Profound discovery!

Don't drive the tractor into the shed bucket first if you expect snow! DUH! We were gone for a couple of days so I put the tractor in the shed. Drove it in... and we had about 2 feet of wet heavy snow. Grrr... I got the thing out and promptly got it stuck while building an ice road with the box scraper. Hard to dig with one of those. I dug out and finally got the thing turned around and backed it into the shed for the real effort tomorrow. Two feet of wet heavy snow is tough going for a BX24 going backward!

Don't drive the tractor into the shed bucket first if you expect snow!

Click to expand...

THAT is something I have never had to worry about!!


(Sorry, couldn't help it!)

I made that mistake once as a kid. My Dad made me dig out behind it by hand.

Instead of a box blade, why not a straight blade that you can angle?

I replace the backhoe with the box scraper in winter. It makes a shorter rig. The box scraper is a sort of platform where I carry all my chains and a bucket of tools as well as an old ball mill liner that acts as a counterweight. The extra weight makes the scraper work better and gives the tractor more traction. If I can, I may install the tire chains today. This stuff is slick. That's not normal for here. I've only used the chains one time and found that I didn't need them most of the time.

Are you using the box blade for snow removal or for weight + carry-all?

Both actually. I use it some for snow, but mainly weight. I must build a blade that attaches to the bucket. I have the metal now, but didn't get it done for this winter.
I just spent two hours building an 'ice road' from the shed to the driveway. About a hundred yards, sigh... I packed the snow down so I could drive on it. No place to go with the extra snow right now. I had to remove the gate with the loader bucket, lifted it up off the hinges. It was buried in the snow and no chance of opening it.
Next to dig out my other pickup before the glaciers cover it.

Where the heck are you? I didn't know anywhere in Nevada got that much snow!

Yup!...Make sure the working end is the 1st end out the door..Christmas Eve and it got up to 60f today (normal high is around 20f). I have usually been out half a dozen times snow blowing by this time of year but haven't been out at all. More like grass cuttering time. Doesn't feel like Christmas when you see green everywhere. I'm closing in on 70 and never experienced a winter this warm..

Surprisingly normal here in Northern California. The exceptional weather seems to be passing north and south of us. Presently (dinner time, Christmas Eve) 50 degrees and only a few more light showers are forecast over the next few days.

But we normally get all our heavy precipitation starting late January. I was in HS when the Winter Olympics were at Squaw Valley. Nothing but grass growing on the ski slopes until mid January, the promoters were going nuts. Then at the last minute we got a year's snowfall in a week, it was near impossible to get up to Squaw Valley, and at least the competition part was a success. I'm not so sure about admission tickets and lodging income with access so difficult.

A couple of years later I worked up there on a survey crew figuring snow pack so the proposed Gondola lift wouldn't drag as it ascended bluffs - good times!

I think this week they got enough snow to hit average for this date.

But even a few years of average precipitation won't refill the reservoirs and alleviate this drought; the water shortages may be the new normal.

California said:

Where the heck are you? I didn't know anywhere in Nevada got that much snow!

Click to expand...

Midas, NV. West end of Elko county. 5700 feet elevation. We used to get 10 feet or so of snow in a winter, but lately, not much at all. We NEED water, all the snow is welcome and it is our main source of water for the year.

Wow, that is remote. I think I came through there once, taking a shortcut to visit my uncle who was doing the USGS survey in Mountain City region.

Merry Christmas!