Good picture Spencer. Looks like a warm spell coming starting tomorrow. Should be able to get rid of this white. Now comes mud season.

Got the big gun out this morning, Needed to push the snow piles back. Have hopes of building a new shop in this area and wanted to remove the snow to let the ground thaw out to be able to dig a foundation.

Gene

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No big gun in my picture, Gene.  I like yours though.  Good to give it some exercise.  Sometime in the wee hours of this morning I peered outside to see a bright moonlit night.  Wonder if my camera can see that.  Out I went at two below for a try.  Not great but did get a few shots. Same old pictures, just a different day.

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Then another after sunup and two above zero.  I would not mind giving up these snowscapes for warmer weather.

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Charlie V.

Charlie, I like the pictures. The night picture looks like a sepia setting, like the one I have of my airplane at night. Use it as my profile picture. Had a bright moon last night and sunshine all day. onli got to 20 degrees this afternoon, but the 7 day forecast promises a good warmup. Try to send some your way.

Went out this afternoon and planned out my new shop. It will be 28' by 36'. This size is dictated by the distance between my LP tank and a maple tree. also clearance between my barn and downslope on the south side. This will give my 1008 square feet of open work area. Still have a lot of designing to do. Neighbor has a backhoe and transit and I think I can talk him into helping out. Gonna be a stick built on a full foundation, with steel siding and roof.

Gene

Charlie you are more ambitious than me getting out there to take a picture at that time of night. Do you guys see much of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis)? They have been outstanding in this part of the world lately, or so they tell me. I can't see too much unless I turn out the yard light. Some impressive photos of them have shown up lately.

What the heck, Gene?  Doesn't the wind blow there?  Whenever I have that much snow it is in huge drifts.

Ron

Ron, we do get some winds and drifting. This year has been rather calm compared to former years. I have managed to keep most of the snow at bay by clearing the drifts. Have some substantial piles around the outsides of the farmyard and drive way. My driveway has a cut through the hill coming to the top that drifts with any wind. Usually the lower end blows clear, but may have 2 foot drifts in the cut. Little Case 222 does a good job clearing drive with the snow blower.

Gene

Charlie you are more ambitious than me getting out there to take a picture at that time of night. Do you guys see much of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis)? They have been outstanding in this part of the world lately, or so they tell me. I can't see too much unless I turn out the yard light. Some impressive photos of them have shown up lately.

I cannot honestly say that I have ever seen the Northern lights here, Ralph. With the light pollution in the night sky. especially to the north, we do not even have much visibility of stars in the North half of the sky.   I was fascinated by the view of the night sky whenever I went to the Adirondack Mts..  Not only the elevation but the darkness.  Even in summer it seemed the stars were nearly touchable.  I was never there in winter, but with the cold of October and lower humidity the night sky seemed even closer.

We will go above freezing here today.  By all reports it is a good guess the snow will be mostly gone by a week from now.

Looks like some ambitious plans for the new shop, Gene.  We will be watching.  

Charlie V

Gene, I have never liked snow.  I only went sledding once as a youngster.  Just did not like the cold and wet.  As an older fellow, I really do not like it.  My place drifts in badly.  There will be bare fields and all the snow is in my yard.  I have a gas 4020 with a Westendorf loader on the front and a snow blower on the back, most winters.  I got the blower as I run out of places to pile the snow.  I do not own this farm or even farm it.  I only have the building site, so I am a little limited.  This year I did not mount the blower and have used the loader only twice.  Just no snow.  I am thankful for that.  A couple years ago I spent $1000 just on gasoline for snow removal.  The 4020 is hard on gasolene, but there was a tremendous amount of snow at my place by my standards.  30 inches a winter usually covers it.  This year so far we are open with cold temps.  I can handle that.  Stay in where it is warm.  I haul grain for a  living, such as that is, and never go out with the semi when the roads are slick.  I could have hauled all winter this year, but the farmers are sitting with the stuff in the bins.  I have not started the truck since just before Christmas.  And....the loader tractor has only been used to fetch firewood.  

Ron

What,? Where are all the rest of the ATIS guys? I thought for sure by now after the discussions on the list re: facebook and forums that some more of them might show up here. Guess not yet.
I had a busy day moving grain. Long story but I needed to move 5 truck loads from one location to another. Hard to believe that a couple of days ago it was too cold to work comfortably outside, yet today it was so warm I had to throw off my parka at times. The ground where I drove the truck to line up with the auger was getting downright muddy on the top inch or so. No worries, still several feet of frost down below that. That is the reason  I need to move this grain. Once the frost comes out of the ground it will be pretty much inaccesible all summer.
Took this pic at sundown when we were unloading the last truck load.

Ralph, I believe most of the conversation on the list about Facebook and posting pictures is cabin fever.  Lets face it.  If anyone seriously wanted to post pictures they could upload them to a photo hosting sight, then put a link to there right on the ATIS list as you have done on some occasions.  Look what Bo Hitch did a year or so ago when he had the annual family crab (oops! Crawfish) cook deal.  No forum or face book needed.  Oh, but that is too much work.  Uh huh, gotcha.  The bottom line is that 80% want to look at pictures but would almost never post one.  That is not anything special.  I think that is true on most forums that I have seen.  When the weather breaks this whole issue will go silent and the list will quiet down as usual.  Cabin fever will be a thing of the past for this season.

Charlie

PS.  Nice picture of the IH in the sunset.

What,? Where are all the rest of the ATIS guys? I thought for sure by now after the discussions on the list re: facebook and forums that some more of them might show up here. Guess not yet.

Ralph, I checked in here last night for the first time in ages after reading all the ATIS discussions.  I got cold just from looking at all the snow pictures that you, Charlie V., and others have posted.  That stuff is beautiful to look at but I'm sure glad I don't have to deal with it down here where I live in central Louisiana.

Alan, It must get boring with bare ground all year around. What do you discuss on winter days? No Carhartts or parkas to put on every morning.

Getting some relief from the cold weather here in Ohio. Got to 40 degrees Saturday with sunshine and brisk wind. Good day for melting snow and only mild ponding in the fields. Starting to get a little greasy in the open areas, but that is the mud season here. Forecast for warmer temperatures and sunshine most of coming week.

Gene

Ralph, I checked in here last night for the first time in ages after reading all the ATIS discussions.  I got cold just from looking at all the snow pictures that you, Charlie V., and others have posted.  That stuff is beautiful to look at but I'm sure glad I don't have to deal with it down here where I live in central Louisiana.

Alan,

Never having been South of Virginia as an adult (once to Florida as a kid) I would like to know all you care to tell us about central Louisiana.  Weather, terrain, populace, Industry, farming and crops, etc.  As time permits any info you could share would be welcome.

Charlie V.

Gene, the landscape around here is rather boring with all the bare ground but that sure beats shoveling snow!  All of my tractor-related discussions take place online these days since I no longer have any neighbors with an interest in old tractors.

Charlie, I've called central Louisiana home for better than 40 years now.  It's not a bad place to live: taxes are low, the climate is mild, hunting and fishing are good, and the air is still clean enough to breath.  The area I live in was pretty rural when I moved out here but there have been lots of people move out this way in the past 40 years - too many to suit me.

I've never farmed, I'm a retired electronics technician, but I've had a love for old iron since I was a kid in a small farming community in Tennessee.  My older sister married a farmer back there.  My back has gotten so bad that I don't even try to have a garden any more.