yet....i use y jd40 wheeled with jury rigged wheel horse snow blade extended to about 6.5ft wide. hey it works!!! off the 3point with pulleys/cables and blade mounted to the front.. have half of the front weights on the rear drawbar else i tend to loose a bit of traction....no chains needed yet...

manage to keep about 6 of the old folks around here cleaned up with it..got me a plate of homemade cookies...including gingerbread snowmen from the neighbors too!!!! nice with a bit o coffee....