Let us know what's going on where you live whether it be well up into Canada, Louisiana, or Florida.

We just had another Alberta clipper and cold front go through. Only a two to three inches of fresh snow (hard to tell with the high winds) but with snow already on the ground accompanied by by sustained winds close 30 mph and gusts to 40 mph made the drifting and whiteouts substantial. All back roads are blocked. Someone abandoned a car at the end of my driveway. At least they left a note and number to call. LOL

Supposed to get 2 to 4 more inches starting tonight with another Alberta Clipper and another round of the "Polar Votex." I'm thinking the wife, that is teacher, will get some more time off from school next week.

Oh and there was an accident on the highway in front of the house yesterday too due to a whiteout from a 300 acre open farm field across from the highway. Sat 300 yards from the house in my car and waited an hour and half to get back to the house. Had to make an emergency run for supplies from Ace to get a fish mount done for a customer. Wished I didn't have to!

Will get the snowblower out if the wind dies down more!

Pictures coming when it's light out!

Next!

The driveway this morning after walking on it:



The trout pond hole presently (diffuser in shallow water) due to all the snow that was blowing into it after being about 4 feet by 4 feet.



The car at the end of the driveway. A note was left with a name and phone number. Phone always busy. (Probably off the hook).



Sorry no more pics. Photobucket is taking a dump again. Something about flash drive keeps crashing.

Its been so cold and dry in Kansas that the propane suppliers are rationing propane, firewood is hard to find and the static electricity is ridicules.

It's drier than a popcorn fart in Nebraska with a lot of wind and hardly any snow, the cracks in the ground are getting big. If this weather pattern persists 2014 could be worse than the 2012 drought we had here.

OK Cecil, it's light out!

Blowing and drifting here too. Snow packed so hard that Kate can walk on top of it. You might want to check your thermometer. Mine is showing 26°F. Supposed to be a high of -2°F on Tuesday.

People are complaining, but to me, this is what winters were like when I was a kid.

Well down here south of the Mason Dixon line in southern Maryland, its freezing. 22 deg right now and windy. Its been going down into the teens each night, the lowest has been 5 degrees. And it stays below freezing all day. We have about 4" of snow on the ground.

I really feel sorry for you Eskimos up North.

Shortage? Really? With all the gas that is being drilled? Sure that's not an excuse to raise the price? Sounds fishy to me.

???



Ah that's because the new snow blew off. That's old snow.




Yeah temps went up briefly but they are going into a tailspin today and won't be back up for several days.



Same here! I'd like to get an epic snowstorm before the winter is up.

It was light out and I still didn't see any pictures.

On the road going to my parents place there were drifts about 4' tall, but on the next road over they were over 8' tall.

January has been very mild. We had one day last week that was about 0 F other then that last few days have been about 25f-36F our snow has shrunk by 60-70%. It's about 6 inches deep but full of water. All in all been a pretty nice 2014 so far.

I just don't know why you guys live in such a cool climate.

The prices jumped up 20% 2 weeks ago. Went to walmart this morning in search of some electric blankets...sold out!

Interior Alaska has had a very warm winter and it sucks. Yesterday it hit 45 above in Fairbanks, it should be 45 below. Very little ice formed before we got snow so ice on the rivers is not reliable. Warm daytime temps softens snowmachine trails making travel difficult. Trapping has been quite difficult this year. You southerners PLEASE return our winter.

Send some of that weather south and east!

Ha Ha! I read your line twice and read it as "lights out!" I come back again and it says, "it's light out." Did you change it or did I do a brain fart again?

Damn eight feet? I'd have to hire a plow for that. Even 4 feet is difficult for my little Torro.

Here in batesville Arkansas hasnt been as bad as most of ur winters but we have had I bad days kids got to make up a week. Most of r was ice today is 40s monday gonna be 20s .

In September propane was $1.34 a gallon, Wednesday it was just over $2.00, so I ordered some yesterday and it had already gone up to $4.00. Now today according to the paper it's up to $5.00 a gallon.

The delivery guy said there is NO shortage and agrees with you, Cecil! He commented that what we're supposed to be getting from KS is being shipped south and exported. That and a record amount that was sent up North to dry the grain after the fall harvest.

300 gal. in Sept was $400, yesterday $1200.00!

Bought my second infrared heater this morning since I'll now living in a meat locker!

Gotta love the gouging of America! Big business rules. Middle class America not so much!

Well it is snowing heavy here expecting 10"s today. Between Dec. 4-8, 2010, a total of 177 cm (68") of snow fell during a 102 hour period. This was a record for our area in 2010.

Below is a picture of our yard at 5:30 this morning. Now the wind has turned right around and pumping snow off the lake from the North West.

How hum... Movie day today.

If the wind dies down I could take the monster our for a walk.

Cheers Don.

Truck is out. Here is a picture of the shop. The eve toff is at 14 feet.

Cheers Don.

Well not all as it seems. Esshup just had to deflate my negativity with the facts in a P.M. It's a combination of things including demand that has created the shortage. I just hate it when people do that!

Holy Snow days! That's cool Don!

We are getting heavy lake effect showers here today and I'm not really in the lake effect snow band area. For some reason I'm seeing Sea Gulls along with them (in between the snow when the sun peaks out) Maybe from Lake Michigan but I have see them around Lake Wawasee the largest natural lake in the State which is about 10 minutes away. But it's frozen over and has been for some time so I can't see them hanging around there.

OK it's been below 41 here(FL) 8 of the last 10 days. Got up this am and it was 38 in the trailer makin the tile floor seem like a skatin rink. Getting old and soft!! Heck, DonoBBD will be gulfin in shorts and a t-shirt, sweatin Jim Beam!

When Bill gets there things will heat up!

Just being an old fashion winter here this year.

Don't know how much snow we got this week, but were getting dumped on.

Snow plow guy's are happy, and the wreckers are raking in the profits.

It's been some white knuckle driving for the past two days. Had to go to a company 65 miles away both days.

Yesterday, the highways were ice. I'm doing 25 and the high wind's were blowing me all over the road. Couldn't keep the truck straight for nothing. I finally got 2 tires on the snow shoulder and got off at the next exit. Took the back roads most of the way, but the East-West roads were drifting over pretty good.

Today wasn't as bad with the ice, but there were some pretty long stretches. Ran into white out conditions for about 18 miles on my way back this evening.

Oh Yeah, they are getting their money's worth out of those "Bridge May Be Icy" signs.

We are having a see saw of temperatures here in Oklahoma. Much like Nebraska it is very dry here. Static electricity in everything. We are getting warmer or colder than the predicted temperatures and I believe it is due the dry air. Pushing temperatures of 70 F this weekend. The end of last week it was in the 30's. Starting Monday we are going to be in the 30's next week.

I'm happy that I bought a set of steel rims and 4 true "snow" tires for the winters here. Currently I'm running Blizzacks. I swap tires/rims in November and swap back to summer tires around the end of March, depending on the weather. The Peloquin torque sensing differential that I put in the car also makes a huge difference.

For those of you that are new here this is all in fun. We know each other pretty well and like to kid each other.

Cecil, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around your previous post about YeeHaw, cold, snow, and ice coming. I've been thinking about that for a couple of weeks.

To us, snow tires and chains, specially built shovels, snow plows, etc just doesn't compute. Of course, it gets hotter than the deepest depths of hell here during the summers so I guess it all evens out.

We rarely get winter snow but generally get a couple of ice storms that paralyzes everything. But, it's temporary.

My heating bills aren't all that high and my fireplace is mostly ornamental. But, my summer A/C bills certainly equal Northern heating bills.

I think it was Ken who had prepared for winter with 20 cords of wood.
I get by with a cord of wood for both places.

And then, there is rain vs lack of rain. Boy, do I envy you guys on that one.

Bob I learned the last time that we are to take our own drinks to the golf coarse. Up here that is forbidden to take your own beer to the coarse. In Florida if you want to drink golfing you better take some with you. So Laid back there is no beer cart.

Please feel free to call me Don.

The handle was created from my name and one hobby.
DonOudekerk Big Block Dart.
Sold a few and currently working on a 1969 valiant two door post with a big block and four speed.




Love the snow tires. Really worth their weight in gold. Even drop a set of 20's on the wifes Aspen for safety.

I really like the Blizzacks as well. Not a warm weather tire they will burn off fast when its warm but they stick like glue.

Cheers Don.

P.S. looking for a pro streeted 1967-1969 cuda notch back not fast back. Back halfed roller would be great with title.

I'll put some feelers out. Used to build a number of cars in the mid to late '80's. Some full chassis cars, but mostly back halved. How big of a big block?

I used to run Green Diamond Tires, but had to buy this set of Blizzaks when the last set wore out and I couldn't get a set in time for a trip. The GD's work better than the Blizzaks, epecially on ice. http://www.greendiamondtire.com/ You're right about the tires wearing out fast during warm weather.

Wow picked up the wife and a road I had passed by earlier that was fine has a section where the snow is blowing so badly you drive blind for about 100 yds. Be careful out there!

I agree with esshup. More like winter when I was younger.

I'll never forget when I was 12 years old we did not go to school for one single day in the month of January. Seems like we missed a total of 32 days that year.

Also remember pictures in the newspaper of people walking across the Ohio river. An a VW bug out on the ice driving around. Not this guy.

It has been very cold for us, but low on snow. We don't get much lake effect here, just far enough away and between bands. A true winter, without getting buried. It is the shortage on propane which is concerning, as we are in the middle of switching suppliers. Luckily we should have enough wood to last though to spring if our new supplier cant come through.

It is like the 70s when I was a kid. Solid harsh winter.

My winter? Most days have been in the 70's with a couple of chilly days in the 60's. I've been hitting the beach almost every weekend!

From the suburbs of New Orleans...

Coldest winter I can remember! Got a mix of snow, sleet, and rain on Thursday and expecting more mix tomorrow and snow tomorrow night. Predicted temps in the mid to high 20s next three nights; that will make about 10 days in the 20s this winter when it normally only gets in the 20s once per winter.

32 with a 45 mph wind. About -35 wind chill.

Here's one of the entrances to a middle school that is nearby my house. Not necessarily a huge amount of snow has fallen but with high winds this is the kind of thing you can get.

My driveway is buried in snow for the fourth or fifth time this winter. Sure glad I have a snow blower vs. hiring someone to plow my 400 foot driveway. That can get expensive.



Photo by West Noble 5th grade teacher Alissa Baumgartner

How's my winter? I suppose that depends on your perspective. From a business standpoint, not so good....the combination of frequent snows, arctic temps, and an underfunded county highway dept. means that I can't get equipment brought into the shop. That makes for a skinny bottom line.

One thing that isn't skinny however, is our ice this year. Fantastic! The best I have seen in many years. Think I have most of my winter projects wrapped up, so hopefully I will be able to fish pretty heavy from now on, provided the temps don't flip-flop.

No snow blower repairs? I just got mine back from local shop.

A few, but my southerly, (and more importantly, rural), location means that snowblower sales and service is a hit or miss proposition. Take right now...it got up to 47 degrees here yesterday. Except for areas where the snow was pushed into piles, our ground is bare. I'm looking out the window at grass right now. Roads and sidewalks are dry and clear. I'm scheduling mowers for later this week.

On an average, I probably do a dozen snowblowers a winter?

Bad timing…our second polar express hit us last night and then on the local news this morning they announced the propane shortage is at emergency levels and prices are doubling. The fireplace will be getting a workout for the rest of winter. I feel sorry for the old folks that are on a tight budget.

I just called a local supplier and they're at $5.61 a gallon and won't lock it in. It'll be charged the current price on day of delivery. And as I stated earlier, it was $1.34 on 9-11-13.

I now have 3 infrared heaters in the house, and burning a ton of firewood in a very inefficient fireplace. Next year I WILL have a fireplace insert so I can actually get some heat out of the darn thing.

And even though I'm on a tight budget, there are many worse off than me that I wonder how they'll manage! This is awful!

Lovinlivn,

I have a fireplace like that. It's fueled by gas but most of the heat goes up the chimney. We only use it for looks I guess. At least the wife does. The most expensive insert the company made and the blower doesn't even make much of a difference.

One of these days I'm going to get someone over here to take a look at it.

Lovnlivin,

If you have 3 4 bulb infrared heater units going be sitting down when you open your electric bill.

OTOH on the west coast with their mild temps and continued historic drought I thought I'd post this pic of reservoir near San Jose called Steven's Creek reservoir.

This was posted on another site I frequent.


She (the poster) says skiing in the Sierra's is a bust with mostly man made snow.

Jim, the two I've had haven't been bad at all (one Comfort Furnace I bought 3 years ago, one Life Smart bought this year), less than $40 per month to run them both. The Comfort furnace in the room I'm in at the time, the Life Smart in the kids' room in the basement. They leave theirs on but cycles at 68 and stays comfortable. The third one stays in my bedroom (coldest room in the house), turning it on 1 hour before bedtime and stays comfy at 63 throughout the night.

Running them the way I do they've been pretty efficient, compared to 100 gal per month of propane, now over $5 per gallon.

I'm way ahead!

BTW, I have a gadget called Kill-A-Watt that you plug the (120v) appliance into to tell you what it will cost you to run it.

"Simply plug your applicance into the device and then plug the device into the wall. -- The LCD readout will display energy consumption by the Kilowatt-Hour and will forecast electricity costs by the hour, day, week, month...even an entire year."

Double L, good info but as usual I'm a bit confused. Where did you get the life smart unit? Also if you have two that ya can run for $40 per month, what does the third one run?

The LifeSmart heaters came from Menards.


I just bought it Saturday so I haven't had a chance to check it. I'm still looking for where I might have put the "Kill-A-Watt" gadget

The best one I have heard so far:

We are well into the third January of this season...

Lovnlivin:

I have a fireplace insert. Pretty much the largest one that is made - enough to heat a 2500 sq. ft house (so the literature said). It uses outside air for combustion, and a fan to circulate air around the unit.

For the amount of wood that I burn, I would have gotten more heat from a stand alone wood stove, and probably burn less wood. My sister has one in their basement, and it heats the whole house with less wood than I use. Their house is insulated about the same as mine, and is about the same square footage.

If I had to do it again, knowing what I know now, I would have figured out a way to make room for a stand alone wood stove instead of an insert.

Cecil, I would think it would/should be more efficient but I don't know much about the gas ones.

My brother's wood burning insert was going when I got there, and he put only 3 split logs in it during the 3 hours I was there. It warmed the entire basement and put off a tremendous amount of heat. His is a round cast-iron unit with most of it sitting outside of the fireplace.

The next night at home I went through 2-20 gal plastic totes full of split logs in 2 1/2 hours with very little heat.

I will go through all of this this winter, where it would last my brother probably 3 years. Right now this stack is about 2/3 gone and I burn it only 2-3 times per week, max.



Regarding a new insert, I believe the right one will easily pay for itself, the operative word being the "right" one without breaking the bank!

Esshup, I would rate my brother's insert as more of a stand alone wood stove since the majority of it sits outside of the FP. I just couldn't believe how little wood he burned and how much heat it was putting out.

The next time I'm over there I'm going to get some details and photos. There's just so many mixed reviews out there on inserts, even throughout the many forums I've visited. And I don't want to drop the $$ until I know it'll be worth the investment.

This ^^^^^

One of the biggest things I miss about my old home is the wood insert..

I had a Quadrafire insert that would run you out of the house...The key to any good wood burning fireplace/stove is placement...A centrally located masonry fireplace with an insert will perform with most any free standing wood stove for the fact the chimney is a lot of thermal mass...Efficiency goes out the door when the chimney is located on an exterior wall or even worse on the outside of the home...

Was just sitting in what my wife calls our sun room yesterday telling her it would be a good place for a soap stone stove..

The Canadians have a much more stringent safety policy and make a much more robust product.

RSF makes an outstanding fireplace and their thermostatic draft does a great job of pulling up to temp then cruising at a steady output rather than spiking and dropping off right away.

ICC chimney does a great job of holding heat and burning clean.

Yep, that would be mine!

Sure looks purty though

Same here but produces virtually no heat.

When it comes time for you folks to replace your bulbs in your heaters don’t buy them from the dealer. They have a 3-500 % mark up, you can get them at just about any big box lumber store, the bulb wattage will be on the bulb itself.

-14 this morning on the roof where my weather station is located. I'm thinking maybe colder near tbe ground?

Now that tbe wind has died down it time to tackle the driveway drifts for about the fifth time this winter! But I'm not going out there at -14!

How about you?

-9 this morning with no snow on the ground.

I told the wife I wasn't going to tackle the driveway untul it got up to zero. As soon as I said that I reflected on how odd that sounded.

25 mph winds tomorrow with more snow on the way Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

You know it's cold when the ice fisherman on ice shanty.com say they are staying home!

That's weird.

The temp or the NO snow part?

So far this season we have had a couple of dustings of snow and just one 3" very dry powdery snow and that's it. It's been relatively cold and dry with very little snow in Nebraska, it has been a weird winter.

-27 today with the wind -37C second time the air station can not keep the pond open. IF the wind drops off I will drill a hole in the ice to see how much we have.





I have a two low decks ready for a build. Both are 400's one a thick wall 1972 block that could handle a massive stroker. One I am dropping into the 69 two door will be 472". If I could lay my hands on a hemi I would drop a hemi in the back halfed notch back. IF not a blown 451 with the thick block I have kicking around. Nothing more bad ass then a blown big block back half car on the street.

Cheers Don.

-18ish here right before sunup. Sensor is in the middle of a large Blue Spruce about 5' off the ground on the North side of the house. It's warmed up to -12 now.

Don, still no word on a car. The only thing that would be better would be an Indy Maxx block with matching heads.

We have about a foot of snow on the ground at our farm and the ponds are frozen solid. Lots of single digit and negative temps over the past two weeks. Kids have only gone to school 6 days this month and have spent most days sledding down our hill at the house. Joined them while wearing shorts and a t-shirt for a single run one night when it was about 7 degrees. That was cold, but they all loved it, so I guess it was worthwhile!

We had -6 this morning when I got up and it's up to a reasonable 3 now in bright sunshine!

I love this, honestly. Winter is supposed to be cold and we haven't had a good, consistently cold winter for several years now. Here's hoping for more, though our 10 day forecast doesn't support that hope!

Got a surprise snow last night. The weatherman called for a dusting but OKC and surrounding areas got up to a half inch. Just how this winter is going to go!

It's 12:30 and 75, nice one today. Think I'll run across state and create some tan lines with Suzzie Cruzzie. Sorry if I miss my visit from Mr Cody but I'm sure Sue will look MUCH better on the beach than Mr Bill !!!

Hey there Bob-O! Let's do it!! The weather couldn't be more perfect down here!! I'd love to blow off the rest of the day and head to the beach! I don't get all this talk about heaters and kerosene shortages and what not.....

Yeah the lack of snow. You've been in a drought too though right?

It's been abnormally dry here. The jet stream is behaving weird, it has dumped a lot of moisture on the eastern half of the US and left the western half very very dry.

Maybe this cold winter will keep some of the warm weather exotics in check in our southern states!

Here's a look at the weather picture for the country and the Midwest. Granted this comes from Tom Skilling's Weather blog of WGN Chicago, but it still pertains to our region and you have to love his graphics for making it simple to understand.







http://blog.chicagoweathercenter.com/

Esshup it only 19 right here in arkansas so its not much warmer

Suzie Cute, don't tempt me, I was just joshin but would like to arrange a day for us to visit and I could explain wood burners, kerosene heaters, and propane demand and price gouging. Not to mention slurping several heavy rum and cokes. Gotta sign of now cause I'm about to pi many ol boys on here that will more than be likely envious of me spending several hrs of boozing, smoozin and entertaining you. Also when ever I read one of your posts I think of the ol song Suzie Q, Google it will give a Chuckle or rush.
If you can actually handle a day together, pm me, wouldn't want Bruce ta get agitated. God I love crackin on him!!!

That would be a plus!

I love this cold weather...... it allows me to spend time drillin' and chillin' on the hardwater.

I have to agree on liking winter...Just wish I knew how to catch fish through the ice?!?!?!?

Well George has the fly fishing thing going on, maybe we need a primer on hardwater basics?

I can assure you that it is highly addictive.

Snow and ice today with lows of 14 tonight. North winds at 20-25. Cold for here.

If I was an alligator I'd stay under water!

We had a high of 12 today. It was -3 when I got out of bed this morning. It is supposed to only go down to zero tonight. At last the wind has died down.

The wood stoves are inhaling and quickly evaporating all the wood we can feed them,and the geothermal sure is running a lot.

It was in the high 20's today. And the forecast shows a roller coaster ride of temperatures and a possible winter storm in about a week.

It's going to be so nice tomorrow I might take the afternoon off and flood the ice to get a better surface for the weekend.. Having a Super Bowl party and told people to bring their skates.. I think 2 others actually have some..

As for the ice fishing... Wish I could find some live bait locally, think that would increase my odds..

I hate to break it to you outdoorlivin247 but it looks like you may be in for several more inches of snow Friday and Saturday. Looks that way for some of the rest of us in the region too.

Almost over...........,
This arctic blast will last through today then 70's for the next week. That only leaves about three weeks left of our typical window for really cold weather. usually if we can make it to march we are all good to go...start planting tomatos 2nd-3rd week of march,....

The weather reports have been changing so much I don't know what to think...

outdoorlivin247, for ice fishing bait like waxies, use an online source if you can't get them locally. Usually cheaper that way anyway.

A little snow accumulation here in central Mississippi.
No ice fishing though.
Pictures attached.

St Joseph Lighthouse, Lake Michigan. I had these sent to me from my aunt. Very cool what the wind and water did.

Its been crazy cold here -25c with the wind -37c today. Hope the wind breaks tomorrow. I am good with -20c just hate the wind even in the summer.

Cheers Don.

P.S. had to close the cooling openings in my little bird house for the aerator pump is in. She was running to cold and worried it was to freeze up. Checked it today and nice and warm in there.

Those are amazing!!!! Where's the lighthouse located at?

http://stjoelighthouse.com/

Here it is with out the ice.

Duh!

That's roughly 60 miles due North of me.

What are the ice fisherman that are coming in off the ice going to do without that light?

Canadian snow blower.

http://www.chonday.com/Videos/snowblowvch1

Pretty neat pics.

I should go check out the Grand Haven Lighthouse and Piers and see whats up. It's only a couple miles away. Maybe tomorrow.

Going from a slow weather pattern to a fairly active one. 3 storms in the next week

Same here.

You know what's amazing? How the littlest thing can effect weather patterns as in the development of low pressure systems etc. When i studied meteorology in the Air Force someone was quoted as saying the beating of a butterflies wings halfway around the world could set into motion a violent storm on the other side of the planet. Some rising air starting as a harmless cumulus cloud can morph into a cumulonimbus that spawns a killer tornado.

I love the weather. It is just fascinating and unpredictable. That's what I like about. I almost went to school for meteorology.

OK so I'm a whimp but I'm tired of being in central Fl and havin ta wear a sweatshirt and flannel not to mention sweats and jeans. I've got poor circulation. Could someone explain the difference between convex, electric and ceramic space heaters and maybe suggest a good choice? I live in a 22x54 dbl wide with original jealousy windows which I will try to insulate with that heavy blue visqueen(?).

Bob:

Build a bonfire, stand about 5' away, rotate 180° every 10 minutes. Problem solved.

You're a real genius, how could I haven't figured that out? Cold must be slowing down my brain waves.

70 tomorrow in the New Orleans suburbs woo-hoo!

I don't know how you folks north of Mississippi do it.

Get by the fire, it'll warm up your brain too.

These are great. We have two of them. Our furnace took a dump two years ago and we had to snag these to keep warm till the furnace got fixed. They are filled with oil and have a heating element in them. They kick a bunch of really nice heat.

Cheers Don.

I went by the Lighthouse in Grand Haven about an hour ago.

Nothing as spectacular as the pic's of St Joseph.

Look as far as you want out on the lake tho, and all you see is ice.

Here it comes again!

I am what should be right in the center of this winter storm..Have not seen a snow flake yet?...

Its piling up here - again!

Okay, that changed... It's here now!!!

What more can I say! This is the latest from the NWS:



I just widened my 1/2 mile driveway banks so it is at least 10 feet wide everywhere. That is after the approximate 8 inches of snow we got yesterday.

No skating or fishing on the ponds. We had about 8 inches of ice on the ponds. Then it rained and flooded the top of the nice clear ice with at least an inch of water. Yesterday we got about 8 inches of snow which turned the pond ice to something that looks like very low quality styrofoam.

I just welded another 1/2 inch of angle and flat steel to the snow plow on my UTV, and made a few other modifications. My tractor chains need a little more work after this past week's storm. One set seems too short and the other seems too long. I'm not sure how this could have happened, other than beating them pretty hard last winter. I'll deal with that tomorrow.

Oh well, my whole-house generator has about 450 gallons of propane in the tank. We've got plenty of diesel, gasoline, and firewood. The freezers have plenty of food.

I'm thinking that the next several days will be dedicated to indoor winter projects.

Stay safe,
Ken

Ken, I'm right between the 4"-7" and the 7"-10" line of predicted snowfall. They said that areas could see 1" per hour, and it's not supposed to stop until tomorrow afternoon. I did like you, made sure all the older snow was cleared out of the way. No freezing rain here, temps are supposed to hover right around 20°F.

I'm on that line too Scott. I see more snow for the weekend and accuweather says it could be a stronger storm. At least 2 to 4 inches anyway. Even I might get sick of the snow before winter is over!

Also just read we are stuck in this pattern until at least the middle of February. We have an aquaponics conference in Muncie on the 15th. Hope we don't have to cancel.

Cleared about 8" of snow at 5am here in Indy area. Good thing the Roadmaster weighs so much because I had to hit a few piles pretty good to get through to work.

77 degrees today

Kids are at home today again for the storm. Seems to be once a week as of late the kids are home. Hole in the pond is again froze over and snowed over. Aerator is still running as well as the water fall so I expect the air is getting out at the water fall area. Putting in 2500g/h from the spring fed creek over the water fall all winter long even with -35c and never froze up.

Glad I have a cab for blowing snow this year. Done allot.

Cheers Don.

More snow today, Yuck!!!

8 inches or so here in central IL since yesterday afternoon. Now we're in line for another arctic blast, temps well below 0 in the next couple of days.

Anyone else ready for grass mowing season to get here or is it just me?

I'm not ready for grass growing season quite yet. That usually means not a lot of rainfall, and we can use the moisture.

Same here, I shoveled about 8" around 7 a.m. and another 1/2"-3/4" has come down since then. I hope that it's a wet Spring and the water table rises. It's been low for a number of years.

My ponds have been covered with snow coated ice for over a month. If I do not get fish kills, it will be amazing!

As you may have heard on the news, we had an ice storm overnight. Here are photos from the end of my driveway, looking West and then East at the country road we live on. I've never seen this much ice on the roads before. It is over an inch thick. It is still just 30 degrees outside.





When I went outside it sounded like rifle shots as tree branches were breaking.

My driveway isn't much better. I put the snowplow down, but it either slid along the surface, or it would hit a lump of frozen snow and the springs would let it collapse.

Good time to stay home!

Let's hope you'll be O.K.

Wow Ken looks like a toboggan trail to me! Forget about Sochi! You can have them at your place!

Hope it thaws soon. I'm assuming power lines are down? But you must have power -- at least when -- you typed your post.

Well the diffuser hole on the trout pond I feed the trout in a few days ago here is much smaller again. Here is me feeding them a few days ago. Unfortunately the pictures of this never turn out good. There are least 50 trout milling around in the water but the glare keeps you from seeing them.





Here is is after I opened it up with a spud a before feeding them.



Here is the hole today after the latest snowstorm.

If you can, get a polarizer filter for your camera, even if it is a phone camera, a simple polarizer held in front of it will kill a lot of water glare.

What is that last picture? A jet flying over a lake? ;-)

Those Trout look really nice! Good Job!!!

Ken, with the ice, can you even get a vehicle up and out of your driveway??

The UTV has a good set for chains, and I have the cargo bed loaded with about 400 lbs., of concrete, blocks, and big rocks. It does great, even pushing several inches of snow up the steep part of my driveway.

I forget what they are called, but I took four sets of old tractor trailer chains and turned them into a set of two chains for the tractor. I have cross link chains every four links that are then joined like an "X" in the middle so they can't easily slip between the bars on my tractor's industrial tires. The rear tires are also filled with a special beet juice that is as about as heavy as salt brine, but a lot less corrosive. I think it is called RimGard. So, it goes pretty well in the snow and ice.

I took the photos above while sitting in my UTV. It was too slippery to get out and walk around. We are back down to about 16 after a brief afternoon thaw. Probably no school for the kids again tomorrow.

I ready for it to be over. Was suppose to fly to Newark on Monday, got cancelled and flew out on Tuesday Morning. Woke up yesterday morning in the Basking Ridge Courtyard Marriott only to find 6" of snow and a coating of ice on the rental car (Ford Expedition 4WD). Have to clean it off in the rain while wearing suit and tie. It add insult to injury my flight back to Chicago was cancelled and I still stuck here in Jersey. This can get over now.

Suppose to snow goose hunt next weekend back home but with the weather for the next week I don't see the snows coming back any time soon.

Maybe I should sharpen the blades on the ice auger and finally go ice fishing on the pond.

Buy stock in mail box companies before it's too late

I just saw a whole group of them that got wiped out by a county snow plow

Yeah, there are mangled mail boxes all over the place!

The 2 in front of my place got hammered yesterday. Mine will be bungee corded to a horse until the snow melts. Mail lady said to build up the snow a little bit more and just stick it in the snow pile.

Bill Cody cleaned up one of my photos. What'd think?

I'll have to look into that.

The last picture is a UFO landing.

Here is how cold it was at Kent Narrows which is the Chesapeake Bay and salt water.

The Bridge



The marina



The only boat at the marina



^ I certainly ain't no outboard motor mechanic, but those lower units are in trouble.

That's a lot of money to leave in the ice and get damaged! Maybe the owner doesn't live in the area and realize they are frozen in?

Just got another 4 inches to add to the latest 10 inches on top of the 10 inches that was already on the ground. And it's still snowing up to an inch an hour. Even with diffusers and some open waters in both my trout pond and big pond I'm getting worried!

Going to blow snow off the trout pond again once the snow lets up today and will do so for the first time on the big pond.

I'll post pics today.

I haven't seen this much snow since my days as a kid experiencing back to back nor'easters in Massachusetts.

And of course there's the cold too. Even the ice fisherman are complaining!

Not complaining or whining myself, just reporting. Like Mark Twain once said, "Everybody complains about the weather but no one does a damn thing about it!"

I'll post pics later on today.

Its so cold here they usually start stocking the trout ponds the first week of Feb. Cant do it, all the ponds are iced over.

And my fillet knife is sharp and my trout rods are ready.

I heard the guy was out there the next day chipping away at the ice.

Look at the bright side; the trout will be bigger once the do plant them! Unless they back off on the feed or the containment tanks or raceways are colder than normal, trout can add an inch and a half per month in length and some significant weight depending on where they are length-wise.

I would be!

Maybe the marina called the poor guy and told him we are frozen in and you are the only boat out there.

Snowing down here again also. Slept in this morning, but headed out in a few to see how my ice has fared. Haven't checked on it since two snows ago!

Hoping to get on and do some fishing this morning.

I need to get out there with the snow blower but I'm procrastinating. A 400 foot driveway and two ponds! It is up to a balmy 14 and no much wind -- yet.

Snow is such a nasty 4 letter word! We got dumped on pretty good this year and it's still coming down.

Not very many places to pile the stuff up anymore. The handicapped parking out front... well there is no handicapped parking. That's where they piled the snow!

Come to think of it, I have not seen or heard a peep out of the two handicapped people that live below for a couple months now.

We should be in the +30°F for highs in another week or so.

It's slowly coming to an end.

Yep, getting sick of it myself and winter is my favorite season.. I have so much snow on top of the ice is is pushing water up around the edges and slushing the surface on warmer days.. Rink is about done and my back is killing me..

Snow where my pond used to be..

That picture looks a lot like it does here! Still stalling on going out with the snowblower!

Our church cancelled services this morning because nobody could plow the several inches of ice out of the parking lot.

We finally got out of our kitchen door yesterday afternoon after I took the digging bar out to break up the ice, which was over 2 inches thick in places. "Safe" ice melter and rock salt were useless. The pieces just made little holes in the ice. I thought about buying a long-reach air scraper from Northern Tool or Harbor Freight. But, the ones they sell say they need 10 CFM at 90 PSI. My portable compressor is only rated at 5 CFM at 90 PSI! Ain't no way I'm moving the non-portable compressor out of the workshop.

It has been snowing big flakes for about the last 45 minutes. I guess we can expect another couple hours of this. I'm actually glad it is happening. The snow banks were getting pretty ugly with the mud and gravel starting to take over the color and texture.

The areas I didn't plow have about a solid inch of ice on top of the snow. I opened the chicken yard gate yesterday, but the chickens and guineas went back inside the coop after trying to navigate the ice.

I haven't even gone close to the ponds. It is just too much work tromping through the ice-covered snow, and I don't really want to take the UTV or tractor to the ponds, only to find that I need to use several come-alongs to get the equipment back to its normal parking home.

I can't wait till its all gone!!!

I fished most of today and just got in a short time ago. And while I love to ice fish, I told my wife that I think I'm ready for it to go away. I'll still be sad to see it go, but while I may hit it again this week I'm just tired of dealing with everything else the cold has brought with it this year, just for some safe ice.

I can't pick up equipment, and I have a waiting list that's growing larger every day...too much snow everywhere to get it brought in. And, it's time to start making syrup, at least by the calendar anyway. But it's been too cold for the sap to run. By the time it starts flowing, I may be too busy in the shop to be able to take off during the week and boil it down. That's the problem with a long, cold winter in my line of work. When the weather finally breaks, folks will be chomping at the bit to get going on spring.

It's either feast or famine.

It just sucks. I had enough of this now. The thaw can come any day. I can deal with the cold but freeze up my septic and I had enough.

Tony:

Get out there and put the taps in. I cut a couple of Maples the other week and had a river running out of them with temps in the low 20's in the middle of the day.

Went yesterday and spent all day goose hunting. We dug 4' deep pit blinds in the snow covered ditch to hide in, and were still standing on top of 18" or so of snow/ice. One of the guys jmped down into his pit and put his foot thru - water was up to mid calf. We were walking out in the fields thru what I thought was 10" of snow. Nope. There was about 10" of soft snow on top of about 12"-15" of hard snow. Without a snowmobile, we would have never gotten very far off the road.

I want to see another month of this stuff, then thaw all at once so surface water will fill up my pond.

So missing the important stuff, how many geese where added to a warmer place (the freezer)?

Short version, not as many as we thought we'd have. 5 hunters, limit was 5 each. We walked out of the field with 17. Couldn't figure out why the birds were flaring at 50 yds or so. Looking at the GoPro video last night, we think we know why. 3 rookie hunters. We had one experienced guy saying when to take 'em. Some of the rookies were standing up in the pit with the gun up ready to shoot when the birds were 70-100 yds out.

We were set up (individual pits dug in snowfilled ditch about 10' apart, dekes out, etc.) by 7:30 a.m. Didn't see ANY birds flying until maybe 2:45 p.m. The previous day the birds were in the field when it was checked at noon.

First pair of birds came in and almost landed at 20 yds. 3 or 4 shots fired. Birds didn't fly away.

Next a 4 birds came in, flaring about 25-30 yds. All hit the ground. 3 of those 4 birds were banded.

We ended up shooting one more banded bird that day.

Sweet, that is more banded birds than we shot all season, including Canada.

Mark, when you get a chance, check your e-mail. No rush.

Supposedly a warmup on the way. If the forecast holds, I'm tapping maples this weekend.

Tony, -16.1°F here for a low, it climbed all the way up to +11.2°F today. Now at 8:16 p.m. it's on it's downward spiral again, and it just passed -3°F. Last night they said South Bend would see -8°F. Tonight they are saying that SB will see -10°F or so. I might be even colder than last night!!!

My Amish maple syrup supplier hasn't tapped any trees yet ( I stopped there today). A local Amish grocery store had some on the shelves - for $8.99 per pint!!!

Don't think we hit more than a couple days below 0°F. Inland, Maybe -5°F on the downside for static temps for a few day's of the season.

Dang snow that keeps falling

9 bucks? If you can wait a spell on the pancakes I'll see that you get some for less than that

I plan on cooking off a special batch just for Yolk Sac...it will be infused with the essence of Cyanellus. He asked me not to tell anyone, but I figure we're all family here and shouldn't keep secrets from one another.

I'll try not to get your bottle confused with his.

I volunteer to make my special pancakes for anyone who wants to come enjoy. Bout the size of your plate with lotta tasty goodies in them.

Tony, another member on here wanted some, so I was checking for him. I have a standing order with an Amish family that seems to keep growing every year. I have to order next years supply a year in advance. IIRC this year I'll be asking them for 6 gallons for 2015. I'll use at the most 1/2 gal a year.

That's a kind offer DNickolaus, but the last time I ate something labeled as "special" was years ago and..........

They were awfully good brownies though.

They aren't THAT kind of special. I feed them to my kids regularly, though they generally only get one down before they're full. Whole wheat, blueberries, raisins, cinnamon, etc. Tasty. Would be nice with real maple.
If you're truly in Freedom, that's not too far from us.

Drilled a hole in the pond the other day and we have a easy 30"s of ice. Crazy cold winter. Broke a record for cold weather the other day that stood since 1958 here in Ontario.

Cheers Don.

I have half of that and I thought that was bad!

"How's your Winter?"

Going away soon!

Well, the sky has been falling here since yesterday afternoon. Here is what it looked like this morning. We got another 4-6 inches after I took these pictures. All together, we got about 22 inches from this storm.





More is supposedly on the way tomorrow night.

Do you still have ice under that Ken?

It warmed up enough one day early this week and I was able to scrape most of the last of the ice off the driveway. But it was costly. I knew this storm was coming, so I was also pushing the snow banks back as far as I could. I figured I'd need a place to pile the new snow - which I did. I was going downhill at a pretty good clip, with one side of the tractor and snow blade straddling the ditch. When I got to the bottom of the ravine, where the snow bank absorbed a lot of water from the ditch and froze solid, I hit about a 12-16 inch high chunk of solid ice. It destroyed my quick hitch and did a little other damage too.

In some ways I am disappointed that the last storm only gave us 4" and the next one is missing us, but in others I am quite glad.

Relentless is the word I would use for this cold.

Next week we are expecting a significant warm-up with the cost of potential severe weather in the form of thunderstorms! For February that would be unique, and probably make for some amazing runoff as the ground is frozen very deep and very hard.

I saw a photo once of a tornado with snow still on the ground out west somewhere. Apparently it warmed up so fast the snow didn't have time to melt! Never say never with the weather!

We are 1/2 inch from setting a record for the snowiest winter on record and it is -2 F right now. Like most folks around here, I am ready for Spring!

Hey Key that is a real "snow job" you've got there in WVA.

I was going to take a picture yesterday of how we keep air conditioners cold in the winter, but couldn't get out of the darn door on the North side of the building that has an "Emergency Exit" sign right above the door. At least 5' or so back there, and a good +3' on the A/C roof.

It's slowly starting to melt, and I actually saw a little bit of concrete in the parking lot

We're getting some sun beams today!

Found out why

Before the snow started to fall, one early Saturday morning there was this Thud! Next thing, there were red flashing lights for a couple hours attached to an EMS unit.

Diabetes attack!

Later that day, the guy that all this attention was being payed to knocked on my door.

He asked for some assistance to help straighten things out a bit, which was no inconvenience to me. Glad to help!

Talked to his sister today and he's in the hospital, and may not pull thru.