We had a snow day today. So far about six inches has fallen. Nice civilized snowfall, I might add. Light and fluffy, easy to shovel and, unfortunately, sure to cause drifting when the wind picks up. I'm thinking I'll probably have tomorrow off as well.
If you look at the photo taken from the saddle of the tractor, that's what my lane looks like. It's about a quarter of a mile exactly from where the photo was shot to the back of the barn that you can see slightly left of center in the photo. When I first moved in here, my snow removal equipment consisted of a shovel. The first big snow, I spent the whole day shoveling. I got a snowblower after that. It's a fairly good sized thing with several gears forward and a reverse. It's got an electric starter that you plug into house current - no battery required. It works well for what it is and I still use it to cut paths out to the barn and the chicken house but it's not the thing for a driveway that's 1/4 mile long.
The tractor is a 1952 Allis Chalmers WD. When I bought it, someone had converted it to 12 volts, and it had new rear tires. The wiring had some issues - still does but to a lesser extent - but I got it outfitted with some new lights. The students and I made a three point hitch adapter and a scraper blade for the back. The blade swivels and locks in a half dozen positions, including turning all the way around so I can push with it. It works really well for clearing the snow and leveling the holes that manage to form every spring.
If I have the day off tomorrow, I'm going to try and get a little work done in the shop. If I get out there and turn the heat on before the inevitable shoveling and plowing, it shouldn't be too bad. It's supposed to get up to around 20 degrees. Not toasty but if the shop's 40 I can live with that. I need to spend some time cleaning as well as machining some things. I like the days off but I hate having to make them up. Maybe I'll get lucky and have a two hour delay.
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