It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . .

[h2olawyer]

If it's a shear bolt, it hasn't broken before.  I've had rocks jammed in the auger & the transmission just slips.  Nothing got in there this time.  Just lots of snow.  The blower is over 20 years old & those parts have never been serviced so it either rusted out or vibrated loose.  Just to be safe, I will get the proper bolt from a Toro dealer when I can get out of the driveway.  For now, I'm trapped.  Nice, clean driveway but the street is impassable.

H2O

[h2olawyer]

And another photo

[Night Vision]

If it's a shear bolt, it hasn't broken before.  I've had rocks jammed in the auger & the transmission just slips.  Nothing got in there this time.  Just lots of snow.  The blower is over 20 years old & those parts have never been serviced so it either rusted out or vibrated loose.  Just to be safe, I will get the proper bolt from a Toro dealer when I can get out of the driveway.  For now, I'm trapped.  Nice, clean driveway but the street is impassable.

shear bolts are designed to break at 20yrs old whether they need to or not  ::)
they worked on my '74 Ariens.... man that blower was nice... 6hp.. threw snow into the neighbor's drive way... No safety crap ( something to be said about simplicity )

got a new toro last year...electric start, light, bells and whistles on the handle bars... what a pain in the ass all those levers are  >:( ... hasn't snowed a whole lot since I got it  ???

[Lucky]

only 2 or 3 feet??!! pussys...

:o :o ;D ;D

[Tiger]

got a new toro last year...electric start, light, bells and whistles on the handle bars... what a pain in the ass all those levers are  >:( ... hasn't snowed a whole lot since I got it  ???

::)...But yer forgot to put a MAC system on her...sound's and goes a lot better ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D :D :D :D :D... ;)

                              :D.......TIGER....... :D

[h2olawyer]

I know - we're just not made of sturdy stock anymore.  I can deal with snow when it falls vertically at a foot or so a day.  Getting 2.5 - 3 feet in 24 hours kind of overwhelms the snow removal gear.  Having 35+ MPH winds packing it into drifts makes it worse.  The city won't remove snow from neighborhood side streets.  I'm asking the neighbors if they want to chip in to hire a contractor to come in & remove the snow from our cul-de-sac and the short section from there out to the main thoroughfare (Prospect Road).  Shouldn't run more than a couple hundred bucks total & spread among several houses, it would be cheap.

We get one of these storms about every three to five years.  It's the only time I wish I had a plow on my truck.  This time, I don't think even a plow would let me get out of here.  Need a loader to get the first path through.

I like the simplicity of my old Toro 521, too. (5HP 21" width)  Just handles to control the auger & drive wheels.  It has 3 forward speeds & 1 reverse.  Pull start can be cantankerous to get going the first time every year but starts on the second or third pull every time after that - if I remember to turn the key on . . .  ::)

H₂O

[h2olawyer]

www.hansonsnowblowers.com

Wish I had one of these to open up my street.  It may not be directly V-8 powered but at least it has its own 27HP V-twin.  Wonder if I could adapt a Vision engine to it.  Hmmmmm.

I can look out my back door & see Prospect Road - a main thoroughfare - with dry pavement & 4 lanes all open.  The street in front of my house still has 2+ feet of snow on it.  Some of the neighbors started to shovel it out but gave up, so now there's a higher, compacted snowbank to deal with right in the middle of the street.  ::)  Sure wish they would think before they start a project like that - or at least finish it.  Now it's going to be even more difficult for me to get onto the roads again.  The city here does not plow side streets.  Sure makes it difficult for those who need to get to wrok or finish up their Christmas shopping.

H₂O

[Night Vision]

......The city here does not plow side streets...........

call Mr. Plow  ;)
"Mr Plow... that's my name... that name again is Mr. Plow"

do you have to pave your own streets too?

[h2olawyer]

They're great about paving & decent in maintaining streets.  We just normally don't get this much snow.  Last time was March, 2003.  Its just not cost effective for the city to have a lot of snow removal equipment.  Add to that the anti-business climate created by the City Council which has chased many businesses out of town (retail here is beginning to really go down the tubes) and you get a real decrease in sales tax collections (not the more common but erroneously reported decrease in the amount of anticipated growth).  There is just not enough $$ in the budget to run the plows more than absolutely necessary.  In fact, they've cut the public transportation system, closed a fire station and made several other painful cuts.  Meanwhile, they find millions of $$ to buy land for "open space" which further depletes revenues by removing taxable land from the tax rolls.  Sorry - had to rant.

I'd call Mr. Plow but I live far up the forbidding Widow's Peak.  Maybe Plow King would be better.   ;D

H₂O

[h2olawyer]

AMAZING!  I just found out that with the Governor's declaration of the state as a disaster area, funding to clear neighborhood streets will be available.  The city has begun clearing these streets today.  Wouldn't have happened without state & federal $$.  Thanks to y'all in non-snow country for the help!  At least it's a cheaper cleanup than after a hurricane.

H₂O

[h2olawyer]

Well, went out & finished up getting a cleared track to where the maintainer & later a loader came by.  Can get out to the main streets - even my neighbors with rwd cars are getting around!  Getting the heavy equipment into the area sure cleared things up in a hurry.  I do have a small hill at the corner of my driveway but it's only 7 feet tall, 15 feet long and 8 feet wide.  Will keep people from parking in front of my house for a while.   ;D

"I'm Free!  I'm Free!  And I'm waiting for you to follow me!"

H₂O

[dminor]

H2O,
     Since you have been inside for a couple of days I wil let you know what I did yesterday.
      I worked on the little "V" until about noon.
       All this talk about snow get me motivated to go for a ride. Pulled out the LT and fired her up, turned on the heat, raised the wind screen and off to the hills. I did ride through Julian (54 deg with about a foot of the white stuff on the sides of the road). All in all about 130 miles in less than 2 hours. The funny thing was, they plowwed the roads ,but no sand. Whoever plowed the road scraped all that oily crud off the pavement. The tires stuck like glue. You would have loved it.
     Have fun in the snow (I know you love to ski).
     Riding season is never over in SoCal, so I'll have to put on some miles for all Vision riders in the snow belt.
Merry X-Mass.
Don ;)

[h2olawyer]

Thanks for the report, Don.  That Julian road sure looked fun - as I remember it.  How did the scenery fare after the fire?  I'll be heading out your direction sometime this winter.  I'll let you know when I'll be in your neighborhood.  Have a flight ticket to use sometime before March.

Now roofs in Denver are collapsing - again.  The Denver airport is open again &there are thousands  still waiting to get out.  The ones who had their flights cancelled are being tole to stay away - there are no standby seats available.  Should be back to normal around Christmas Day.  News reports show the terminal packed with people.  Wait times are well over 3 hours at ticket desks.  Security is quick because there are only 2 runways open so far.

Hopefully, I'll get up for some skiing soon.  This blizzard got mostly the Front Range & didn't slop over to most of the ski areas.  There are a couple more storms coming through this weekend that should dump a few more inches on the ski areas.  We don't normally get much of those snowstorms here on the dry side of the Rockies.

H₂O

[YellowJacket!]

This'll gitter done in a jiffy. ;D



David

[h2olawyer]

Get ready for round 2!  Looks like we may be getting another major snowstorm on Thursday.  Forecasts are not yet positive of the storm track yet but they are saying it is very likely to be a replay of last week.  The streets are passable right now.  Most are 1 lane wide - Ft. Collins is somewhat well known for its wide streets.  Now, when meeting another vehicle on a street, one must find a cleared parking place or driveway to let the other pass.  A second major storm may just shut things down for even longer.

In Steamboat, they're used to dealing with this volume of snow on a regular basis.  Over here, there's not enough removal equipment & it normally all melts before we get a second storm.  Could be interesting to see what happens with 4 feet of snow in just over a week.  Looks like a looooong time before the golf courses are open again.  Most years, they're open as weather permits & a major storm is usually all melted within a couple weeks at most.  This year, there may be substantial snow in the yard until March.  Won't complain - we NEED the moisture.  Getting it in snow just means it will be time released into the ground - even more beneficial.

Guess I need to get out to fill the gas can & get the auger bolt before the snow starts to fly late tomorrow or early Thursday.  Will also have to get to the grocery store.  On Christmas eve, the produce section was empty as were the dairy & bread sections.  The trucks hadn't made it here yet.  They should have restocked today.  Just in time . . .

Hope everyone's enjoying the Holidays!

H₂O

[h2olawyer]

Round 2 began here just a few minutes ago.  Its been snowing in Denver & Boulder since about noon.  Took another 4 hours or so to get snowing here.  Glad everything is ready - food, snowblower, fuel.  The city was out widening the previously plowed areas today, preparing for this storm.  Forecasters are still not sure how big it will be.  They're saying to expect anything from 7 to 20 inches of snow.

Wish I had a snowmobile to play around in the neighborhood!

H₂O

[YellowJacket!]

Part Deux  ;D

Stay Warm, Stay Safe

David

[h2olawyer]

Was out running errands this morning.  The drivers were worse than normal.  Was cut-off three times - always by little cars.  Two were on cell phones.   ::)  I've developed a theory - the acts of stupidity when driving near large vehicles tend to increase as the size of car decreases.  It's especially noticeable when pulling trailers or when near semis.  Maybe they want their cars featured in commercials like those from VW!

I'm not hitting the streets until its absolutely necessary.

The snow is already over an inch deep here - about 1 1/2 hours.  Its heavy, wet snow for now - temps are just below freezing.  Colder air is due in sometime tonight so the snow will be lighter per flake, but there will be a lot more of them - (deeper accumulation).

H₂O

[h2olawyer]

So far - about 10 inches in the 7 hours since the first flakes fell.  Almost no traffic & very quiet outside.  Snow is slowing for now but expected to increase again by morning.  As of now, it's the second snowiest December on record.  Only the 1913 storms left more snow along the Front Range than these 2.  If we get 2 feet out of this, it will become the snowiest December of all time - at least since records started being kept around here in the mid 1800s

The photo below was taken around 9 tonight.  (Dec. 28, 2006)  The odd light is the sodium vapor street light diffused through the heavy snow & low clouds.  No flash.  Wish my lazy neighbors would take their trash can back into their garage . . .  ::) 

H₂O

[Walt_M.]

The winter before I moved to Florida, it snowed in Columbus, Ohio every Saturday night for 7 straight weeks! And it didn't melt. I shovelled my driveway and sidewalks. After the last time, there was no place left to throw it. I have said it before and I'll say it again, I don't care if I never see another snowflake.