"Canadian Smalltalk" (weather - all nations included!) Thread

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Cold. 27F or colder. Load of snow.

Am currently stuck in my DRIVEWAY-- as I have a DEEP ditch right next to the 'way, at the street (STUPID city!) and as I was backing out this morning, I slid into that ditch.  At least the main part of the truck is in the driveway, and I'm not blocking the street ....

I'll either wait for it to thaw (only a day or 2 at most, hereabouts) or else my partner will come by in his truck and pull me out.

So far, I'd rather wait it out-- I can walk over to the shops for food, if needed.

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Stuff like that is why I keep a come-along (i.e. a ratchet-action hand winch) and a tow strap in my van*.

If you really need to get out (or just feel like mucking around in the snow for an hour or so), you could always jack your truck up, drop stuff under the wheel in the offending ditch (scrap wood would probably work), lower the truck back down, and drive it out.




*though I've never had to use them, and truth be told, I have a feeling that my come-along probably doesn't have enough cable to be much use, so I'd probably end up with one end of my tow strap hooked to my van and the other end in my hand as I grin at other drivers to entice them over to give me a pull out of the ditch.

[The Meromorph]

Stuff like that is why I keep a come-along (i.e. a ratchet-action hand winch) and a tow strap in my van*.

If you really need to get out (or just feel like mucking around in the snow for an hour or so), you could always jack your truck up, drop stuff under the wheel in the offending ditch (scrap wood would probably work), lower the truck back down, and drive it out.




*though I've never had to use them, and truth be told, I have a feeling that my come-along probably doesn't have enough cable to be much use, so I'd probably end up with one end of my tow strap hooked to my van and the other end in my hand as I grin at other drivers to entice them over to give me a pull out of the ditch.

I have extensive experience (off-roading). A come-along as a vehicle extraction device from a ditch will only succeed in getting you hot, tired and frustrated. It probably won't move the vehicle at all, just take up the stretch in the tow strap. They have their uses, but vehicle extraction is not one of them.
I hope your tow strap is the kind with loops in the end, not the commonly sold kind with metal hooks. The kind with the hooks are potentially lethal. That hook is made of 'pot metal', and has less tensile strength than the tow strap itself. When it frags under tension, the majority still attached to the stretched strap becomes a projectile travelling at up to 150 mph. I've seen photos of one that went through a windshield, the drivers head, the leather and metal headrest, and the back glass.
If you have the one with the metal hooks, dispose of it (don't give it away - you don't want some one else to die), and get the kind with the loops (Tractor Supply Company is the cheapest place, about half the cost of offroad stores).

Another tip: Don't hook up a tow strap to a tow ball. If you (or your obliging rescuer) don't have the right attachment points, you can remove the towball unit, and stuff the loop into the connection and pass the little bar through the loop inside the connection - just as strong, and much safer.

[Vita Curator]

The biting cold that you all have been suffering from is now headed my way.  Believe it or not, it was 70 degrees (F) today and humid.  The front is rapidly approaching and they are calling for dangerous storms and high wind warnings have been posted (70 mph).

As I sit here the hemlocks are swaying like crazy in the wind.  Just my luck, I already put up my outside Christmas decorations.  At wind gusts of over 70 mph there won't be any left, dog gone it, phooey.

[Sibling Chatty]

We got hit with The Cold early Thursday morning.

Feh. Cold is icky when it's wet, like yesterday. Today it was bright and clear. Yesterday, my left knee wouldn't bend for love nor money. Today, it's much better.

When you get old, your body starts acting like a barometer...when your 'rheumatiz' acts up.

On a lovely day like today, I got to sit inside at a luncheon for THREE hours, from 11-2. I don't mind volunteering, but next time, they can just keep their luncheon at the Hilton and 'honor' us volunteers with a day off instead.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Stuff like that is why I keep a come-along (i.e. a ratchet-action hand winch) and a tow strap in my van*.

If you really need to get out (or just feel like mucking around in the snow for an hour or so), you could always jack your truck up, drop stuff under the wheel in the offending ditch (scrap wood would probably work), lower the truck back down, and drive it out.




*though I've never had to use them, and truth be told, I have a feeling that my come-along probably doesn't have enough cable to be much use, so I'd probably end up with one end of my tow strap hooked to my van and the other end in my hand as I grin at other drivers to entice them over to give me a pull out of the ditch.

I already tried the come-along.  Mine is pretty high-tech, and it's "home" IS in the truck (it's a big box-truck with tool doors all over it, actually)  I used a car as the anchor point (which is currently trapped by the stuck truck...   )

I tried the jack-method also, but my initial jack is only 2 1/2 ton, and not strong enough.

By the time my partner brought a new 12-ton bottle jack it was dark and getting COLD again.

Tomorrow afternoon, I'll get out with the bottle-jack, tunnel under the truck to the back axle and jack up the wheel.  I've scrounged some large (6" & 8" diameter) logs to put under the wheel.  Once it's more-or-less level, I expect it'll just drive out... we'll see, won't we? 

But, I HAVE decided that that hole the city euphemistically calls a drainage ditch is going to be packed with something, very soon.  Likely I'll go out to the green dump, and fetch some more large logs ... at least the water can sort of flow around them (and they'll be free-- I LIKE free!)

Quite an adventure, so far!

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

I have extensive experience (off-roading). A come-along as a vehicle extraction device from a ditch will only succeed in getting you hot, tired and frustrated. It probably won't move the vehicle at all, just take up the stretch in the tow strap. They have their uses, but vehicle extraction is not one of them.

I once had to get a damaged car (one wheel was not pointing in the direction it should have been) onto a trailer with a come-along and a tow strap - we did it eventually, but yep, it was frustrating.  A chain would work better, but it'd be larger and heavier than I'd want to carry on a regular basis.

I hope your tow strap is the kind with loops in the end, not the commonly sold kind with metal hooks. The kind with the hooks are potentially lethal. That hook is made of 'pot metal', and has less tensile strength than the tow strap itself. When it frags under tension, the majority still attached to the stretched strap becomes a projectile travelling at up to 150 mph. I've seen photos of one that went through a windshield, the drivers head, the leather and metal headrest, and the back glass.
If you have the one with the metal hooks, dispose of it (don't give it away - you don't want some one else to die), and get the kind with the loops (Tractor Supply Company is the cheapest place, about half the cost of offroad stores).

Hmm... thanks for the tip.  I always assumed that the rating on the package would be for the entire assembly (wouldn't it?), not just the fabric strap.

Now that I think about it, the offroaders I've seen usually use the loopy strap you mentioned with a couple of heavy-duty clevises.  I guess that's why.

At least I do know enough to stay as clear as I can when a vehicle's being extracted (i.e. more than one strap length away from the attachment point on either vehicle), though as you pointed out, it's not possible if you're operating one of the vehicles involved in the exercise.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

COLD!!! For us, anyway. Frost every morning, and I've pulled out my pea coat and scarf.

[ivor]

When I first saw this topic I thought it was a discussion of the Smalltalk object oriented programming language.  I was thinking of you folks breaking out your Dorados and geekin' out in the Great White North or something. 

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

I predate object-oriented programming languages.  I'm much more comfortable with machine code.  If you can't program it with a hexadecimal keypad, I'm not interested.   


They're saying no snow here for Christmas.

[ivor]

I hand coded machine code on a Commodore C-64. 

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Cool. 

I did mine on a 6800 CPU stuck on a board with a keypad and a few seven-segment displays.

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Back to weather:

Snowed here yesterday.  Finally.  There's actually snow on the ground now.

[Aggie]

Gah!  -11 and snow this morning.  It's been doing the anonymous seasonless brown and cool (-5 to +5) lately....  looks like it's back to winter.  Forcasting -28 C overnight.

[Bluenose]

Snow?  What's that?  What?  Frozen water falling from the sky?  Yeah, right...  Sounds about a likely as that "rain" thing me great great grandaddy used to bang on about...

9 AM this morning it was already 31^oC.  Supposed to be a cool change coming through later, the temp is expected to drop to about 24^o.  I certainly hope so.