Snow day!

[Woodhauler]

8-12inches predicted for central maine today,good day to go ice fishing! I don,t mind driving in the snow ,its the crazy people that i have to contend with while i'm hauling wood! :D

[Autocar]

Colder then H here this morning with a northwest wind, I stay pretty close to the stove on these days  ;D.

[Flyer]

Woodhauler,


looks like we may even get more snow than that.  some of the reports i saw are saying 13+.  I'm not too far from you in Maine over in Winterport.  I think I'll be staying home today and shoveling!  Flyer

[rick f]

Yep, good day to stay home and tend the furnace. Went out to the yard today changed fuel filters on the skidder, then right back home. My buddies ton wouldn't start this morning so we call it off. We wanted 2 cord cut and split today cause it's 12" and anything less then 6" needs to be split. takes awhile to get a cord of the stuff.
8-14" here today the weatherman says...............We'll see.

[Magicman]

No snow here and the temperature is in the 30's, but that wind makes it a good reason for me not to saw today.   

[barbender]

I got up late today, it was still -20F, I think it made -30f last night. No sawing for me either :

[lumberjack48]

I always had my equipment running before day light, this time of the year.

We would hit the limb'est Balsam at day break, -20 to -40 you don't have to use the limbing pole, hook and head for the landing, no limbing anything , fun logging.

I waited all year for cold weather, the timber slides so nice and easy.

[Autocar]

Lumberjack48 your right about slidding nice on frozen ground,its been a number of years ago but I was working near Chelsea Michigan it was pretty hilly and we were running a 540 Jodn Deer grapple skidder mostly white oak,red oak and walnut. It was minus ten and the wind was roaring out of the northwest. We couldn't pull any tree lengh because the ground was so hard and the grades were to steep. So one of the boys made a run to Lucasville Ohio to get a set of chains. Myself and another fellow stayed and keep cutting it was colder then you know what. We get the chains at five or so we worked till eleven at night ,no supper and got one on  ;D We were staying in a kids champ no heat in the cabins and there wasn't anything close to get something to eat so we had a bolana sandwitch and climbed in my sleeping bag carharts and all  ;D The next morning we got the other one on and went back to work. We worked on that job for seven days straight I was never so happy to get a warm meal and a warm house. I loaded the skidder around five in the afternoon on a Sunday and headed home. The fellow I was cutting  for never keep things up real good so I drove the hundred some miles on older state highways instead of I-75 to avoid the scales. We had a 1985 Autocar and the heater was non-existant. I guess I figure I paid my dues , this old house sure fells good today  ;D

[CX3]

We havent worked since Wednesday.  When it gets wet, or snowy, or the temp is below 20, we just stay at the house. I couldnt imagine working in -40 temps.  I would absolutely die.

[Woodboogah]

May sound dumb but I love working in the cold.  Give me below zero instead of hot and humid any day. 

[fuzzybear]

It's snowing today 8) 8) 8)  it warmed up to -30  8) 8) 8) calling for -25 tomorow 8) 8) 8) I'm going out side to play.  Ive got cabin fever bad.....soon time to go logging again 8) 8) 8)  planing on heading out on Sunday if the weather holds

[tjdub]

May sound dumb but I love working in the cold.  Give me below zero instead of hot and humid any day. 

If you ever start hating the cold just imagine the sound of a mosquito in your ear or a cloud of deer flies over your head.

[lumberjack48]

CX3 you would not die, i think once you got out there you would see how smooth it goes.

One thing when its -20 and you have a whiskers, you don't have to go get a drink, just suck on the ice icicles.

I didn't like falling Aspen in anything below -10 , limbs fly back so bad, they'll bounce, slide back, barber chair, strange this happen, just plain dangerous.

This time of year we always tried to be in Spruce , Balsam or hardwood saw logs, low ground.

In -20 i could hook to a 30" White Spruce limbs and all, head for the landing, back up a few times, it would look like a high line pole, you can really pile the wood up.

[northwoods1]

Oh man , those stories are funny. I worked out in the cold too a few times. 

It kind of puts a guy to the test don't it? And equipment. You can not beat it for breaking those limbs though, that is for sure! And some guys don't have it so good with nor frozen ground even now. If working on wet areas that can make it important to get out there in the extreme cold.

It was -15 this morning and I already knew yesterday I wasn't going logging. At my age I draw the line at about 0 f. , and even then I like to wait till about 9:00 or so in the morning till the sun is up good  :D

I can remember times when no cold would stop me. The coldest I can remember was an air temp of -53 one morning , verified on 2 different thermometers , and let me tell you the equipment did not want to start that day ,but I can remember putting a long day in. That was another job, was cutting hemlock. Bunching it for two skidders, the limbs were shattering like glass.

No, today I spent the day cooking up a bunch of chili, and a batch of stew. That way when the temp moderates I will have enough lunch to not have to cook then :D

[lumberjack48]

 Yes i know the wife used ask me why are we out here in the dark, I'd turn and look at her and say waiting for it to get day light.
Back in the piece cutting days [ very cold], a Finn showed me how to make a limbing club, you take the top of a dead Cedar and make a 4" club  [quit laughing] we were cutting Black Spruce, i would fall a few trees, grab my club and start swinging , boy-o-boy did that work good, i was 16 at the time, i could cut & pile 250 to 300  sticks a day.

[chevytaHOE5674]

Was -12 this morning with 15-25mph winds coming right off lake superior and between 4-12" of fresh snow and I was out in the woods checking on woods crews at 6.30am and then scaled wood in the log yard until mid afternoon. Get moving and you work up a sweat.

[TessiersFarm]

I don't mind the cold too much, but there ain't nothin fun about balls deep snow all day long.  My father just sits there and complains if I don't have the chokers hooked up fast enough (and I ain't ever fast enough).  If he wasn't hollaring at me he would just be sittin around gettin fat though so I guess its all good.  I'm just glad I don't have to pay the bills with it, I pitty some of you guys.  (all in jest about my father, I wouldn't trade him for a whole crew of young'uns, who else will fuel your saw for you while you use the other one so you don't have to stop for too long?)

[Maine372]

i love softwood in the winter. the pitch doesnt stick to you so bad. 'stachecicles are pain, but keep the pitch from sticking to your face fuzz.

i guess my great grandfather used to leave his crawlers running all night cause it was easier to start them in the morning in weather like this. a buddy of mine tried that with a 648 deere, didnt put it on high idle, the oil thickened up, lost oil presure, blew the main bearings in the motor.

does anyone still use quick connects to run antifreeze from the pickup to the skidder to help warm it up?

[Brad_S.]

OK, I owe you Maine-rs an apology. I am working in the southern Aroostook/northern Penobscot area and awoke to find a light dusting but was surprised to hear that area schools were closed, meetings canceled, etc. Having grown up near Buffalo, I know what snow is and thought you all were over-reactive wussies. Then about noon it started snowing. And snowing. By the end of the day, there was a pretty good amount. I will now concede that the closures were a good call.

[rick f]

At 4:30 this morning it was 12 degrees with a stiff 15-20 mph wind. We got drifts of 3 feet in places and 12" in others. It's go'na be a bear to cleanup with the wind. The snow is real light so it goes were the wind takes it.

I changes the fuel filters in the skidder yesterday, it started right up ,ran 3minutes then stopped. It wouldn't start again so I've got to get some more anti-gel into it today. It supose to get down to below 0 sat. night and sunday night. This should be interesting.

Have a great day everyone.

[thecfarm]

Brad,we use to go to school just about no matter what,maybe one snow day a season.This is no "walk to school 10 miles,uphill both ways" either story.This was only back 30 years ago too.Now it's so bad,they have to make days up in June and spend another week in school. I guess they want the kids to be safe and don't want to be liable if something happens.