It has been wet and muddy in Alabama but have been putting a lot of wood miles down .
We were lucky enough to have a visit from the Ron Lemler family . Ron and I done some running around in the Dodge Ram this morning and then fired up the ole tractor and Ron took it for a spin .
BBB
Did Ron drive his old Ford or his tractor?
Hello Mr. Tom
Ron had been to south Florida visiting and had family members with him . May have been too long a trip and short on passenger space for the older truck .
As much wood chunks as both of you create, it’s best to keep you separated by a few states. 
People are starting to spill it on the ground over here at $1.61/gallon http://mymarathonstation.com/StoreHome/668285
Ron make any mention of another meetup this year in argos?
Good morning Andrew .
Ron said he has plenty of wood to share ( good people !)
Hi Mr Wayne; thanks for the hospitality, and allowing me to drive your wood burning tractor, that tractor is a real working machine and can really move along!
Thanks Again ;Ron L
Hello all,
The weather has been rough the last several days so nothing new going on. The wood burner is dry and has a good heater so I have been doing a lot of running around and daily chores . A typical day is 30-50 miles on the wood burner.
Last week a friend was cleaning up on his place and ask if he could dump off about a half pickup load off brush . I went ahead and chunked them today before they had time to dry. It was perfect chunking wood with all the little twigs removed and most were the size of my arm down to broom handle size . ( free fuel )
I tried to take advantage of the full moon tonight and I was determined to shoot a beaver or two but they were even more determined to stay alive and outlasted me . We did put up a camera so I can tell what time of night the constriction teem is working , They have aggravated me enough I may have to drop in on them 1 or 2 oclock some morning .
BBB
This morning I get a call at 7:30 from the office telling me that the office has water running through it. We found out the building behind us had a 4" fire sprinkler line froze and broke. He had the heat down to about 45 degrees. Because it was too close to an outside wall, the subzero weather affected it. There was ice build up on the inside wall of his space. A four inch water line will push 480 gallons a minute. It ran for about an hour and a half. That equals around 43,000 gallons. All we could do at first was open the doors and let it run out. Once the city shut the water off, we fired up our septic truck and trailer and got rid of 4,000 gallons of standing water. You can see a pen floating down the hallway in this video.
Tomorrow schools are closed due to the cold. That usually means work gets busier.
Winter has hit Dixie 
Temps down around 0 and the wind is blowing . I hardly ever complain if the heat gets to 100 in the summer but I can’t handle this cold !!
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I forgot to drain my hay filter last night, now I have to REPLACE the drain pipe. 11F degrees = busted PVC pipe!
Sorry to hear that Wayne and Carl. Hopefully you have some type of shelter to fire it up to keep the wind off you during this could snap? Hopefully it’s an easy fix Carl.
Do either of you notice a difference in performance while regular driving?
Keep warm.
You guys are getting hit pretty hard in the south … Carl, did you check the bottom of the filter barrel to see if it bulged out. common here. Bill S, Hope you got the shop mess cleaned up. I turned the curb stop off to the trailer on 1/2/15 … It took 3 tries to get it fully off. They put some new water lines in just above me and some crud got caught in it … Mike L … 5 below here right now with strong winds at 9:30 AM Thursday … I’m walking up town next to get mail and send out some bills. Waiting for my office to warm up enough so I can type :o) …
This morning its up to 15 . -1 f wind chill
Yesterday made it up to 6 with chill around-25F of course all the breakdowns were outside. Luckily no water line problems.
Hello Bill.
As close as I have for vehicle shelter is a few shaded spots that don’t help much. The tucks seem to operate good in cold weather ( cold here is different than your cold ) . It is me that doesn’t operate good in that kind of weather.
Yesterday I put the cattle enough hay out to last about three days just in case my tractor doesn’t start .
Counting the wind sheid sheer cold, this weather is nucken futs
I know most you all would be happy with the 33 degree fog right now here, but I don’t know whats worse…frozen ground or close to freezing fog. Cold fog goes right to the bones here. I know… I’m a wuss.
Gordon, 33° fog sounds appealing right now. -30 to -50 wind chill this week. Like Wayne, I don’t complain when it’s 90-100°.
Mike, we’re still cleaning up. We tore up about 1200 square feet of carpet. The water left in the shop has puddled in all the low spots. Water has started to wick up the Sheetrock walls.
Everyday I am grateful the heat works.
I don’t know how you guys function in those conditions. Tires freezing, diesel turning to jelly, fingers and toes falling off.
You all make me feel like I live on the beach . . .
EDIT - for your reading pleasure - http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF14/1427.html
AT in TX - Land of two seasons - summer and January.
Hi Bill, It’s still snowing here. I am now having trouble walking through it. We have around 6 inches of newer stuff. We had 2 storms in November with 4 inches each but then we had a couple of inches of rain and lost that. Then the frost went in the ground around 2 feet. I had a guy (friend) pushing me to do a survey and I had to call him today and tell him I couldn’t do it knowing I’d simply get hurt and wind up hospitalized. I got nauseaus just making the call. My knees are shot and back is messed up. One more slip or trip and I’m done for. My legs are around 75% from what they were before July of 2013. Talking about snow and cold weather is like preaching to the choir with the “Drain King” . It is actually above zero right now at 10 above at 7PM … They are predicting minus 3 tonight and minus 11 tomorrow night so you guys down south brace yourselves … Regards, Mike L
