How has this winter affected you?

[pflaming]

The winter in the mid section and eastern areas of the nation have been and remain severe. Yet here in California we have had spring all winter yet we NEED rain and snow. From 1-1-13 to 12-31-13 Fresno, CA received a TOTAL of 3 1/4" inches of moisture, normal is 15.

 

The forum has been very calm, I suspect because of the harsh winter. So. .  how has it affected you? I trust though harshly that no family members have had serious consequences.

 

"If winter comes, can spring be far away?" noted the poet.

[knuckleharley]

Since I have no heat in my workshop and have poor circulation,it has kept me in the house sitting on my fat butt and making it bigger. That and an infected leg that just refuses to  heal.

 

My shop has been up now for maybe 8-10 years,and this is the first year ever the water in  the shop cats plastic water bowl has ever frozen. It's frozen 3 times this year,and once it wasn't just skim ice. It was ice maybe 3/8ths thick. These bowls set on a  elevated 8 inch cement floor with plastic under the cement.

 

Since I have electric heat in the house,it has also sent my electric bill so high I need oxygen to just look at it.

 

And I'm so bored I just watched Game of Thrones re-runs for the 3rd time.

 

Other than that,it wasn't bad. This is supposed to be the last week with daily highs in the 40's. Long range forecast has daily highs in the 50's and 60's for the 3 weeks after this week.

 

Then again,it is 63F outside and sunny right now instead of the 45F they were calling for,so who really knows?

[JBNeal]

Practically all of my work planned for this winter has been on hold primarily because of the weather.   We've been on the edge of the polar vortex swings thru the state that have brought more ice storms in the past 10 weeks than the past 10 years combined.  My spare time has been spent working for friends & elderly neighbors doing house repairs & whutnot after each cold snap, and huddling around the Dearborn when it has been too nasty to venture outside.  I did manage to take a dirt patch by the house that I have not been able to sustain any grass growth (because of the nearby trees) and spread by hand some crushed limestone over it 4" deep to park a few beasts.  While putting in this stone pad, one of my neighbors from down the road wheeled up to the house and wanted to buy a couple of my parts trucks.  A few days later, while doing some craigslist searching, I made contact with a guy on the other side of the county who wanted a couple of my spare flathead engines.  After communicating back&forth with both of these fellas for several days, it looked like I was gonna have some cash in hand and clear out some inventory...and then *POOF* haven't heard from either of them fellas since.  So the 230 I was gonna tear down to send to the machine shop in November is still on the engine stand, the PCV conversion project is still sitting in the box on the shelf, and the 1-ton wheels I peeled the old tires off of back in October are stacked up by the house waiting to go through some electrolysis.  And after a phone call from a friend a few nights ago, it looks like I'll get to drag a L200 about 200 miles back to the house to replace its timing chain and a few valves and a malfunctioning emission control device on the fuel filler neck.  So who knows when I'll be able to get back to the fun

[JerseyHarold]

I've been keeping busy since the first of the year with my new job...sales engineer for a Kohler generator distributor.  I was in limbo for most of 2013. 

 

Luckily our kids were home for two major snow events so they handled the clean--up work.   I'm not a big fan of winter with short days and bad weather, so the past few 50 degree days have been a welcome change.  I keep promising myself that this will be the year that I get at least one Plymouth operable, but based on my track record it's a long shot.  We shall see...

[Dave72dt]

I had rough November, December that had nothing to do with the weather.  What I had planned to have finished by the end of November got put on hold and the extreme cold weather since has stalled out that work, hoping to get it finished by the end of March.  Getting back to it this week now that some other repairs have been accomplished.  Had a water pump go out on the now daily, changed that out in 7 degree weather, outside.  Swapped the motor and trans out in my daughter's car  while she was on vacation couple weeks ago.  I've been pushed back about three months total but only some of it was the weather.

[Lumpy]

Here in Eastern Washington we had a little bit of a lack of snow through November and January, so I got to drive Lumpy to work a couple of times, which normally would be unusual. Then we started getting snow in February, which is when the snowy weather usually breaks. Yesterday the roads were clear enough to take Lumpy for a drive, then this morning we woke up to more snow. !!

 

About the only thing I've been planning to do is replace my front end springs, and maybe sand her down for some black primer, but I tore my ACL the end of January...which kind of put a kink in that and working on another project I'm just finishing up. (motorcycle) But, leg is getting better, in fact Saturday I changed a flat on Lumpy, so I think I'm able to do the springs now.

 

So, normally Lumpy Lou, the motorcycles, the Dart, and the Super Bug go into hibernation from November to middle of February, so this year is a bit different as it's still snowing late February, but that's not really changed the normal routine too much. Hopefully it winter won't continue into March. Normally it breaks right in the middle of February.

 

So that's the state of the winter address here at Lumpy's house. !!!! 

 

ken

[FESTER60]

Here in upper Michigan we have been freezing our lugnuts off with snow higher than a giraffe's gonads. In a word, terrible. I do have a heater in the garage but it is still too cold to work. I have used this time to restore my steering wheel and buff and polish and paint some interior parts. I will post a pic of the wheel when I am done. Almost there. I am also working on a solution for the mostly worthless parking lights on my car. I plan to turn them into halogen driving lights. That nut is close to being cracked as well. Other than that it's mostly clearing snow and waiting for spring. Only two months until the Spring Jefferson show and swap meet in Wisconsin.

[Oldguy48]

Well, this winter has been the most miserable one we’ve had in quite some time. And even though we installed propane heaters / electric back-up in the garage, I’ve been finding it difficult to trek to the garage and start wrenching. I’ve spent a lot of time at the computer, and on the telephone ordering parts to convert to rack & pinion steering, but motivation to tear into it is lacking. I dunno…maybe it’s just the fact that I despise winter so much that I’m kinda in a funk. I’ve got a few things that I’d like to get finished up on the car before warm weather finally returns. Maybe when the snow is finally all gone, I’ll get inspired to get busy again. Or maybe when the rechroming shop calls to tell me my bumpers are ready, that will do the trick.

Wayne

[DCurrent]

I have a nice heated garage, but the cost of propane ($4-6 a gallon) have somewhat deterred me from keeping the shop warm enough to do anything. We have even cut back on heat in the house. I guess we have the money, but it's hard to just throw it away. Hence I haven't got anything done. I am in the process of getting things in order to install an overdrive before long though. I'm definitely looking forward to warmer temps.

[RobertKB]

Winter is winter. It sucks a lot of the time. I have a heated garage (natural gas) which helps a great deal. In Canada, if you don't have a heated garage, forget about working on your car during the cold weather. Been welding on floors of my '51 Dodge business coupe with the thermostat turned up.

 

As stated, winter sucks unless you enjoy winter sports which I do not. Took off and went to my favourite part of the US for a month. A month in Maui, Hawaii, shortens the winter and is enjoyable beyond compare. Swam with a manta ray for about 10 minutes while there which was the best part of the whole trip.

 

Two more months should see the old cars out again. I hope members in the warmer parts of the US really enjoy your ability to drive year round. Don't complain about a bit of unseasonable weather.

[1941Rick]

Winter has sucked all over the place. So glad I don't live on the east coast. Now the west coast is getting its share of winter....but then I am in Arizona for a couple of months....nice

[Don Coatney]

This subject matter is very much off topic. Why is this thread not in the off topic forum?

[FESTER60]

 

Here are a couple of pics from my neck of the woods. The plow driver (not me) is not standing on the ground. The door pic is from a local school.

[1940plymouth]

Fester60  Seeing the Oshkosh, I had to share my ride during the winter.  I am not the driver, but the wingman on this truck.  The town has six Oshkosh plows

[Dan Hiebert]

The amount of snow in WNY this year hasn't been the prohibiting factor in my endeavors, we've had more snow in some of the past winters I've been here, its been the record cold.  Although my garage is insulated, I've only got portable type heat in it, with a general goal of just keeping it above freezing all winter.  I've got one of those kerosene heaters that can get it up to t-shirt temperature in an hour or so, but the short walk to the garage when its negative temperatures kind of saps my enthusiasm.  (Don't get me wrong, I like winter, I like all the seasons for what they are.)  I've still gotten out a few times to do some blasting on small parts and to remove the gas-tank and exhaust system (what was left of it) from the Terraplane, as well as tinker a bit on other stuff, and I take small stuff to work on into the basement.  Haven't done a thing to the D24, since pending projects on it require a bit warmer climate.  And although the weather has "normalized" over the past couple of weeks, we've had the grandkids while my son packs his house to move to Michigan.  They're 4 and 2 and quite a handful for the Missus, so by the time I get home from work, she needs a break.  They aren't much help with the cars (yet), so I amuse myself with them inside (where its warm).  In other words, its more like 50% life, and 50% weather that slowed things down this winter.