Snow and more snow...

March is usually one of the drier months up here, we'd expect maybe half a foot of snow, but we've gotten almost two and a half feet so far this month, that's about three quarters of a meter to the French. It's getting to be a problem finding places to push it when plowing and of course have to worry about the snow load on the roofs, since it was near freezing when it snowed, so the snow was much wetter and heavier than normal.

Had to dig out the tractor every time it snowed this past week.

The snow berms by the driveway are so high, can't dump over them with the loader, so have to push it to a spot further from the house.

But at least there's still plenty of snow to run dogs. Last year at this time, the trails were largely melted out.

While it looks like a sunny spring day, this is what you wear with a brisk north wind blowing. Too much fun!

Tripping Out...

After not doing any trips last winter due to the hernia, that sucked in more ways than I care to remember, my friend Bill and I finally got out for a trip with the dogs.

The dogs staked out with the sled at the trail head. This is actually on the way back, I didn't get any pics the first day, so this one will have to do for both ways.

The real excitement came about half way to the cabin when we hit a wide section of overflow ice at one of the creek crossings. Made it almost all the way across when the sled broke through the ice and got stuck. I had to get off the runners and push it out. The water was almost knee deep and got into my boots. Now normally that's no big deal, cause I usually wear VB (bunny) boots, which are water proof. Unfortunately I had chosen to wear pac type (Sorel) boots and the felt liners got soaked. But it was above freezing by then, so mostly just had cold feet and no toes were frozen. The rest of the trip in to the cabin was uneventful, except for some side hill ice that sent the sled crashing into trees. But alls well that ends well and we made it to the cabin a little damp, slightly sore, but largely intact.

Bill heading out from the cabin the next morning. It warmed up and snowed a couple of inches over night, so made for some slow trails.

Typical shot on the run back to the trail head. It warmed up to the upper thirties (about 4° C to the French) and the wet snow made for a slog. But the dogs hung in there and we made it out after many stops and starts. Not the best trip ever, but a lot better than sitting home, thinking about it.
BTW, the truck fired up just fine after sitting out all night, so I guess the new battery solved the starting problem.

Getting Started...

With all the snow we've been getting this winter, have had to move the pickup a lot to plow around the garage. The last time, or maybe the time before that, it wouldn't start. Cranked merrily away but wouldn't fire. Since it was below zero, I waited a few days until it warmed up, then threw a tarp over it and put an electric heater underneath the engine. Also plugged in the engine heater, but it didn't seem to be working. Anyway, it fired right up after a couple of hours, so put it into the garage to let it thaw out.

The recalcitrant rig, waiting to be warmed up.

Then went to town and bought a new heater pad, the kind that's glued to the bottom of the oil pan. But before installing it, plugged the old one in again just to check it and it worked fine, no idea why it didn't get warm before. So then checked the battery and it only had 12.3 volts, so maybe that's the problem. Hard to believe it needs replacement, it's only ten years old! Will be hauling the dogs out for a trip in the "park" next week, so better pick up a new battery to get'er going on these cold mornings.

February Summary...

Here's the NWS summary for Feb...
Mean monthly temperature was -6°F, which was 4.7°F below normal. The maximum temperature was 29°F on the 8th of the month, while the minimum temperature was -42°F on the 14th. There were 17 days when the temperature dropped to -20° or colder at the airport. While not a record, it was the coldest Feb since 2011, but no where near the record set in Feb. 1979 of -27°.
The total monthly precipitation was 0.5", which was 0.06" above normal. Snowfall totaled 8" and the end of the month depth at the airport was 21".

Kind of an odd month where we had a couple of warm spells when it got to almost thirty above and then several cold spells when it got down to near forty below.
But we were able to get out with the dogs, so that's something,  I guess.

Taking a break on the way back home. At least the sun's up at lot higher now, even tho it's not much warmer than last month.