Snowed out of camp

I've been going deer hunting with my Dad in northern Maine for a week every November for nearly 30 years now. Usually the first or second week of November we head up there and spend a week not shooting any deer.

This year was different, on Tuesday we got snow, it was supposed to snow until noon, in the end it snowed all day, in the end we got about eight inches. Eight inches of snow is generally no big deal, the roads were clear, stores were open, no sweat. Then remember that our camp is 3/4 of a mile from the road...

This is the first time we've ever plowed snow at camp, we've had snow in past years but usually only a couple inches and a warm day or two usually takes care of it. This year it was cold, like single digits cold and Thursday the weather report was for another five inches...

I'd never had to shovel the path to the outhouse either.


Wednesday night Eric got his pickup (the Chevy pictured above) stuck in a snow drift. The only way to drive in this stuff is in 4wd with a heavy foot, carry some speed into the drifts so that you don't bog down. He was going slow and hit a particularly deep spot. I managed to get him out with my truck but it was a near thing...

Thursday morning Eric and Michael headed south, we couldn't go back on the woods roads since we couldn't see the water holes and wouldn't dare to carry a bunch of speed on the woods roads anyway. Hiking around in the woods wasn't much fun either. So I couldn't blame them for heading out. In fact once I read the weather report I told Dad I didn't think sticking around was a good idea for us either.

That last picture is deceptive, we're pointed down a hill, the snow at the bottom is probably 12-18" deep where its drifted in from the field on the right, this is where Eric got his truck stuck. Just after taking the picture we headed down and even though we were going at a pretty good clip we still nearly got stuck.

By the time I got home that night (9 hours later) it had just started to snow at home. Even in MA we got 5" of snow...

That was scary

It was a day of things where I should have known better. First of Angie was all hot to clear the driveway and although the storm hadn't finished and I almost never clear the driveway before the storm is finished I decided to appease her. Then I caught two wooden blocks I'd been using to hold up the snowmobile trailer in the snowblower breaking both shear pins for which I had only one spare. So it was down to the plow to finish the job. Sadly that thing is getting harder and harder to start, clearly the old K161 is on its last legs, this summer I MUST do something for it.

Then around 4:30 she suggested we go to the park. She'd walk the dog and I could ride for an hour. I should have known this was a bad idea, it was too late in the day, the trailer wasn't hitched, it was covered with snow. Anyway I managed to get it hitched up myself which is not something I'm good at but in the process I broke the welds holding the trailer jack. Looking critically at them there is decent penetration on the jack but zero on the trailer tongue. I'll have to cut the weld back off and really put the burn to it. I've also been fighting the tilt pin. The trailer is held down by two tabs with a pin through them under the tongue. One tab has a broken weld and has moved so its difficult to get the pin in and out which makes tilting the trailer a pain. My old trailer had a much better tilt mechanism. In fact other than the fact that it was only six feet wide (oh and its broken) my old trailer was much easier to live with, it was lower and had a less steep tilt too.

We headed out at ten minutes to five knowing we didn't have much daylight. Our neighbor was just starting to clear his driveway so I had to sneak around his car in the street. The street is really narrow with all this snow. Finally on our way we made the turn to head to the park and the trailer slid into oncoming traffic! Fortunately it didn't have enough mass to drag the truck with it but it was pretty scary for a second. I was extraordinarily lucky that it didn't sideswipe a truck coming in the other direction. I'm not too proud to say I freaked out and turned around at the next opportunity. Got home, got in a fight with a guy delivering a snowblower. Got the Jag unloaded, got the trailer parked and rode the Jag and Cobra around the yard to let off steam.

What a day!

Working on those resolutions

Remember my new years resolutions? If I'm honest I haven't been great about them. I'm probably 5 or 6 writings behind and considering I was allowing myself to make up missed opportunities thats terrible. On the other hand I lost a bunch of weight last week, just about a quarter pound a day which is pretty dang good. One difference I made was drinking a lot of water, another was snacking a lot less. Thats easy when I'm in the office and not so easy from home which is where I'm at this week.

Anyhow you might have heard that "Snowmageddon" hit the north east yesterday. We were spared the worst of the storm, it passed mostly to the east of us, but I took the opportunity to make a video!

I'm having a hard time getting used to letting the quality of the video not be perfect. If you watch this and then go back and watch my Lantern Lab stuff you can see I'm putting a lot more time into Lantern Lab which is as it should be I guess. This is more in the vlog format where good enough is good enough. I like it though, it allows me to get thoughts out without a tremendous amount of effort.

There is a little snowmobile footage in that which is the first snowmobile stuff I've put on YouTube. I have made snowmobile videos in the past but they're all on my website in a super compressed format and I didn't keep any higher quality copies which is too bad, I'd like to put them up but I won't with what I've got...

Its that time of year

The day before Thanksgiving we got some snow:

About 8 inches of heavy wet stuff. Fortunately the day before (evening before even) I got snow tires for the Jetta.

On the left a summer tire, on the right the snow tire. Both are "Autogrip", the summer tires are 185 something 14 (for 14 inch rims) the right are 175 something 14. I know it looks like the left tire is wider but its the picture, in person the snow tires are noticeably wider.

The summer tires are mounted on VW "Rondo" (I've heard these called "Africa" also but the online thing I found says "Rondo") wheels. The one shown has VW center caps as does its mate on the other side. The other pair have Volvo center caps. I kind like that so I haven't bothered to look for a pair of VW centers. It occurs to me I should check if the MB centers on my 190D will fit...

The winter tires are on VW "Orlando" wheels. The center caps were missing when I got them and I can't take credit (or blame) for the paint job. Actually I kind of like the paint job and considering these are my winter wheels and the center caps are plastic and apparently fragile I'll stick with this look for now. I wasn't sure what I thought when I first got them but once I got them on the car I kind of like them.

With its winter tires the car handles MUCH better in the snow than it did before. Last year a little snow made it skate terribly, now its much more sure footed. I don't think it'll ever blast through snow like a 240D does but its not bad with the right tires.

Its been my experience that snow tires make all the difference in the world. I've got places in the snow with a snow tire equipped 240D that 4wd SUVs feared to tread and I would suggest that most people who claim "I need an SUV" really need to try snow tires. I've only ever had cheap snows, I imagine better tires would work out even better.