Blizzard check-in

Yup... we got some snow today.. It started around 7 a.m.

By 2 p.m. it had amounted to this.. about 12" accumulation.



Almost a month to the day (Jan 7th) since the last big storm where I had trouble starting my snow-thrower. I called-out from work this morning and slept until almost noon-time. Around 3:30.. I went out to clean-off the vehicles and hoped to God (prayed) that the machine would start. It started on the 3rd-pull.. JOY! It's been sitting at the top of the driveway, covered with a tarpaulin.. since January. The fuel-tank wasn't full.. but it wasn't empty either. Rather than shovel-out the shed where the fuel-can is; I opted to run-it and see how far I'd get. She ran strong for the 1.5 hrs. of clean-up that I did.

Lynne took some photos..






Final passes with the two vehicles pulled out into the cul-de-sac.



Done.. and relieved that the machine was up to the task.



on my way back in the nice warm house.



I've been really lucky so far with this snow-thrower. It's almost as old as I am (1968 machine). It's a small machine; 7hp/24" with solid V-tread tires.. and no chains. I'd had some minor issues with the auger-drive idler freezing/seizing-up in past years.. until I lubed it with actual "oil".. rather than WD-40. It's not an operation that you want to do outdoors in a storm. A side cover-plate (3 fasteners) must be removed for access. I didn't perform any off-season maintenance to the machine.. except a motor-oil change mid-Summer 2016.. along with the lawn-mower. The belts are the ones that were on it when I bought it.. and I have no idea as to the replacement size. I try to be mindful of belt-squeal due to overloading, and back-off the feed. She hasn't clogged-up or had the engine stall yet. Today's clean-up was particularly heavy. I had to "saw" through the drifts.. working the machine from side-to-side.. and taking 1/3-bites and 2nd-passes to get the job done. I didn't do as thorough a job today as usual though. The plow-drift at the foot of the driveway was heavy from when the town made their 1st (and only.. so far) pass mid-morning. There's still 8+ inches out on the street right now. Our driveway is double-wide.. but I only cleared enough at the foot for egress of a single vehicle. The street-side mailbox had a heavy plow-drift in front of it. I cleared as much as I dared.. because it was hard-pack snow. I'd worked the machine hard enough for the day. I'll wait to see what the town does on it's second plowing.

Thanks everyone for checking-in. The town did a great job of clearing the snow in general. The foot of our driveway was completely clear this morning. The "State of RI" however had some big issues. I-95 was shut down through the Providence (capital) area during the storm.. and city-streets were still very bad today. Lynne works in Providence, and she just got home from her commute which usually has her home around 5:00 p.m. Her work-commute is 90% highway.

My commute (13mi.) is all back-roads North into Massachusetts. I didn't need 4WD.. but some roads weren't down to the pavement.. even on my trip home tonight.

I found it amazing that the cities/towns having more resources for snow-removal, had the worst roads.

Storms occurring on weekdays are more of a pain.. because the clean-up for us needs to be done with minimum daylight to be able to get out and to work, in the morning. The storm this past January came on the weekend.. which could be cleaned-up more at our leisure.

Sooooooo.. apparently there's more snow coming (according to Lynne).. Possibly 3" forecast for tonight.. another 3" this Sunday night.. and another possible blizzard on Wednesday..  I'd better check to see how much fuel I have on hand for the snow-thrower.

to be continued......

I'm so excited... .. More snow fell last night (2-3") as forecast. I look out in the backyard.. and notice that our above-ground pool cover fell in. As if that weren't enough; the cover-pump fell-in with it and drained the pool..

I assume the progression of events started after the storm on Thursday. The cover-pump is rated at up to 3000gal/hr.. so it didn't take too long to happen. Lynne is afraid (when I say afraid.. I use that term very loosely.. ) that the pool will collapse if we don't put some water back in. I'm not sure how to proceed.. or whether to proceed. Re-filling would require bringing garden-hoses inside into the warmth, to thaw/uncoil them and my being a contortionist to turn the outside water back on, just for starters. The ball-valve is up behind the washing-machine and behind a hanging shelf that's very hard to reach.

I personally don't think that the walls will collapse.. but that's not much of a comfort to my wife. The cover fell "in" the pool as opposed to sagging from the weight of snow. I have had to release the cover-cable because of that in previous years.

Any thoughts?

Thanks Joe and Rene, I've already started the preparations.. I brought two garden-hoses in the house and put them in the bathtub to warm-up. I unplugged the cover-pump which is frozen/stuck to the cover in the bottom of the pool.. so that's where it's staying until I get some water back in it. It's completely drained. There's some ice-sheets sticking to the sides of the liner. I hope it doesn't tear it. I'll just refill and hope for the best.

The snow forecast has been upgraded to a storm-warning for Sunday. We have six tickets to see a play that day (The Wizard of Oz) at the Stadium theater in the nearby city of Woonsocket. Lynne was going to prepare brunch before the show for us, my mom and three of my four children. That's all up to the weather now.

rsv1cox wrote:Beautiful here in WV today, 50's + and sunny, I hope that it's heading your way, at least for early next week.  

Your off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz..........ta da.....etc.  

Bob

:lol!:I'm afraid not Robert... more snow is on its way for tomorrow (4-8" forecast).. and another blizzard predicted for Wednesday. We're getting a winter-spanking here.

My hose is still stiff.. and not in a good way.. I ran the shower with hot water for a few minutes in the bathtub to help speed thawing. I stupidly neglected to drain them this past Fall.



This is what I saw out the back window this morning..



I'm actually surprised that the cover-pump emptied the pool when the cover fell-in. Not that it wasn't capable.. but the discharge hose should have been frozen. Could be that the discharge-hose siphons-clear when the pump shuts off. It runs uphill to go over the pool-wall.. but the discharge-end is normally below the level of the pump. Live and learn...

Here's a photo from last Winter..

Refilling of the empty swimming-pool commences.. outside temp. 27F..






CRAZY.....



You can see the wall buckling here between the post..



Kinda' makes me wonder if there is a leak in the liner which caused the water-level to drop well below the cover.. The weight of the snow then ripped-out all the cover-grommets. We'll see if it holds the water I'm putting in. We have a water-well with excellent pressure from the pump. It will fill a 5gal. pail in less than 30 seconds. Theoretically.. that's 1800gal. in 3-4 hours using the hoses I have connected.

Here's a photo that Lynne took during the storm on Thursday.



If only I'd thought to unplug the cover-pump.. The irony is; the pump clogged a few times through the Fall, requiring me to pull it off the cover and flush-out the pick-up screen. I never thought that freezing weather would be an issue. Well.. I can definitely tell you that the pump works..

Here's me last July... the second of two times I've ever been in Lynne's pool.



I never thought I'd be the "pool boy" in February...