Ready for Winter?? (sale, rent, live in)

[Sunday1]

Originally Posted by Maineah

If you're taking the Pleasant Hill Rd. to Brunswick or Flying Point road to Freeport you will really want studs. Those roads are over crowned and really bad when snow and ice covered and I don't need to tell you about the several hills. We use Route One most of the winter. It isn't as travelled as much as 295 so it keeps some traction snow on it, they do plow it regularly , the speed is lower so yahoos going 90 mph in 4X4's don't blow you off the road and it's better treated than the secondary roads.
Something else we did not mention that you will face around the water is frozen fog. It fills in valleys and settles and will form ice even when there has been no rain or snow. It forms black ice on bridges and roads and covers cars too. It happens when it's very cold out and there is a high tide with a slight onshore wind to push the fog over the land. It can be pretty nasty at times. They call it Arctic Sea Smoke on the weather report and it can cause problems as far as a mile or two inland.

Those are exactly the routes we need to take. I'm surprised how fast it is on 295 -- makes Chicago freeways (in non-rush hours) seem moderately paced (and few Chicagoans would consider that at all possible). I will definitely prefer Route 1 in the winter weather -- thanks for the tip. As for the frozen fog - wow and yuck. I grew up in Seattle and am used to dense fog -- yet it's much milder there. Frozen fog sounds a lot worse.

Battery generators? Our power went out five times between August 1 - November 15. Sometimes not for long, but at least twice it was out for 4-5 hours. I wonder -- can you rent one of those battery generators?

[Sunday1]

Originally Posted by island mermaid

As a kid we'd hook a rope up behind a car and ski tow all the way up Maine St. Brunswick late at night. I *think* we may have gotten a talking to by our local PD about that.

We did that up on Snoqualmie Pass in Washington!! So much fun. Do you ever wonder how are parents survived us?!?

P.S. I'm going to take a look at the tire store you mentioned in Topsham. I'm worried about the cost, so that will be the main thing. Thanks.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Sunday1

Those are exactly the routes we need to take. I'm surprised how fast it is on 295 -- makes Chicago freeways (in non-rush hours) seem moderately paced (and few Chicagoans would consider that at all possible). I will definitely prefer Route 1 in the winter weather -- thanks for the tip. As for the frozen fog - wow and yuck. I grew up in Seattle and am used to dense fog -- yet it's much milder there. Frozen fog sounds a lot worse.

Battery generators? Our power went out five times between August 1 - November 15. Sometimes not for long, but at least twice it was out for 4-5 hours. I wonder -- can you rent one of those battery generators?

I charged the battery that starts the generator. It has electric start. Sorry for the confusion. The generator is gasoline powered. It's 6500 watts and runs my furnace, water pump, sump pump, refrigerator, freezer and a few light circuits when the power goes out. We cook with gas so we're all set there. I only hook it up if I know power will be out for more than 8 hours. I have a cord outlet in the side of the house that goes to a generator switch hooked into circuits in the breaker box. I simply plug the generator into the house, start it up, and flip the gen switch on in the cellar. I have a small 2000 watt generator I use for short outages. It will run my refrigerator, or sump pump and a light bulb or two. You can rent them but when the power is out the rental places are usually out of generators in a heartbeat. We lose the power more often in the winter. People (usually driving on all season radials) will take out a pole and it takes them a while to restring the wires. On average you can count on one or two outages a month in the winter lasting from an hour to several days. Ice storms are really bad and can knock out power for weeks at a time. Fortunately they are fairly rare around here.

[cebdark]

I think that over the years, I've learned to prepare for winter bit by bit. Maybe it's the lazy-rump in me, but I try to keep things pretty consistant all year long lol...

This summer we took a day here and a day there to stack wood from the woodpile for drying. DH got it stacked inside a couple of weeks ago. He rented a splitter at the start of summer, so it would have a chance to dry split. It was a PITA for him, but doing it bit by bit made it a little less so.

I just put new sneakers on my car. I never really did snow tires even when I had rear-wheel drive, but now that I drive front-wheel and the weight is on the driving wheels, my years of experience of driving in snow finds me quite content with all season radials. As long as I drive for conditions, I haven't gotten stuck yet.

We usually have to reconfigure the garage for winter parking (mower, tractor, ATV etc) have to go out back to the large shed we have.

I think we've pretty much prepared for this year. I'm hoping for a mild February 'tho. lol

[Submariner]

We may be shifting to studded tires this winter.

We have been using all-seasons, but once or twice a winter hitting a stretch of ice, is enough to have convinced us that we may want to make the shift.

[marcyl]

I never had a snowblower until my son went to college. This I lost my snow digger and had to go to a machine. That was almost 9 years ago. I think I'd like to trade my current Weedeater riding mower(I have about an acre of grass to mow) in for a used John Deer with a snow blower attachment. I think that would be cheaper than buying a standalone snowblower big enough for use in MDI. But I have to do it in PA. I noticed that snow-blower prices in Maine are an order of MAGNITUDE higher for the same model as they are in PA. Maybe i should drive to Virginia to get one. ;-)

zarathu[/quote]

We should get a snowblower here in Missouri, we usually get a whole 6-8 inches of snow. They sell off the snow blowers really cheap around in March. St Louis shuts down if you get over 6" of snow.

[Maineah]

It IS possible to run studded tires all year. You just have to remove the studs in the spring. I have a friend who did this and just ran the single set of tires year round. It takes about a half hour with a screwdriver, jack and a can of WD-40 to pry out the studs making them legal after April 30th. Then in the fall you can take them to a tire store and have the studs reinstalled for a reasonable cost of like $10.00 a tire. It's far less expensive than buying two sets of tires.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

We may be shifting to studded tires this winter.

We have been using all-seasons, but once or twice a winter hitting a stretch of ice, is enough to have convinced us that we may want to make the shift.

I think it goes toward where you live. I live in the sticks, whereas you live in the williwags, so it probably would behoove you to get studded tires.

If you travel in an area where the roads aren't addressed as often, then it probably is best to get studded IMHO.

[RMoore007]

Originally Posted by reloop

I think it goes toward where you live. I live in the sticks, whereas you live in the williwags, so it probably would behoove you to get studded tires.

If you travel in an area where the roads aren't addressed as often, then it probably is best to get studded IMHO.

Sticks, williwags and I live in the boonies. I have a nice set of all season radials that did bad last winter so I'm going for the studded tires this snow season. I'll put my highway tires back on in April. I live in an apartment so that's about the only thing I have to do to get ready for winter.

[Maineah]

I got the gutters cleaned out today. Why does the stuff in a gutter smell like clam flats??? Nasty! Picnic table is put away, the patio chairs and table are put away, the bird bath that was left is now in the barn and I marked the driveway obstacles I need to remember for plowing.