Wonderful day

[starmac]

Well it is 37 below, usually no big deal.

A friend calls this morning to see if I can check out why her water is froze up. Yesterday she left a light on in her car and ran the battery down and she couldn't get her pickup close enough for the cables to reach, again no big deal. I had a few things to do but would head over there pretty quick and see what I can do.

Well I finished my must do project and went out to start the pickup and warm it up, no go. I crawl under it on the ice, and even though the oil heater is plugged up and has power, it has quit working, the tranny heater is toasty for all the good that does. So now I had to dig the diesel heater out and start thawing it out, I'm sure it will be dark before I get to her problems. lol

Just another great day in the frozen north. lol

[**oneshot**]

Sounds like a normal day here for me. Nothing breaks until I have to get there or get it done in a hurry. When Sandy hit and the lights went out, You think that generator would start, yeah right, 2 hours later got it started. Went to run down mother in laws to get hers started, power lines blocking the road to get to her.
Like I said normal.

Hope it gets running and you get your freinds problem fixed so you can go sit by the fire and warm the heck up----- 37below ouch.

[garym1a2]

Its starting to get chilly here, lows in the low 50's and highs only getting up to about 75. Pretty soon I will have to break out the longsleeve shirts when I go shooting.

[Finster101]

I'm sure it will be dark before I get to her problems. lol



Heck, when did it get daylight? I check out a few live cams around AK after my bike trip up there a couple of years ago. The News Miner has some good ones. Especially like the view of Chena River from the music store.

[starmac]

LOL IT was daylight for a little while, in fact bright daylight. It was dark before I started my pickup, and I just got back from the auto parts with a new heater. Her water is just going to have to wait till tomorrow, because I still have to crank the semi and get it out of the shop so I don't have to lay on the ice to install the heater. I might as well change the oil while it is inside, it is close to time. lol

[Wal']

I live here in the snow in Australia, well winter anyway, but am in awe at the temperatues you guys exist in, oil heaters for your sump's.........the worst I have to contend with is maybe 10 below a few days a year, antifreeze & glowplugs for the diesel.

[starmac]

Here is something else we get to deal with, that you will get a chuckle out of. lol

So I pull up to the Metro Water shack on the Old Steese Highway to get a couple jugs of water the other night at 20 below and there’s a guy with his pickup backed up to one of the pumping stations with a water tank in the back of his covered truck.

As I’m trying to get my pumping station to accept my quarter, which it wouldn’t, I notice the guy pull a small propane bottle and weed burner out of the back his truck. My first thought was that he must be working on a broken pump and needed to thaw something out.

I watched as he pulled a short, heavy piece of steel out of his truck and dropped it on the ground. It looked like a two-foot long piece of railroad track. Then the guy fires up the weed burner and lays it on the ground, pointed directly at the piece of steel a few inches away.

Seeing that he didn’t seem to be in a hurry, I asked, “Is that pump working?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Do you mind if I fill up a couple jugs real quick?” I asked. “This pump won’t take my quarter.”

“Go ahead,” the man replied.

As I was filling up my jugs, I couldn’t help but ask, “What’s with the weed burner?”

“I live quite a ways out of town so I heat this up and wrap it in a blanket and then wrap another blanket around it and the valve on my tank so it doesn’t freeze before I get home and I can drain the water,” he replied.

“That’s a great idea,” I said.

“Water’s pretty important,” he replied matter of factly.

While we have a well at home and I only have to haul a few jugs of drinking water every few days, I can appreciate what people who haul major quantities of water go through during cold snaps and was impressed with this guy’s ingenuity.

Actually, now that I think about it, the people who are hauling jugs of water like me probably have it harder than people hauling tanks in the back of their trucks. While they can stick the hose in their tank and climb back into their warm trucks until the tank is filled, we have to stand out in the cold and get sprayed with water while filling our jugs because the hose nozzles always seem to be just a little too big for the opening on the jugs. Then we have to load into the back of our car, van, truck without slipping on the ice.

Either way, hauling water at 30 and 40 below is not fun.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - entry Hauling water at 30 and 40 below is not fun

[starmac]

And an old timers story of getting his water. lol The good old days, my ****.

trailbigfoot
|
November 30, 2012
Mowry, Well, now you hit a nerve with this report. I don't want to top your story, but being and old timer I can tell you stories about hauling water in 50 to 60 below while living at the homestead on Shaw Creek Road in the late 50's. We used an old 1954 or so jeep truck with no heat inside. We hauled our water from Rosa Creek, Shaw Creek, and the Tanana river using 5 gallon GI water cans that we bought from Bobby Miller's junk yard that used to sit where the Bentley Mall now is. The holes we dug in Rosa Creek kept freezing so by the middle of winter I used a chain saw to cut the ice. At one time the ice hole was as deep as me but I had to cut down another 18 inches to get to water. Then the water rushed up and washed chainsaw oil into the water. So we ended up with oily water. But no one complained when it is down to 62 F. below. Those were the days. Our house was so cold that our water froze in the house. Anything over 5 feet from the barrel wood stove froze.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - entry Hauling water at 30 and 40 below is not fun

[PS Paul]

I remember years ago when I first went to my in-laws place outside Anchorage on my first trip to AK, I was shocked to see engine block heaters coupled with parking meters! They then showed me the block heaters in the garage and how they were pretty common in big households. Yup, a magical place AK is!!

[starmac]

In anchorage unless it is diesel you rarely have to plug in. I don't plug my gas rig in till it gets down close to 20 below.

Several years ago I bought an old skidoo from an old timer. After we had loaded it, he told me it would always start on the second pull at 40 below. He got a funny look on his face and said he was serious when I told him I didn't give a flip if it ever started at 40 below. lol

[ErikO]

I'll fail to mention the weather here in St Louis.

[Finster101]

I'll fail to mention the weather here in St Louis.



Roger that! That is why I'm in Florida.

[starmac]

Well in the news today we have finally had our first official cold snap of the year, it hit 40 below at 6:41 last night. lol

I just got back from the water depo for drinking water, by the time I drove 5 miles with the water jugs in the back of the pickup they were already starting to ice up. lol

[41 mag fan]

Starmac,
It got warm here today...hit high 60's. tonites supposed to get cold...low of 38.
Sorry just wanted to entice you with those temps!!

[starmac]

LOL Belive it or not, I was raised on the gulf coast, and like the weather here way better, you freeze to death down there by the time the temps gets to the freezing point.