SloopJohnB@mac.com

Montgomery County still hasn't dug out the primary neighborhood roads much less the secondaries.

Quattro and snow tires don't work so good in 3-5 foot snow and drifts. Even HMMWV H1 trucks are getting stuck. Loaders with chains work pretty good.

I want this, but parking it in my driveway violates the HOA agreement…




How about someone photoshopping this little one onto the front of a C5???

uberwgn

How long 'til the roads will be passable?

JBX

I am in Silver Spring and a plow came through late last night. It did not look like a MoCo plow. It was a plow and front end loader...probably on loan from another state. All the snow is dumped on the corner lots of the blocks in massive 15' mounds. The best part for me was seeing the plow push a lot of the snow into my idiot neighbor's driveway--he insists on shoveling the snow into the street every year. Why? Because he is a dumbass.

--jb

SloopJohnB@mac.com

developments that aren't.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Even if he didn't shovel snow into the street the plow would push a lot of snow into his driveway. The trick is to shovel the snow into the street beyond the area the plow goes through. On my street I know which way the plow comes so I use a snowblower and blow about 5 feet into the street and throw the snow across the street (nobody lives there). Plow comes and if I'm lucky he's got the angle set up to push snow to his right, away from my driveway. If I'm unlucky, I just have to reblow the snow before it refreezes solid.

Harleyguy

Careful about blanket statements as to where to put your snow. In some places (Wyoming where I used to live) if you got caught putting your snow into the street it would earn you a huge ticket. Yeah the public plow will windrow snow across your drive way. I was in charge of a plow crew in a national park. When you are clearing public roads you can't take the time to dress up everyone's driveway. You are trying to stay ahead of school bus schedules, rush hour traffic, etc. Trying to be good neighbors I would have my guys go back as time permitted and clean out the driveways when possible. Couldn't do it every time but put forth the effort when possible. My theory about living in snow country, " Learn ahead of time what you will have to deal with, then deal with it at as needed." If you live in serious snow country you will have things to deal with in the winter that flat-landers haven't even thought of yet.

the_duke

First picture looks like what they used to clear streets when I lived in Fargo. That and lot of dump trucks. They had to haul the snow away as there just wasn't room to pile it up on the streets. They were very big on keeping your sidewalk clear as well. If you didn't clean it the city would and charge you $100. It was always fun when there was a 10' drift on the sidewalk. I'd use the snow blower to make a tunnel and then back out and knock down the roof of the tunnel with the snow shovel. There were a couple of years that you could walk to the roof of our 2 story house. Between the drifting and having to blow the snow from the sidewalk into the yard it would build up that high. Good times.

jcman

My god Sloop the last time I saw snow like that was the 77 blizzard that hit South East Michigan, in Sterling Heights we got 3' in 24hrs with drifts that topped the gutters on the west side of the house blanking out the windows and slider to the patio, three days off from school and all I did was shovel snow and ride snow mobiles.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

County had misaligned our street to a work crew that knew my street wasn't theirs. They didn't say anything and so nothing happened. One of the other guys in the development walked out to the main road and over to another older development across the road and found the plows and loaders working to clear their roads. Found the supervisor and he said he thought our street was his crew and he ran it on his laptop and sure enough it was assigned to "Mike" and should have been assigned to Christopher (him). He sent the loaders over within the hour and they cleared about ⅔ of the main road before they had to leave for fuel. Like most of MOntgomery County, MD where the roads are passable but lanes disappear on the interstate (LOL!) as well as local primary roads.

Our development roads are just that…passable with some full width but a lot is half width…one car wide. County will be back later this week with a mess-o-Bobcats to widen to full width. Our circles off the main road are private contractor plows and HE finally got in once the main road was opened.

I messed around with 4 snowblowers and their nice but ignorant owners. Have one more to look at tomorrow…her husband had the chutzpah to call her from Minnesota the day before the storm and ask her to have the snowblower 'looked at' because it doesn't run. LMFAO! She's one of my wife's girlfriends and she had just finished shoveling out her driveway including the pile the plow left in front of it when I moseyed on bye with my Ariens and murdalized the doctor's driveway blockage next door! She was livid…my wife happened to be standing there with her and said, 'Georgette…all you had to do was ask!'

DC is still an effing mess with their usual mayoral incompetence and assurances, this one wore a Homeland Security Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA on the collar of the turtleneck!) top surrounded by a bevy of top department heads all nodding in unison that the city would be cleared. Soon, etc. The side streets have cars parked on both sides and barely room for a car to go through in the dry times…no plows with cars on both sides of the street. They usually have to tow the miscreants stuck on the wrong side of the street when the emergency told them to park on the even side or use little plows down the middle.

The rest of Northern VA and MD are mostly open if only one lane with the rest being opened tonight and tomorrow. It won't be back to normal for at least 5 more days unless it all melts. So much snow it has to be trucked out of DC…no place to push it to one side.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Ahh..snow machines! Loved them in Minnesota (girlfriend worked at the Scorpion factory office in Crosby, MN) and crewed a race SS396 Yamaha sled at Brainerd International Raceway. Poker runs bar to bar at -20F and below!

I would have one here in MD except it would sit under the deck for 2 out of 4 or 5 years when there wasn't enough snow to use them. They would sure be cool in a snow emergency.