Charles R. Stevens Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 Thinking ok looks awfly good at the moment! Quote
ThomasPowers Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 (edited) Only got to 82 degF today; but it's supposed to warm up by Monday...Blinding sun, as usual, though they do say we might have some clouds Sunday Oct 4. I do miss stoking up the woodstove and watching the snow filterdown past the windows with my wife and a cup of adult cocoa...Don't miss driving in it though! Edited September 26, 2015 by ThomasPowers Quote
K. Bryan Morgan Posted September 26, 2015 Author Posted September 26, 2015 I absolutely love it here. But the adult cocoa and watching the snow with the wife will have to wait till later tonight. I have to go drive in it for a while. Which, while I don't like that so much, I do because I must. But the rest I love. Quote
Charles R. Stevens Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 I must admit to a secret fantasy of owning a sleigh. Quote
Frosty Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 I thought of you when I saw the weather report tonight Bryan, got a little sleet here today, the termination dust is working down the mountains, anytime now.Frosty The Lucky. Quote
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 Supposed to be 100°F here this weekend. Quote
Glenn Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 KBM you live in North Pole, Alaska !! We would hope it would snow there before we get snow in the lower 48.Still nice to be reminded that winter is coming but we need to enjoy fall first. Quote
notownkid Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 (edited) Thanks a lot KMB! Not! I've got about 6 weeks to first snow and have been trying to ignore it. I also have to drive in it as my wife is a nursing supervisor 3-11 shift and HAS TO GET TO WORK. Gov. shut the state down last winter I was out there, me the troopers and the DOT guys. Picked up a couple other nurses on the way in. Hopefully my last full winter.Charles you want a sleigh, Have one in my barn all original. Edited September 26, 2015 by notownkid Quote
Charles R. Stevens Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 You take payments?! Have to haul it north to use it, but I have done crazier things! Quote
ThomasPowers Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 Charles; you got a fir trimmed red suit? I want a big NIMBA for Christmas! Quote
Charles R. Stevens Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 Kind of a father christmas in green and ermin myself...if I could swing it, I would hook up all the good little boys and girls with coal! But I would make an exception for you Quote
notownkid Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 (edited) Every Dec our town has a Wassail Parade with 50-70 horses and riders or wagons and a few sleighs. They have the sleighs running on small wheels!!!!!!! All the people are dressed for Christmas or Currier & Ives costumes. Quite the deal and usually colder than, well it's cold! +10F at 2 PM last year. Charles All you have to do is bring the horse north and use the sleigh here. We also have two sleigh rallies each winter at the Green Mountain Horse Assoc. Charles, I presume you know why the horse isn't hitched in the center of a sleigh but offset to the left? Edited September 26, 2015 by notownkid Quote
Frosty Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 80's-90's100's down south eh? And that's the reason folk like Alaskans live here. Is it too cod to be comfortable outside? Put on thicker clothes, simple fast and effective. Too HOT? Tough tootsies you can't only take off so much before accommodations are provided, no air conditioning though.First couple snow or ice days are always entertaining, your average driver seems to forget what a slick surface is if it dries off for a few days let alone all summer. IIRC last fall we had around 200 vehicles in the ditch between the Parks cut off and Muldoon rd. a distance of about 20-25 miles. Then there's the Seward Hwy. aimed south out of Anchorage but your selection of ditches is more limited you can pick the cliff face or Turnagain Arm. Either isn't good so most folk just bounce off each other till they slide to a halt.After it snows a couple times folk get their heads out of their . . . cell phone receptacles and only a few ditch divers a day is normal.I love driving on ice, used to go play on frozen lakes but front and 4 wheel drive takes most of the fun out of drifting. Ice is good, you can drift a car at 10mph. and not need a hot rod engine unlike even wet pavement.Just remember guys, when the icy roads come to your neighborhood your breaks are NOT your friend! If it drops in the pot in front of you just drive through with as LITTLE steering as possible. If you can't even let off the throttle without sliding put the car in neutral and just keep straight down the road. If you have to stop let it roll to a stop.If you see vehicles out of control in front of you again do NOT break! Gently steer at where they ARE, they won't be there long. aim BEHIND their direction of travel and just roll through.Avoid rush hour, there's a darned GOOD reason I was usually better than 30 mins. early to work. Even then time the traffic so it's as light as possible when you're on the road.Yeah, I drove the 53 miles to work every day, making the roads and highways as safe as possible for the citizens was my job. The worse the conditions the more important it was I was out there driving on them.Yeah I know I'm weird but I LOVE winter driving though since marrying Deb it's not so much fun she insists on studded tires. <sigh>Be careful out there. Frosty The Lucky. Quote
notownkid Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 (edited) Back in the '60s we Ice Raced each winter on frozen lakes and as we were SAAB dealers the only frt wheel drive back then they made us race each other as we would always win otherwise. That was a lot of fun and spent a few times on our roofs but the old SAABs worked fine upside down, we would jump out roll them back onto their wheels and off we would go. Use to spin them around on their roofs like a top to show off to the people I haven't thought about those times for years now. Frosty my early job working at /dad's dealership was dragging the "ditch drivers" back into the road and it was always someone else's fault they were in the ditch. Edited September 26, 2015 by notownkid Quote
Charles R. Stevens Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 Nope, NTK, I'm a desert rat, and mountain warfar school didnt cover sleighs Quote
DSW Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 Mods, please put this where it belongs. thanks. Very few people today realize that there more positions on the shift lever than simply Drive and Reverse. Dropping down into 2nd or 1st can solve so many traction issues in snow/ice. Many times in snow/ice I'll never hit the brakes at all. I'll just downshift/up shift as needed and keep the truck moving even if slowly. No different than driving a good sized truck down hill. I get people out of snow all the time simply by putting the car in 1st. In drive/overdrive, they'll just spin the wheels. Down in 1st, you just pull out no problem. Many newer cars you can downshift even if the gear shift doesn't show it. I know on the little Dodge a family member rented last winter, that if you pushed the gear shift left or right, it would upshift/down shift one gear, even though the display just showed P,R,N,D. Snow needs to hold off for a lot longer. 1st I have way too much outdoor work that needs to get done before we start to have freezes and I loose that money for the season. 2nd my insurance company won't cover me any longer because I plow. Stupid. I've been with them for almost 10 years, they've known I've plowed, never had a claim, but for what ever reason this year when I said I plow on my audit, it flagged me for being dropped. I have to find someone who will cover me, or find a way to get on the policy for the guy I plow for. I don't want to loose the found money for plowing ( $7K in the 10' Fisher for the truck), but I can't loose my general liability policy for contracting over the $3K I make in plowing either. Quote
Frosty Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 Insurance companies drive you nuts the way they figure liability. My old Mitusbishi turbo diesel 4x4 pickup got charged as a supercharged off road sports car. It had bucket seats a 2 seater, = sports car. Turbo charged = supercharged muscle car sports car. 4x4 is of course an off road racer.Then we get to my Eagle Talon, that was a darned sporty car but it had a rear seat sort of so it wasn't one. However it was all wheel drive and turbocharged so it fit a pigeon hole as a supercharged off road racer.It also didn't matter that I hadn't gotten a moving violation in 12 years nor filed a claim in ever. Nope, there are consequences to driving such UNconservative vehicles you know. Changed insurance companies but still paid a premium.Hung a plow on out 2013 Silverado and even though I only plow our long driveway(s) it costs us a few hundred bucks a year. Just because. The new plow mounts are sweet, the pump, valves and hoses stay on the plow which hooks up and drops pretty easily. Drive into it, pull the latch lever and plug it in, you don't even have to flip a switch for plow lights. Insurance company doesn't care if it never leaves the yard, it's on there $ $ $ !Frosty The Lucky. Quote
Charles R. Stevens Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 Dont even get me started, State farm droped me just after New Orliens sunk and Moore underwent urban redevelopment by tornado. Chashed my check, noticied the state, but not me, cashed my next check, i got stopped, no insurance, suspended tag, suspended licenns. Judge droped all charges but I still had to find a ride 60 miles to the capital and pay $250 to get my license reinstated. Then two years on a highrisk policy. 5 years later they had the nerve to start sending me junkmail. Promenced my old agent to do a "discount tire" on he with the next one I got. Havent got any more from them. Tho once in a wile some agents office will call. I am usualy polite to them, but make sure they no I will walk befor I use them. Quote
K. Bryan Morgan Posted September 29, 2015 Author Posted September 29, 2015 Well the snow's all melted off now and tomorrow we have another winter advisory for about a dozen or so inches of snow. Supposed to snow for 2 or more days. We'll see. This is an early winter for us. Usually it comes about mid to late October. I've seen a bunch of wrecks and a couple of them were severe. People from Eielson AFB. One guy went clean across 2 lanes of traffic, the median, another 2 lanes of traffic and ended upside down in a ditch. And it wasn't even that bad really. The roads weren't even icy. Just slush. I do love the onset of winter here. Come May I will be well tired of it though. But that's just part of the deal with living here. I'll make sure that Santa gives everyone coal for Christmas. After all we're all blacksmiths and that means we've been naughty. Quote
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted September 29, 2015 Posted September 29, 2015 My Dad was stationed at Eielson AFB in the late 50's since he had the 55 Cad Coupe DeVille up there. He was only there 18 months, but he had fond memories of it. Quote
gote Posted October 8, 2015 Posted October 8, 2015 Remember to drive into something cheap when you want to stop!I think you all would agree that when using tools and machines it is important to have feedback from the tool. To feel the file lying flat on the piece. To feel the lever clicking into position. To feel that the hot cut is in the same place the second time you hit.Driving in snow is the same. Feel that the wheels are starting to spin and reverse immediately.Nowadays I drive an Audi Quattro with pneumatic suspension and studded tyres. It takes all the fun out of it. Quote
Frosty Posted October 8, 2015 Posted October 8, 2015 Excuse me Gote I think I misunderstood you. As soon as your tires start to spin you REVERSE immediately?! Something has to be lost in translation or you'd be better off to just park till spring.Frosty The Lucky. Quote
gote Posted October 8, 2015 Posted October 8, 2015 Yes when trying to get away from being stuck in snow - Not when driving of course. The trick is to rock the vehicle free. Surely you know that. This was so obvious to me that I did not make it clear sorry.Göte Quote
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