Incoming storm

[Randy in Maine]

Looks like it could be a good one about Friday here in Maine. Depending on how the low pressure areas line up we could see 2-3' of snow and a good 50 mph breeze coming off the Gulf Of Maine.

On a side note, I would like to point out how much I am enjoying the heated hand grips on my Troybuilt snowblower. I though it was a bunch of hoohaw, but it really works well.

[sped372]

I am just plain enjoying having a snowblower. We went a few years without one before I picked one up over this past summer. I still shovel if there's only a couple inches, but man is it nice for clearing that snowcrete at the end of the driveway from the plows.



It's an 80's vintage John Deere (actually a Simplicity they painted green and yellow) but it's been starting on the first pull every time and I'm really happy with it. I wanted a 2-stage, but something a little smaller to fit into our petite garage. It even has an actual 3-speed transmission, no friction wheel thingy.

Heated handles? Maybe I'll try grabbing the muffler.

[Westy78]

The handle makes bacon? Awesome! Kind of late in the season for a noreaster no? Stay warm!

[vwbuff]

And Randy,
We really thank you for sending it our way .......

Wayne

[RussellK]

Hand warmers nothin' that snowblower sits on crawlers!

[Randy in Maine]

It actually blows snow pretty well right down to the pavement. It will kick a good foot of snow about 30 feet into the woods or a even little further. It doesn't like rocks though, and makes me wish I had finished putting down the pavers that are still stacked up in the back yard. Rarely clogs up. $1100 well spent four years ago.

It also has "power steering" (removes power from either track) that lets you get in pretty close to whatever you are aiming for or trying to avoid, like my neighbors Buick. I snowblow for me and 3 of my elderly neighbors and it can take a couple of hours depending on the quality/quantity of snow.

They are still saying from 20-30 inches from Friday morning until Saturday afternoon with 50 mph winds for white out conditons. The ocean is still 41º. I am pretty well set up here though with a nice warm tight house and garage. This radiant floor heat is really working well for me and I still think I can heat the whole house/garage for $1500 a year. Not too bad.

[Bleyseng]

Wow good luck with all that snow ! It was only 85f today and sunny.

[Sylvester]

Good grief ya'll be careful up there! Today it is 65F in Afghanistan, we have it made right now.

[sped372]

Good luck out East. We only ended up getting about 5" but it was HEAVY sloppy soup.

[Amskeptic]

Good luck out East. We only ended up getting about 5" but it was HEAVY sloppy soup.

A little slippy-slidy up from the local market, these roads are twisty and hilly in the Catskills. We're hunkered in with fresh stacked wood and provisions. My back says "enough". Good luck folks in the northeast.
Colin

[Randy in Maine]

So far we have about 6-8" of a very powdery light snow likely due to the fact that it has finally warmed up to all of 18º. It turns out that this snow we have seen is just the "pre-curser" to the actual storm. Starting to get a little windy and they have raised the predicted wind gusts to 70 mph from the NE.

Randy is out in his woodshop building a new table saw stand. It will looks something like this when finished....

[Westy78]

Randy is out in his woodshop building a new table saw stand. It will looks something like this when finished....

Ooh I like. Central vac system?

[Randy in Maine]

I am building this new stand to improve the saw dust control measure. Always fighting saw dust.

I just have a little 1.5 HP Delta dust collector that I mounted on the wall with a bunch of 4" PVC that goes around the room to all of the machines.

[Westy78]

Way better than nothing.

[Amskeptic]

On my third shovelling lap, doing it every three inches or so. People will think we have some snow blower because I have been using a broom to blast it off the walks, no recognizable build-up of set-aside snow.
"Yeah, I have a cat-track heated-handle three cylinder turbo-boost hydraulic drive RandyInMainebilt® with headlamp and automatic soup dispenser, this baby makes short work."
Colin