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yes winter finally got here.


B MACK

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It has been slow for winter to arrive here in Montana, but it did!!! The National news always seems to forget about the inter pacififc northwest.    We do get weather here in Montana, we have had some cold and wind chill temps.   Here is what I saw at 7:30 this morning..  minus 39 degrees. I was outside feeling that . Some one from southwest Montana posted this other pict on a news site.. Wow!!

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Yikes! Here, we had 50 degrees & pouring rain all morning on Friday...enough that you didn't want to wear TOO much & sweat your balls off, but enough because temps were supposed to drop in the afternoon. And drop they did! Took the Kenworthless out for a delivery...no heat...it was 50 and calm when I left the mill, and 30 degrees with a 44mph winds by the time I made it to where I was going. 1st 8 tons went on a barn floor, so it was easy enough to stand inside the barn as it augered off the truck. Next 8 tons went into a bin. 30' up a fairly stout ladder that was twisting and flexing under the torque generated by the winds blowing broadside on me as I was climbing up to open & close the lid. It was all I could do to not get blown off. Between being damp from the morning rain, coupled with the cold wind & no heat in the truck, I had lost all feeling in my feet by 2:00. Get back to the mill, and they had started making another customer's feed...and it is rather sticky, so if it sits too long in the loadout bin or truck, it is a real MFer to get out...so I had to stick around for one more load. Got back, parked the truck, and said "I'm done" a little before 7. 58-2/3 hours for the week. Couldn't feel my feet or legs. Hips, shoulders, elbows aching. I was done. Got in the wife's Blazer (Ranger is out-of-commission for now) and cranked the heat on the floor. Checked the horses...had enough hay to get to today, and I REALLY didn'lt feel like moving a round bale, so I went home. Kicked off my boots, got out of my work clothes, and laid down until 10:30 yesterday morning. FINALLY this morning I'm feeling back to my usual warm-blooded self...just have a bit of a headache. Bad part is, today it was 2 degrees when we woke up. It's up to 4 degrees now. As much as I DON'T want to go out in it, I've got to. Got to pen up the horses & feed them, set out a round bale, and check their water. We ditched church today...between me not feeling well and the bitter cold, it's best not to take the kids out in this crap. On the plus side, at least I'm dry today, so it shouldn't be TOO bad...

 

People think I'm nuts for prefering snow over rain...but if you can stay dry, you can stay warm. I don't care HOW good your rain gear is, if you're working outside you'll eventually get wet.

When approaching a 4-way stop, the vehicle with the biggest tires has the right of way!
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Bugger me, that's cold B Mack

 

And Rowdy there is nothing worse for me than get cold all the way to the bone and not been able to warm up at all 

Stay warm out there you northern hemisphere lot

We'll stay cool in the sothern hemisphere 

 

Paul

 

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It’s pretty nice today 29° with the sun. I decided to start pulling apart power generator  haven’t had time for then  decided it was too cold and windy earlier and brainwashed myself into watching TV and then it turned out to be gorgeous. After my ambition all flew out the window… bob. 

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I was outside for a while, maybe 2 hours helping my neighbor jump start his pickup. It wasn't bad , with the "sub zero" coveralls and my fur lined head gear. And what really helped, there was NO wind!  The rest of the day was inside keeping the wood stove going.

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My wife is funny. She says to me this morning "When the weather gets better, you should show me how to run the tractor so on days like today when you're not feeling good, I can move a round bale so you don't have to go out."

This is the same girl who won't wear thermals under her clothes because she might have to buy a size bigger (heaven forbid), so she's just chronically cold every winter.🙄

Then I find out where she gets it from. I'm layered up getting ready to leave and her mother asks "Do you feel up to going out in this?"

"No, but the horses need to be fed and another bale of hay put out. Doesn't matter if I feel 'up to it' or not, it has to get done."

So I drive out to the farm where the horses are boarded to find all of the locks are frozen. Damn torch is in my Ranger, so I climb the gate, stall up the horses, feed them, then drive to the store for another torch & propane bottle. Get back to the farm, open the gates, tractor won't start. Hook the jumper cables up to the Suburban for a little extra juice & still won't fire. Pull the air cleaner & give it a shot of ether and we're in business. Get a bale from the barn & set it out for them, and as I'm parking the tractor back in the shed the property owner pulls in and says "Why don't you plug it in so it starts easier for you next time." Gee, thanks. Would've been nice if y'all would've had it plugged in for THIS time. Won't need it again for another week, and it won't be in the single digits then.

Anyway, even if my wife knew how to operate the tractor, today would've been a bit much for her...especially when she's time-limited on her way to work.

When approaching a 4-way stop, the vehicle with the biggest tires has the right of way!
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I guess I can't complain as much with it only being around 0ºF here. Checking cows on a 4 wheeler today my snot started to freeze and my eyes started to sting before I called it quits for the day.

I'm much more of a Summer type as well

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I am with Tom, I have seen the bank in Mars Hill ME read -35*, with frost on the screw heads in the bunk!! But the coldest I was out in was top loading a fuel tanker, at frozen river level, in Odgensburg NY at -28* below and God only knows what the wind chill factor was!!!!

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Brocky

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6 minutes ago, Brocky said:

 I have seen the bank in Mars Hill ME read -35*, with frost on the screw heads in the bunk!!

And l'll bet that was in June wasn't it?! lol My wife is from up that way, says there is two seasons. Winter and Damn poor sledding! Remembers the schools closing for three weeks so the kids could pick potatoes.    .....Hippy

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My coldest is probably shortly after high school, zipping up and down the highway at 80 mph when it was +14F degrees out. I had cabin fever and needed to get outside! 1976 Honda cb750. Good bike, still have it but doesn't run at the moment.

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10 hours ago, GA_Dave said:

Back in early 1984, I was working 2nd shift at a business in downtown Rochester, NY.  I didn't have a car at the time and rode the bus back and forth, from about three miles away.  The storm hit around 7 PM and by midnight, it was really getting ugly out.  The buses stopped running by 9 that night.  I had no desire to stay at work overnight, so I set off on foot.  Since the walking portion of my usual commute was a couple hundred feet at most, I was not dressed for what I encountered.  I had on jeans, a T-shirt, tennis shoes and a light jacket. 

The temperature was around zero and the winds were high.  While it had been snowing for several hours, there was little on the ground.  It was kinda like walking in a sandstorm, with visibility changing between fifty feet and zero.  I walked as quickly as I could, but it still took me over 90 minutes to get home and I had a pretty good coating of ice on me by the time I got there.  The next morning, the TV said that the temp had dropped to almost 10 below and the wind chill was about 50 below. 

I haven't been cold since!

Wow, lucky you're still with us!

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Producer of poorly photo-chopped pictures since 1999.

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11 hours ago, other dog said:

Wow, lucky you're still with us!

Lucky or durable, not sure which.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, I spent 32 of my 64 years running into burning buildings!  :)

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Back in the mid 1980's it was minus 10 when I left Montana. I took a load to Fredrick, Maryland, it was 34 above !!  That was fricking cold. I couldn't wait to get back out west out of that darn humidity.

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Funny how that works...

Not funny "ha-ha" but funny weird. It's been very cold 🥶 here like pretty much everywhere else for the last week or so. And I was looking for those warm gloves I bought last fall. I got a pair for myself and a pair for Zina. Found hers, in the console in the pickup, but mine are nowhere to be seen. And ever since I had that allergic reaction to a tick bite a couple of years ago, when my head swelled up like a pumpkin and my hands swelled up to the size a small ham, my hands get really cold really quick when I go outside. Never used to bother me, but now they're super sensitive to hot and cold. So I ordered us both a pair of good gloves, she's always cold anyway.

So while I was looking for the gloves, I remembered the parka. You know, the military surplus parka that I bought about 8 or 10 years ago. I used to keep it in the truck in case of emergencies, along with a sub zero rated sleeping bag- one of those lessons learned. It was a really nice parka too, it was heavy, probably weighed 15 pounds, and supposed to keep you warm in temps well below zero. I never even wore it except to try it on because it never really got cold enough. You couldn't work in it, you'd be sweating in just a couple of minutes. 

And even though I never wore it, it's driving me nuts that I can't find it. It got lost in the move somehow. I've been through this house from one end to the other several times. I hope I didn't throw it in a dumpster by accident, but I can not find it anywhere, it just disappeared.

Producer of poorly photo-chopped pictures since 1999.

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Tommy, I am the same with the insulated Carhartt coveralls I had in the truck.. Found my felt lined boots, but not the coveralls???? weird truck unloading at retirement🤔..

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Brocky

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