White Gold falling from the skies

[hickslawns]

See you fellas in a few days. There is some nectar from the snow gods falling from the skies. I need to get some equipment rolling to gather up the money they are dropping from the sky! Hope you all fair well with this nasty storm. Be safe out there! I honestly don't care about the money. This isn't about money. This is about winning and every storm is a different challenge to me! It is a Competition! Me vs Mother Nature! If I win the battle, the customer is happy and the money will follow. For now though, it looks like the start of the playoffs. This one is going to throw us everything it has got. Snow, ice, freezing rain, sleet, and wind. I love a good challenge! We have five plows locked and loaded, the backhoe and 12' push box ready, and both skid loaders equipped to do battle! Our biggest obstacle on this one is the length of the storm. My biggest challenge is going to be keeping my guys fresh. I will catch a nap late afternoon tomorrow. I just took an hour nap which will get me to tomorrow afternoon. After tomorrow's nap, I will probably not get to sleep until Wednesday night or Thursday morning. As I stated earlier: I love a good challenge! Bring on the white death/snow battle/royal rumble!

 

[CJD3]

"Endeavor to persevere" my friend.

 

[rrr]

Stay safe Phil!

Someday I am going to have to push one of these big events, even just as a ride along. Hell, I will even shovel if I have TOO

 

[jagermeister]

Be safe and kick some ass, Phil!

 

[cotty16]

Push it out, shove it out, way out!

 

[uglykat26]

no kidding ernie , ive got to drive a plow truck a few times , but no one likes riding with me , cause i start screeching like a kid on a roller coaster , i love it

 

[hickslawns]

Back out on an hour and a half nap today. Played in the backhoe for an hour or so until my operator showed up. I need to take pictures someday. You should see the truck one of my subcontractors plows with. It is a former Chicago Airport truck. Four wheel drive with super singles in the front and rear. Something like 46,000GVW. Friggin' beast. He and I plowed one of our commercial lots tonight. I ran the backhoe with a 12' push box and he ran his truck. Workers came out just to watch us. Hilarious. Lima guys should be somewhat familiar with the place. PPG just off McClain. We plowed it in an hour. For a snow this heavy, that is amazingly fast. Probably took my F350 with the Boss V-plow that long just to back drag all the docks while I was heading back to get my dually. Gotta roll. Snow plow command center signing off!

 

[rrr]

Yea, take some pictures for us Phil!

Nothing but ice out here so far!

 

[hickslawns]

We ended up with no snow. Nothing but ice/sleet. Then it changed over to freezing rain. Crusted over everything with a layer of ice. This was a crappy snow event to maintain. Ended up pulling the push box off the backhoe and using the bucket only. Had to just to chip through the ice. Talk about a nasty one! Got a three hour nap today which equaled the number of hours of sleep I had gotten the last two days combined. Feel like a new man! Heading back out!

 

[TripleA88]

This was my first time treating anything more than a quater inch of ice. Most the areas I worked on were an inch of ice. I had to drop salt and let it eat on it a bit then come back and plow it all up.

Got any better methods or advice Hicks? I would say a bobcat would help ALOT with ice control. That'll be my next investment.

 

[hickslawns]

V-plow in vee position is "okay" but hard on equipment. Salt the crap out of it and come back like you are doing works. On our largest accounts we had equipment running the whole time. By doing so, it did not accumulate and there was a layer of salt on the bottom which helps. Not all customers want this. Many only want salt as an afterthought and it is too late to be real effective without waiting awhile. Backhoe is nice but not an option for most. We are starting year 14 in March and I have only owned one for maybe 9months. Our skid loaders have stayed in the barn. With a bucket or plow on the front it is tough to dig into the ice much better than a truck would. Traction is the biggest obstacle with these. If you can get under the ice, then they do okay. Hope this helps. For what it is worth, sidewalks are my largest challenge in these events. We put ice melt down and left them on day one. I got phone calls from only 2 customers. Explained what was going on and they understood. When we came back out to clean them up, the ice peeled up in sheets. Only destroyed 3 shovels so far. Yeah. (Sarcasm)

 

[hickslawns]

Rolling the boys out to plow again. Talk about a winter storm pattern that keeps coming. I am so far backed up on paperwork it is not funny. Forget about TOO. I am way behind on the TOO gang! Gotta pay the bills before I play on the computer though. Just checking in with you guys! Later!

 

[TripleA88]

Everybodies out of salt in town, alot of small time snow removers backed up. Luckily I had enough to get through my properties. Places where I generally used 4 or 5 bags took 15 bags just to break the ice up enough to plow. Im letting the snow fall, I'll be out in the morning or this evening to open up a church then I have some residentials to do sunday. Monday morning I have a few parking lots to open up and by the sounds of it I may have to do another round depending on the weather Monday.

 

[hickslawns]

Everybodies out of salt in town, alot of small time snow removers backed up. Luckily I had enough to get through my properties. Places where I generally used 4 or 5 bags took 15 bags just to break the ice up enough to plow. Im letting the snow fall, I'll be out in the morning or this evening to open up a church then I have some residentials to do sunday. Monday morning I have a few parking lots to open up and by the sounds of it I may have to do another round depending on the weather Monday.

I have been out moving piles and peeling up hardpack every night. Heading out again tonight. Stopped to take my son out to the IHOP for a little quality time. Just checking in. Hang in there A88.