ICE & SNOW REVISITED

[etrain16]

Some of the wildlife visiting the feeding area yesterday. Amazing how some snow in the background can make some sometimes humdrum looking birds really pop with their colors - even the scrub jays looked nice:

 

[Mikej]

Beautiful place etrain. Wildlife! Towhee, Scrub Jay, Varied Thrush, Bushy Tail Tree Rat. Looks like you had about 1/3 of the snow we got here, just south of the PDX.

After shoveling a path out to the car, a path on the deck to get to the wood pile and humming bird feeder, and a spot on the the front lawn for the birds food/water, I figure the piles won't be completely gone 'till mid/late February!

 

[Certaindeaf]

I feed the squirrel peanuts. The one I have trained to come with an arm wave. The one with a striped rat-tail that drags along behind it that finally grew a little fur on it.. must've got it ran over by a big truck. He's a digging little bugger through all that snow because a spot hasn't been stomped down for him yet. There's quite a few of them but I only feed him. lol
I used to murder them all as they damaged the buildings etc. but I moved and leave them alone now.

 

[teflon6string]

A regular Bear Grylls here, I walk down my hill to the highway and take Trimet to work downtown when it gets icy and people abandon their cars all over my street.

But my hill is super steep and I get sore shoulders from flailing my arms like a windmill when I slip and slide on solid ice. (And what if I fall and break the iPhone in my hip pocket? What then???)

Seriously, my sweetheart wants to get us some cheap overshoe traction cleats for tromping on ice. She knows people who swear by them. Anyone here have any experience with these?

Amazon.com: Flammi Snow Ice Traction Cleat Over Shoe Traction Aid (Pair) (M): Sports & Outdoors

 

[etrain16]

Beautiful place etrain. Wildlife! Towhee, Scrub Jay, Varied Thrush, Bushy Tail Tree Rat. Looks like you had about 1/3 of the snow we got here, just south of the PDX.

After shoveling a path out to the car, a path on the deck to get to the wood pile and humming bird feeder, and a spot on the the front lawn for the birds food/water, I figure the piles won't be completely gone 'till mid/late February!

We ended up with about 6" total. It was fun to see and it was fun to watch the animals out in the stuff. Portland definitely got more than we did. Our friends just south of us in Canby got nothing.

We also had a northern flicker woodpecker that showed up, but I wasn't able to get any photos of him. Lots of little finches, etc. too. Then there were the damned starlings - I took one shot of them, with a .22 airgun, but just missed - he took off as I pulled the trigger

 

[HuckleberryFun]

Portland.

Darth Vader on a unicycle plays flaming bagpipes whilst shoveling snow?
You're a real Portlander when you don't even raise an eyebrow.

 

[nammac]

A man on a unicycle playing the bagpipes whist shoveling snow?
You're a real Portlander when you don't even raise an eyebrow.

Just another weird day in Portland...

Stay armed, stay alert...

 

[Medic!]

12 inches in Forest Grove. Doesn't look like I'm going to work - as AAA is on full on emergency freak out mode - they are not taking calls for service except winch outs and emergency tows (wrecks, disabled vehicles on the highway/major streets - if you're at home and the car won't start or your tire is flat, you're not getting a truck today)

Glad I'm not driving a tow truck anymore. This is the weather I absolutely hated working in - between getting wet and cold, plodding along at 15-20mph on chains trying not to kill anyone, and dodging stupid people when outside the truck - naah, it wasn't really worth it.

I never understood the need for AAA.

 

[HuckleberryFun]

I never understood the need for AAA.

I just like the nifty stickers.

 

[mjbskwim]

A regular Bear Grylls here, I walk down my hill to the highway and take Trimet to work downtown when it gets icy and people abandon their cars all over my street.

But my hill is super steep and I get sore shoulders from flailing my arms like a windmill when I slip and slide on solid ice. (And what if I fall and break the iPhone in my hip pocket? What then???)

Seriously, my sweetheart wants to get us some cheap overshoe traction cleats for tromping on ice. She knows people who swear by them. Anyone here have any experience with these?

Amazon.com: Flammi Snow Ice Traction Cleat Over Shoe Traction Aid (Pair) (M): Sports & Outdoors

I have some chains for my muck boots. They are little pieces of kids new like pipe split into points.
The wire ones suck.
The ones you show look great.
BUT!!!!!! Be very carefully walking into a store with tile floors. They are worse than dress shoes on ice.

 

[etrain16]

A regular Bear Grylls here, I walk down my hill to the highway and take Trimet to work downtown when it gets icy and people abandon their cars all over my street.

But my hill is super steep and I get sore shoulders from flailing my arms like a windmill when I slip and slide on solid ice. (And what if I fall and break the iPhone in my hip pocket? What then???)

Seriously, my sweetheart wants to get us some cheap overshoe traction cleats for tromping on ice. She knows people who swear by them. Anyone here have any experience with these?

Amazon.com: Flammi Snow Ice Traction Cleat Over Shoe Traction Aid (Pair) (M): Sports & Outdoors

I haven't used them, but know folks that use similar devices and swear by them, so I've thought of getting a pair myself.

I've been looking at another brand on Amazon though - under $20 and 1,900+ reviews at 4+ stars:

Amazon.com: Stabilicers Lite Duty Serious Traction Cleat, Black, Large: Sports & Outdoors

 

[mjbskwim]

They'll be on sale for cheap right about now
Like I say don't bother with the app nes that look like wire coiled on the cable...Yakimas? Something like that.

 

[etrain16]

They'll be on sale for cheap right about now
Like I say don't bother with the app nes that look like wire coiled on the cable...Yakimas? Something like that.

Walking through a parking lot this morning, the snow had compacted, melted and turned to a rough/bumpy ice - difficult to walk on. So as I'm cautiously making my way across the lot, another guy goes cruising by me wearing some kind of traction device on his shoe, not a care in the world. We get this kind of weather rarely, but this morning, I would have loved to have some available.

 

[Sstrand]

Make sure your traction devices come to the very back of your heal . . . Ask me how I know.
A normal stride brings the back of the heal down first. If you are on ice and don't have traction there you can end up on your back. Or, as a friend found out a year or so ago, on the back of your head!!

Sheldon

 

[bbbass]

I bought a pair for the wife, she don't use them. I bought a larger size pair for me, i don't use them. Something about taking to time to put them on, take them off, put them back on... sheesh, I'll just stay home and drink.

 

[nammac]

My rewards for getting the driveway and walk cleared today... After playing all day in the snow with the kids yesterday...

 

[HuckleberryFun]

View attachment 334965My rewards for getting the driveway and walk cleared today... After playing all day in the snow with the kids yesterday...

Bribery to do chores: it worked when I was 10 and still does...

 

[jbett98]

I just screw in a few of these 1/4" sheet metal screws into the bottom of some old work boots.
They really do work well on the ice, you just need to remember not to walk inside on nice floors.

 

[jbett98]

b

 

[Captain O]

I'm staying inside the house until all this blows over. Unless I must absolutely walk out of the house, I won't.