Winter weather problems

The weather over the past couple of weeks has been nothing if not unusual. We have gone from days with high temperatures in the low 40’s to our current temperatures in single digits, with the potential for sub-zero temps overnight.

I’ve read on social media that some of the Valley lakes had as much as a foot of water on top of the ice during the warm period. I saw a posting on social media with photos showing flooded roads from the melting snows around the Valley as well. Andy Couch has written about his concerns of walking out on lake ice to ice fish during this warming trend. I agree with his approach.

As I write this, the temperatures are sinking from the mid-teens toward those single digit numbers. The forecast for the next few days calls for highs of 2 or 3 degrees with sub-zero lows overnight. Our main driveway went from packed snow to sheet ice during the warming trend. It now has about a one-inch snow cover on top of the ice. I had to do some looking, but I did find my ice creepers, allowing me to walk on the driveway to check on some things back in my storage building.

This past late fall, I parked my six-wheeler on the driveway in front of the garage so I could hook up the battery tender to top off the new battery I had installed in the rig. Because I couldn’t easily find the exact same size battery, I had to alter the battery plate to hold the new battery. I’ll have to get that plate replaced when I take the UTV in for maintenance this spring.

Anyway, as time progressed, the winter weather caught me such that I didn’t get the UTV moved back into my storage building. The area of the driveway where the UTV was located is a chronic low spot which tends to collect water if the ground is frozen. I watched the front tires submerge to a depth of about 8-10 inches and become frozen in the ice. The rear tires were frozen in about 4-6 inches of ice as well.

I watched as the snow along the driveway melted and the water levels rose around the ice-encased tires of the UTV. Finally, this past Sunday, I went out and figured I’d try to get the UTV out of the ice and on dry ground. I was delighted when the engine fired up almost instantly. I let things warm up for a few minutes, shifted the transmission into six-wheel drive, low gear, reverse, and gently stepped on the accelerator. The last thing I wanted was for the tires to peel off the wheels or the drive belt break because of the lock-up of the tires.

As the engine rpms slowly increased and the belt drive began to engage, I felt a small vibration and, suddenly, the tires popped loose, and the machine rolled backwards about a foot. The tires were free from the ice! I shifted into forward, low range, and turned the steering wheel a little to the left. I drove out the driveway missing the tire ruts and ran the machine up into the parking area off the main driveway. We were now high and dry!

I haven’t been able to use the UTV as much as I would like, so far, but the more I run it the more impressed I am with what it can do!

My next move was walking out the driveway to see about starting and running my motorhome’s engine. I hadn’t run it since parking it last fall in front of my storage building. I didn’t put it in the building because I had been told there was a chance the broken awning might be repaired before winter. That didn’t happen, although I’m on the list for springtime installation/repair. Once again, winter caught me unprepared.

I wasn’t too concerned about the RV. The roof had been replaced/repaired and sealed last spring, and I had the house batteries plugged in to a built-in battery maintainer on the unit. The engine fired up with the turn of the key and I let it run for over a half-hour to warm up and recharge the engine battery. If push comes to shove, the unit has a switch which feeds power from the house batteries to the engine battery to get the engine running.

I was happy to get things running, finally, and find everything in undamaged shape.