Fall Banter and General Discussion

[greenmtnwx]

2 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

Did you miss the first pic with the wood stove? 

Yeah the wood stove you see is in the main cabin. The bunkhouse is a separate structure. 

[ORH_wxman]

1 minute ago, greenmtnwx said:

It’s fully insulated and has electric run (did that today). Right now heating with an infrared heater that I control through WiFi (phone app). Looked at getting a very small wood stove, they sells ones they use for tiny homes, boats, etc. Might burn us out of there though lol. Thing is insulated like nuts. 

Oh nice. Yeah a space that small and insulated well won’t take much to make it very warm. 

[Damage In Tolland]

2 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

It’s separate from that. 

She posted a picture of a wood stove in addition to wood piles and cut wood 

[ORH_wxman]

Just now, Damage In Tolland said:

She posted a picture of a wood stove in addition to wood piles and cut wood 

That was the main cabin. The bunkhouse is separate. 

[Damage In Tolland]

2 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

That was the main cabin. The bunkhouse is separate. 

Oh well I just assumed that heated the whole thing. It’s not big so it should you’d think 

[Damage In Tolland]

4 minutes ago, greenmtnwx said:

Yeah the wood stove you see is in the main cabin. The bunkhouse is a separate structure. 

Oh I see 

[Baroclinic Zone]

9F drop in the last 20min at TAN. 57F down to 48F.  Comfy 70F inside and that’s without using any heat.

[Baroclinic Zone]

2 minutes ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

9F drop in the last 20min at TAN. 57F down to 48F.  Comfy 70F inside and that’s without using any heat.

And 12F in the last hour.

[J.Spin]

On 9/17/2020 at 10:05 AM, ORH_wxman said:

That's a good price for a driveway that long....whats the threshold for plowing though? If it's like 2 inches, then you might have a lot of plow bills.....lol.

 

On 9/17/2020 at 10:08 AM, PhineasC said:

They said they are there every day in some patterns.  I guess if I leave to much snow the lower layer freezes solid and slick and becomes really hard to remove. 

 

On 9/17/2020 at 10:11 AM, powderfreak said:

$80 a plow?!  The frequency will bankrupt you.

You want that guy to stay away anytime there is less than 6” on that thing.  Do you have a truck?  Might be best to just buy a plow there... or get some used tractor with one.

The inches thing for plowing is tough... you’ll often see J.Spin or I refer to times when it just isn’t worth it cause it snowed 5-6” but with 0.2” water and it’ll blow away under your car as you drive out.

Too bad you can’t do it by liquid equivalent up in NNE, lol.  That’s really what matters for plowing over the inches.  Don’t want to lay down $80 for leaf blower style snow drifting down off that ridge behind you to the NW.

I was a bit too busy this week to check in on this thread, but boy that NNE microclimate discussion really exploded.

I can certainly imagine Phin’s plow guy being there every day at times during the season, but he must do some sort of friendly service thing where he doesn’t charge $80 for every little visit to sweep away the upslope.  I checked my snow data in line with the 2-inch number that Will tossed out there, and here at our site we average 24 days a season with 2 inches of snowfall or more, so that would run about $2,000 if he was strict on that sort of rule.  I would check with your neighbors though to see what sort of plans they’re going with, just to make sure that it’s not standard around there to choose some flat rate for the season.

I agree that it’s probably good to get a feel for it the first season, then eventually get a system where you can take care of snow maintenance on your own if you want to.  Like PF said, we typically just drive over stuff below a certain liquid equivalent and pack it down.  We actually have a decent pitch to our driveway, and I find the packed snow is totally fine if the weather stays consistently cold.  It’s when there’s a notable thaw or mixed precipitation that it could start to get hairy and you have to pull out the crampons/microspikes/YakTraX/etc.  When you do have a pack already down, it gives you some flexibility to let rain or freezing rain or sleet fall on it, then easily clear it away with the snow and preserve the texture of what’s underneath.

If your climate is like what PF and I have over here, and what Alex probably sees as well, you can be looking at 100+ days of flakes in the air.  It’s where the “snow globe” terminology comes from.  Over here when tourists are confused because the forecast says “snow showers” and they end up with inches on their cars each morning, locals have given up trying to explain the nuances of upslope and microclimates and they just hand them one of these:

 

 

Ultimately though, it is really nice to have some flexibility with the driveway clearing in this kind of winter climate.  I’m lucky in that our driveway is only ~100’ long, so I can take care of it with the snow blower at my leisure.  If it’s a powder morning and we want to zip off to the slopes for fresh tracks, I can just blow out a car’s width in a few minutes and we’re on our way.  I think most plow guys get at it pretty quickly/early, but depending on how many customers they have and where you sit on their route, I guess it’s possible it could be slower after a big storm.

It should be a fun experience though learning what works for your property and climate; at least you’ve gone into it partly for that snow experience so it should be a good time vs. someone who moved to a spot like that and had no clue about the climate.  I’m sure you’ve seen the various versions of this classic tale:

https://www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/2606/The-Diary-Of-A-Snow-Shoveler

[greenmtnwx]

2 hours ago, WxWatcher007 said:

How much does something like that cost overall?

The bunkhouse? $5,200

10x20 fully insulated, two windows plus the small port window in the loft. Metal roof. 
 

 

[PhineasC]

12 minutes ago, J.Spin said:

 

 

I was a bit too busy this week to check in on this thread, but boy that NNE microclimate discussion really exploded.

I can certainly imagine Phin’s plow guy being there every day at times during the season, but he must do some sort of friendly service thing where he doesn’t charge $80 for every little visit to sweep away the upslope.  I checked my snow data in line with the 2-inch number that Will tossed out there, and here at our site we average 24 days a season with 2 inches of snowfall or more, so that would run about $2,000 if he was strict on that sort of rule.  I would check with your neighbors though to see what sort of plans they’re going with, just to make sure that it’s not standard around there to choose some flat rate for the season.

I agree that it’s probably good to get a feel for it the first season, then eventually get a system where you can take care of snow maintenance on your own if you want to.  Like PF said, we typically just drive over stuff below a certain liquid equivalent and pack it down.  We actually have a decent pitch to our driveway, and I find the packed snow is totally fine if the weather stays consistently cold.  It’s when there’s a notable thaw or mixed precipitation that it could start to get hairy and you have to pull out the crampons/microspikes/YakTraX/etc.  When you do have a pack already down, it gives you some flexibility to let rain or freezing rain or sleet fall on it, then easily clear it away with the snow and preserve the texture of what’s underneath.

If your climate is like what PF and I have over here, and what Alex probably sees as well, you can be looking at 100+ days of flakes in the air.  It’s where the “snow globe” terminology comes from.  Over here when tourists are confused because the forecast says “snow showers” and they end up with inches on their cars each morning, locals have given up trying to explain the nuances of upslope and microclimates and they just hand them one of these:

 

 

Ultimately though, it is really nice to have some flexibility with the driveway clearing in this kind of winter climate.  I’m lucky in that our driveway is only ~100’ long, so I can take care of it with the snow blower at my leisure.  If it’s a powder morning and we want to zip off to the slopes for fresh tracks, I can just blow out a car’s width in a few minutes and we’re on our way.  I think most plow guys get at it pretty quickly/early, but depending on how many customers they have and where you sit on their route, I guess it’s possible it could be slower after a big storm.

It should be a fun experience though learning what works for your property and climate; at least you’ve gone into it partly for that snow experience so it should be a good time vs. someone who moved to a spot like that and had no clue about the climate.  I’m sure you’ve seen the various versions of this classic tale:

https://www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/2606/The-Diary-Of-A-Snow-Shoveler

I especially like the part about how the guy in the story tries to get a snowblower or hire a plow guy but they are "out of stock" and "too busy," respectively. Definitely something I could see happening up here in Coos County. LOL

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

1 hour ago, greenmtnwx said:

The bunkhouse? $5,200

10x20 fully insulated, two windows plus the small port window in the loft. Metal roof. 
 

 

Just out of curiosity... heated? Or just a summer thing.

[greenmtnwx]

2 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Just out of curiosity... heated? Or just a summer thing.

We heat it as well with a Heat Storm portable infrared WiFi heater. Controlled onsite or remotely by phone app. I highly recommend these heaters. We actually turn off our electric heat in the main cabin when gone and just use a couple of these in the areas of the house with water to protect. 

[HIPPYVALLEY]

11 hours ago, greenmtnwx said:

The bunkhouse? $5,200

10x20 fully insulated, two windows plus the small port window in the loft. Metal roof. 
 

 

Wow, that’s quite reasonable.  Maybe I’ll get something like that for my wooded back yard. #Mancave

[BrianW]

8 hours ago, greenmtnwx said:

We heat it as well with a Heat Storm portable infrared WiFi heater. Controlled onsite or remotely by phone app. I highly recommend these heaters. We actually turn off our electric heat in the main cabin when gone and just use a couple of these in the areas of the house with water to protect. 

You should install a mini split.  You would get 4 times the heat for the same electricity consumption. 

[Ginx snewx]

1 hour ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

Wow, that’s quite reasonable.  Maybe I’ll get something like that for my wooded back yard. #Mancave

5200 in VT is 20K in Massachusetts 

[ORH_wxman]

15 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

5200 in VT is 20K in Massachusetts 

You can order them fully assembled and get it delivered for like 7-8k I’ve seen. If you’re willing to do a little work yourself, it’s like 3-4K.  

[Ginx snewx]

38 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

You can order them fully assembled and get it delivered for like 7-8k I’ve seen. If you’re willing to do a little work yourself, it’s like 3-4K.  

Site work, permits , electronics all add up. I would be be extremely surprised if you could complete that exact model for 10 k with you doing all the work 

[MJO812]

Euro shows a big trough around 240 in the middle of the nation sliding  east.

[Spanks45]

Finally got the Davis setup, temporarily at least until I get the garden built and the anemometer on top of the house....

[greenmtnwx]

9 hours ago, BrianW said:

You should install a mini split.  You would get 4 times the heat for the same electricity consumption. 

Not a chance. This heater costs $125 and because I have this heater on a camera in my kitchen/bath area I run it very minimally to keep it at high 30s in that area with the doors shut to the rest of cabin and no heat on. As soon as I get here it’s wood stove all the way. This heater costs me about $2 a day to keep my cabin weatherproof. 

[HoarfrostHubb]

Our local cinema has been allowing small private showings of films for a number of weeks.

I just booked a screen to show Empire Strikes Back for my family for next Saturday....  a 40 year old film that I own in several formats

[HoarfrostHubb]

10 minutes ago, losetoa6 said:

"Empire"  and "Close encounters of the third kind"  playing next weekend not far from mby in Hanover, Pa . Pretty cool that they're are playing some of the great classics on the big screen again. 

Our guy has been offering a decent number of older films for cheap prices.We booked it for under $100 but we will buy lots of snacks to help him out.  25 maximum people per theater.  If there is something you want to see that he isn't offering he will make attempts to work a deal with the distributors.

There will just be 8 of us in the theater for this one.   He has been selling popcorn, candy, etc since back in April or so to try to stay open.  We have eaten a ton of popcorn!  

[OceanStWx]

1 hour ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

Our local cinema has been allowing small private showings of films for a number of weeks.

I just booked a screen to show Empire Strikes Back for my family for next Saturday....  a 40 year old film that I own in several formats

I thought they got rid of those kinds of theaters...

[mreaves]

1 hour ago, OceanStWx said:

I thought they got rid of those kinds of theaters...

Hope he brings a lot of quarters. 

[uncletim]

On 9/19/2020 at 6:39 PM, greenmtnwx said:

Yeah the bunkhouse will be great. Sleep a bunch of kids or even a family of 4. Can stash a kid in overhead loft over porch. Place down here in Townshend, NV Farms, make some great stuff. 

Looking at their FB page, it seems like they deliver the fully assembled shell. Did that include the insulation? Can’t help being a bit nosy since we have considered something similar for our camp in Maine.

[greenmtnwx]

7 hours ago, uncletim said:

Looking at their FB page, it seems like they deliver the fully assembled shell. Did that include the insulation? Can’t help being a bit nosy since we have considered something similar for our camp in Maine.

They’ll do either. They’ll do just the shell, they’ll do it fully insulated, they’ll do no electric, they’ll run as many outlets as you want etc. price goes up from there. 

[Lava Rock]

11 hours ago, mreaves said:

Hope he brings a lot of quarters. 

and $2 bills

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

As a casual skier, would I be able to buy new boots and fit them to my skis accordingly? Like if I buy boots for my shoe size online, is it easy enough to change the bindings on the skis?

Ill take them somewhere if I have to, but only skiing a few times a year at most, I’d like to do it myself and save some money 

[HIPPYVALLEY]

4 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

As a casual skier, would I be able to buy new boots and fit them to my skis accordingly? Like if I buy boots for my shoe size online, is it easy enough to change the bindings on the skis?

Ill take them somewhere if I have to, but only skiing a few times a year at most, I’d like to do it myself and save some money 

It all depends on if you have adjustable bindings or not. I believe the majority of bindings these days are adjustable and all you would really need is a screwdriver and some confidence in what tension settings you want.