Pellet heads!! What's up today?

Come on over here to the Alton area. Ill even let you try out the 12 year old Honda Snow Blower when it finally stops sn*wing

About 10 inches of sleet laden crud to clean up from 3 hours of heavy sleet and thunder boomers last night then back to sn*w by 10PM. I havnt touched it at all yet so should be sn*w underneath down to driveway pavement and not ice

 

WELL NOW...Our turn to stock up on heating fuel.

Yesterday the weather cooperated and dawned fairly nice...we even saw the sun off and on.
I dropped Jose a call at the plant this morning at 7:45 and got the good to go to get a tub full of shells.

We saddled up the outfit and got outta here by 9:30 am and headed down the Mt.

I learned a lot from Jose this trip.... on weekends they run the plant 24 hours..
Had I known this I would have scheduled a run a while back.

Trying to hit a weather window (READ AS DRY WEATHER) is always an issue, but we manage.

The guys got us all full up (TO THE BRIM) and got us on the road in less than 15 minutes....

Had a great trip out and back.
A bit chilly out, but all in all a nice day.
No wind to speak of which makes unloading far nicer (Brrrrrrr)

We have done it in the snow a few times...

Got a few pics.
Always looks the same.....DOH ?????

Filled 10 barrels up this trip....usually 9 plus...but this time we hit 10 .

The "Barrel master" (Vacuum attachment that sits on the barrel to fill them)
has plastic fittings inside that stick down about 6 inches and this stops the flow of shells at that level.

Had to scoop out the last barrel and stuff a couple others to finish clearing the dumpster....but ended up with 10 full drums...

WE have been running the big stove on a batch from 2011 I think and they have a lot of fines....I adjusted the controller to work well with the extra fines (Had to reduce the on time of the auger from 3 seconds to 2 seconds)

Once the last of this finer stuff is gone we will likely never see any of it again...(OK BY ME....DUSTY)

Then I will readjust the stove controller and we will be running only material that has been through "MUNCHY"

The stuff that Munchy turns out is clean and burns better with less ash and clinker.

The older stuff has a lot of dirt in it too....Evident by the clinkering.... (The crap that falls off the dried nuts while they are being cracked and other non burnable junk)


Got the job done and the outfit all put away by about 3 pm
Horses fed and headed off to the joint for a bite to eat and called it a day.

Planning on one more run this season
Likely mid Jan/Feb....depends on how soon the plant wraps up for the season.
We are burning a barrel every 5 days at present weather conditions.

If we get hammered with nasty cold and snowy we could double that rate easily if we have to run both stoves.

And a great time was had by all.

The hay on the trailer.....The kids use the rig to bring in hay for the horses.

This trailer gets a workout for sure.....

 

Great stuff!

 

It was an adventure getting home last night. Had to wait for my plane to get there at ICT (Wichita), finally got boarded then they told us we couldn't take off because ORD (Chicago O'hare) was in a "no landing" state. After sitting for about 30 minutes, ORD gave us 10 minutes to get in the air to hit a landing window. The crew hurried up and closed the door (kept open for fresh air while we were waiting), and we got air bound.

Landed at ORD and my texts told me my connector had started boarding 10 minutes before (I originally only had a 40 minute window anyway). Ran most the way from the gate I landed at to the gate I was boarding, which fortunately was the next concourse over. It helped that I was in the last boarding group - because I'm cheap . Then we sat there for about 40 minutes for de-icing. Landed in DC an hour late, but that cut my layover from 4 hours to a bit under 3 hours. Wouldn't you know it the gate I deplaned at was right next to the gate I was to board at next (really? that is the only time in my life it hasn't been in another concourse, Well, at least I didn't have an issue getting to my plane on time .

Landed on time, 11:45 PM, at MHT (Manchester) and then the fun began. By the time I got my luggage, which had apparently landed well before I did so I had to go to the lost luggage desk, drove in the snow and ice laden roads, I got home about 2:15 or so. Made for a really long day as I had gotten up at 4:30 AM. I did nap on a couple of the flights, but my naps only last 7-10 minutes long, but I didn't really feel too bad. All in all, the trip went as well as could be expected without any major issues.

Went to bed at 3 AM, woke up at 7, and by 7:30 was out moving snow. 2.5 hours later, the heavy crap has been moved (the berm at the road was wicked fun). Still waiting for the road plow to make its final pass.

 

They were a bit confused at first because they had just gotten used to the pet/house sitter. But, once I laid down to sleep, all 3 joined me and they are back to normal this morning. Boy did I miss them while I was gone - none of my family has any pets.

 

Got to finally try our new Redmax 30" snowblower today. It is a beast. Tossed 4-5 in of soggy, heavy snow 25-30 feet across the yard, no bogging down at all. The 18+inches the town plow filled the end of our driveway with was quick work for this thing. The only negative I have is it only has 1 reverse speed (the old Yard Machine 24" had 2) and that is god awful slow.

sam

 

Any time you wish the plow would go by..
All you have to do is clear your driveway, put your stuff away, and go in to the house.
Within a few minutes... The plow will go by....
Always.

Dan

 

Ain't that the truth!!!

 

As true as it gets !
Meanwhile I will be shoveling that same berm tomorrow.

 

X2 Have a safe & Happy New Year!!

 

X2

Happy new year folks may this new year ahead of us bring us Joy !

 

Only time I remember that this wasn't true. However, they never came back for a clean up sweep at all. I'm glad I went ahead and did all my blow back chores and didn't wait for it (blow back - clean out the entrance and exit trajectory for the mailbox plus snow blow behind the box itself to allow room for future accumulations).

 

Happy New Year to all. Hope you had a great time ringing it in even if it was by snoozing, surrounded by cats, as I did .

 

Said goodbye to the worst year of my life and to the best dog we have ever had last night

At only six years old, we had to make one of the hardest decisions we could

Goodbye Nellie, you left a huge hole in our lives that cannot be filled
This was from Mt Major-she absolutely loved being in the woods with us on hikes.

 

I'm so sorry to hear that G.........

 

So sorry to hear this G. Pets are members of the family, and losing them leaves a huge hole in your heart. My condolences.

 

Happy New Year you crazies. I'll raise a NYF in your honor.