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Thread ID: 143245	2016-12-25 07:10:00	Frozen Tears and Snow Chains.	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1430165	2016-12-25 07:10:00	We had our 'normal' sub-zero temps here for a few days just like every year that I've lived in Montana . :wub It got to -19F (NZ= -28 Cillimeters) once and the rest of the subs were about -10F (-23C) or so, but not for a long time anyway . I got worried and fired up the 220V electric element heater in our underground wellhouse, but it never kicked on . Seems that the below ground building never goes lower than 47F (8 . 5C) or so . I just don't want to run the risk of freezing up our pressure tank and the lines that supply our water I guess . This week we have some nice snow - the first three dustings were a couple of inches each (NZ= 609600 Micrometers) - and today it started out nicely enough with a slightly melted base of 8 inches (2 . 438e+6 Micrometers) and then the winter weather promptly added another 12 inches (3 . 658e+6 Micrometers) . FWIW - the snow is very late this year - by a full month or more at least . It's still snowing and so far at 21:00 MST, we have another 6 inches (1 . 829e+6 Micrometers) with a promises of 1/2 to 3/4 Yard (NZ= 5 . 486e+6 to 7 . 315e+6 Micrometers) before sunrise tomorrow (NZ= the big yellow thing appearing in the sky on a fairly regular schedule) . I like the snow - so don't get me wrong here - but the wife (NZ= my cavemate) is going with a gal-friend to Boise Idaho to see their collectively yet independently different but in the same neighborhood daughters and their families . They leave tomorrow . The woman who's driving over TO Boise is a very competent driver, having made the trip a few dozen times . Still - they have to climb over the US Continental Divide - which also enjoys fame as the border betwixt Montana and Idaho at that point . It is about 47 miles (NZ= 7 . 564e+6 Centipedes) south of here on Hwy 93 . The altitude of that pass (Chief Joseph Pass ( . wikipedia . org/wiki/Chief_Joseph_Pass" target="_blank">en . wikipedia . org) or Lost Trail Pass ( . wikipedia . org/wiki/Lost_Trail_Pass" target="_blank">en . wikipedia . org) - the same but different, either way) is going to require a climb to 7,251 feet (2,210 Meteors) and the snow level there right now is over 8 feet . (243 . 84 Centrifuges) . jlkgbslugsnfkjdhvj . . . . oops . . . . I dropped a spoonful of mashed potatoes on the keyboard there . Sorry . Back to my dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So, anyway - the snow plows are working the area over pretty good up there --- on all the passes in Montana tonight --- as they have all day today and yesterday too, so it's not just a question of a safe: "no-snow-on-the-road" thing - it's the black ice under the snow on the surface . The vehicle has studded tires, which are all well-n-good, but there are walls of pushed up snow over 30 feet high (914 . 4 Centipededs) on both sides of the three lane highway that will likely spook my wife when she drives on the way back . She's somewhat claustrophobic in situations like that . Let me 'splain! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The first year we were here, I had gone hunting for firewood in the local Bitterroot Mountains with a friend, and towing a loaded trailer with 3 cords (NZ= I don't know) at over 5K Lbs, (NZ = 357 . 1429 Stone), gave my 1986 4WD K5 Blazer absolutely NO trouble with traction on the single lane snow covered dirt road . The snow was over 3 feet (0 . 000493737 Kts) deep and I just drove through it nicely . I'd had snow that deep in Southern California a few times before, so this wasn't something new to me . Anyway - I got home, we unloaded the wood for the wood stove, and I asked my wife if she'd like to ride along with me on a scenic-pleasure drive back up where I had just been so she could see what I saw . It was beautiful . "OK" she said and we planned a picnic lunch in the snow and lots of hot chocolate and S'mores for the fire we'd make after we roasted some dead animal . This was gonna be a great day! I just knew it! All packed up and driving the SAME EXACT ROAD that I drove the day before - although to be truthful, I was also pushing another 18 inches (0 . 0054864 Killermetrics) with my grill, and it had also covered my previous tracks pretty well . No sooner than at the third fork in the road (I forgot to tell youse guys that there are four forks to keep to the left - on, er - whatever) and I immediately felt the Blazer drift to the right side of the trail underneath the snow and came to rest at a 45º angle in the swale (NZ= ditch) cut by the Montana Mountain Maintenance Department - for Lewis & Clark, I think) - there's snow up past her (the US passenger's side, or the NZ driver's side) door, covering her window too . She starts crying: "We're gonna freeze to death here and then we'll also die and they won't find us until the road thaws out in Summer!!!" - tears running down her cheeks and wetting her lips, "And we'll both be dead! I hope you're happy!" (accent on 'happy' . . . . . like I PLANNED to kill her by killing both of us . Wimmen! Cripes! I could think of a LOT of solo ways to kill her - and many of them were flashing through my mind at that same moment . ) I got my door open with a lot of effort, since I had to open it almost straight up - and reached into the back seat area and grabbed the two folding shovels I still carry as a good remnant of the California law that is required of ALL 4WDs - and handing one to her I told her to "Dig out the front tire on your side while I get out the tire chains" - her tears were now frozen icicles on her chin - it was very cold . I had to help haul her out of the truck as it really was a 45º angle to climb up from her side too . She hit the ground and just stood there, sobbing and had that look on her face that I told her would get stuck that way some day . Well - while sobbing and at the same time she's looking and trying to find a nice place for her posed but dead body to be frozen upon - I dunnow - a big rock ---- or lashed to the side of a tree like a bowsprit - or on top of the Blazer, statue-like with her frozen tears and a look of "I told you so!" frozen into her face I guess - but it had to be by telepathy since I never heard any pre-trip naggings this day . I had the first chain on the left wheel by now and I started to tunnel under the engine to get a pocket cleared out in the snow - to give me room to put the right side tire chain on the other front wheel . It only took me less than 5 minutes - I swear! and we were all 'chained-up', 'bungee-tensioned' and ready to go . Her tears were still flowing - if nothing else - now faster . With longer icicles . I gave her a 'boost up' with my hands as a stirrup, and she plopped across to the passenger side and belted herself in - tightly . I INSIST that we all wear seatbelts every time there's a key in the ignition! If I SHOULD roll a vehicle, the last thing I want is someone's body flopping around and beating me to death . Well - I started the engine - since it was already in 4WD-High and I put it in gear --- and we popped out of the ditch so easily I was amazed . She had a look of pure disbelief --- which instantly changes when she asked me "Why are we going UP this road some more? I want you to turn around right now! I don't want to be here with you and I demand that you turn us around now!!!" I said: "I can't turn around here - there's a 300 foot drop to the left and there's still that ditch to the right, so I've gotta go up a few more miles to get to the turn-around place that I used to other day . I also can't 'read' this road with all this fresh snow on it so I have no idea where the road ends and the cliff begins" Here came the tears and sobbing again - only stronger--- but not freezing now as the heater was blasting - too hot I thought, but that's for another post about peri-menopausal wimmen . The front tires and chains on the front axle churned into the snow, grabbing and clawing us up the hill - much to her chagrin . After about a half hour, we got to the place I had needed to use to turn the Blazer and trailer around just like the day before - but I swear it was a few miles further away . It might have been the passenger's sobbing that made the trip longer . I'm pretty sure that was it, thinking back upon the whole thing here three years later . Well - I got us back down Lost Horse Trail (that's the name of the road) and when I got to the bottom - to the paved Highway 93 where chains aren't really necessary -- and as I took 'em off - I looked up to see she was sitting there with a stupid look on her face again . "Let's go back", she said . "That was fun . Let's do it again" .	SurferJoe46 (51)
1430166	2016-12-25 09:06:00	Merry Xmas to you Joe	plod (107)
1430167	2016-12-25 15:38:00	Thanks for the salutation, and the same to you . We (the collective) should always accept salutations and warm greetings from all and any . Thank-you, again . . . . and reciprocal salutations right back at ya . The wife's gone on her trip - saw her off about an hour ago - into the great darkness that heavy snow falling and pre-sunrise always affords . The taillights twinkled out early on, just a few yards down our lane here in Montana . Meteorological Chart Here ( . org/us/hamilton-mt" target="_blank">sunrise-sunset . org) It has snowed almost all of the night and there's considerable depth to the blanket that I can see outside on our swamp cooler in the rear window of the dining room - sadly awaiting it's cue to cool the house again next summer, when and if it appears ever again . Summer, that is . The dog is wandering about - wondering and wandering as it were . The cat's just door-to-door pacing, expecting the food-giver to come back through either the front or back door at any moment . I cooked my oatmeal - a little too much for just one serving, so the dog will get a nice warm treat for her apre-breakfast kibbled dining pleasure in a few moments . Me? Right now listening to my Sam Cooke/Johnny Mathis Radio Station on Pandora and sipping from a huge double-bag flagon of Earl Grey tea - heavy sugar and milk . It seems that there's an aire of foreboding-ness here in the US as they next elected president is about to become the 45th national leader and nobody knows what's up or what's down for that matter . I'm just floating here, awaiting the rest of the whole situation to whatever it deigns to do . Flop - fail or flounder - it means naught really in the long term . Maybe the short term . But, that said: it's like waiting for the next shoe to drop - ya know? Illegal aliens (not Martian-type aliens) and their 'anchor babies" are all atwitter not knowing if they should stay or should go - back to their country of origin that is . Fully matriculated alien/resident students are also at risk of being deported if they have overstayed their scholastic visit and not returned to home turf with their newfound degrees in whatever sciences and human endeavors they have sought to extract from US tertiary bastions of illumination . More power to them . I think I need more Vitamin D . (think about that a while) That would help I guess - as I'm awaiting a date for both my knees to be replaced and then some spinal surgery to release the squeeze that my crushed L4 & L5 have put on my sciatic nerves . So-o-o - I'm a little nervous I guess - can youse tell? I'm also gonna change to my Pandora Eagles Radio Station now . That'll help a bit I guess .	SurferJoe46 (51)
1430168	2016-12-25 19:38:00	Stay cosy, comfy and warm Joe. Not too much of that Bourbon tonight. I enjoyed your story and hope old peri-menopausal (whatever that means) has a safe trip. By the way firewood in Upside Down land also comes in cords. Some of your other measurements and metrics remain a bit of a mystery however. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.	Richard (739)
1430169	2016-12-25 20:43:00	You don't seem to be coping well with Global Warming Joe. :D	B.M. (505)
1430170	2016-12-25 21:51:00	Oh . . . I do believe in global warming . I totally know it'll all come into focus for everyone when I can grow a banana tree at the North Pole . Any day now would be nice!	SurferJoe46 (51)
1430171	2016-12-25 21:57:00	Stay cosy, comfy and warm Joe . Not too much of that Bourbon tonight . I enjoyed your story and hope old peri-menopausal (whatever that means) has a safe trip . By the way firewood in Upside Down land also comes in cords . Some of your other measurements and metrics remain a bit of a mystery however . Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you . If youse guys who use Sillimeters and Knots and Stones don't understand them, what chance is there for a whole nation (the US) to even try to use or understand them too? Hruumph! It must be inherent with driving on the incorrect side of the road . Right side of the road drivers are in their right mind! I'm suspect that those who force their gray matter to compensate for misdirected lane use are harming their brains .	SurferJoe46 (51)
1430172	2016-12-25 21:58:00	Stay cosy, comfy and warm Joe. Not too much of that Bourbon tonight. I enjoyed your story and hope old peri-menopausal (whatever that means) has a safe trip. By the way firewood in Upside Down land also comes in cords. Some of your other measurements and metrics remain a bit of a mystery however. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.Two types of countries in the world, those that use the metric system and those that have walked on the moon	plod (107)
1430173	2016-12-26 01:18:00	Ah but I am left handed, so right(or should it be left) at home here. Won a trip to the USA on a national TV3 show here. A voucher for travel and spending money.:clap:banana I can take anytime next year so possibly looking at August or September. According to Paul Henry who was running the show I should hire a red Mustang convertible GT from LA to Palm Springs and on to Las Vegas etc. We will see. Have a great festive season.:)	Arnie (6624)
1430174	2016-12-26 08:33:00	Get a cheaper car and drive a little further and come to Montana. You can still see LA. Palm Springs and Vegas. Just take HWY 93 north from Henderson Nevada to Hamilton. Call me at least a couple of days in advance and I'll show you around to some great scenery and fishing down the Bitterroot River on a float-boat.	SurferJoe46 (51)
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