skidooboy Posted November 7, 2025 Posted November 7, 2025 Let's get this party started early, shall we? We need some positivity around here, and in the world, today. Forecast has a slight warm up but, barely above the freezing mark. We will start making ice very soon. Here's to a good, safe season, for all of us. Ski 4 Quote
skidooboy Posted November 9, 2025 Author Posted November 9, 2025 Single digits last night, froze the magpie in town, behind the house. Pretty day. Ski 1 Quote
Ox Posted November 12, 2025 Posted November 12, 2025 Wow! Hard to believe the river would skiff over that early! . Quote
skidooboy Posted November 12, 2025 Author Posted November 12, 2025 7 hours ago, Ox said: Wow! Hard to believe the river would skiff over that early! . Single digit temps at night. I heard one time at -25f or 0f, if there is no snow on the water/ice, it can make up to an inch an hour. On a side note. I know of at least 2 guys that have went ice fishing up there already. Crazy Canucks Ski 1 1 Quote
skidooboy Posted November 18, 2025 Author Posted November 18, 2025 Snow is still holding on. Ice on the river fluctuates with the warmer temps during the days. Just need to make it through the next few days, then the long term looks colder. Won't be long. Ski 1 Quote
skidooboy Posted November 30, 2025 Author Posted November 30, 2025 We got blasted! Over a foot. Brushing and trail packing with sleds for the D west, south to Magpie started yesterday. Big thanks to Dan and Danny Guay! Ski 5 Quote
skidooboy Posted December 3, 2025 Author Posted December 3, 2025 River is iced and snow covered, snow is adding up. It is shaping up, for a start. Ski Quote
skidooboy Posted December 8, 2025 Author Posted December 8, 2025 Weekly update, still adding up. Was -30 this morning. Making ice, freezin swamps. Hopefully some yellow or even green on the ITG for the holiday weeks. Ski 1 Quote
skidooboy Posted December 11, 2025 Author Posted December 11, 2025 We received another foot of snow Tuesday. Really piling up now. If I didn't come down with a cold yesterday, we would be on our way up to dig out the decks, and walkways. Ski 3 Quote
skidooboy Posted December 16, 2025 Author Posted December 16, 2025 Ended up driving up Friday anyway. Just as we finished shopping in the Soo, hwy17 closed at 315pm. Knowing the forecast and radar, I had a feeling it was going to be a long closure. It was... almost 48 hours, with 2 brief openings that led to more closure due to weather, visibility, road surface conditions. Took the Ranger lake road to 129, to 101 to wawa route. 100 miles and 3 hours further. Arrived Friday night about 930pm, Dug out the entrance to the house, cleaned up the garage entrance, and waited for the plow operator to do the rest. Saturday was cold but sunny, dug out the walkways, decks, barn. Moved the sleds from the barn to the house garage, installed the new seasonal permits. No riding due to not feeling well. Packed up Sunday, left at noon, found hwy17 was open albeit a bit snow covered in areas. Another system comes tomorrow calling for another big dump. We have over 3 feet now. Nothing was frozen underneath so, be aware! We went from 55 degrees on October 30th straight to snow on Halloween, and it pretty much kept snowing. Swamps, lakes, rivers, creeks will be treacherous for a very long time. Heading back up, Christmas day, if all goes to plan. Ski 5 Quote
skidooboy Posted December 21, 2025 Author Posted December 21, 2025 Another week, another storm! Hwy 17 and 11 and many connections closed the last few days. When it isnt for weather, it is for auto accidents. Heading up Thursday, if all goes well. I have saw the groomer with the packer bar out on our cams a few times. Going out with the drag soon, I would guess. Ski 1 Quote
skidooboy Posted December 30, 2025 Author Posted December 30, 2025 Another week, another big storm! Look at the front yard snow pile from the previous pic, until today's pic. It has to be record snow for this early. We still have 4 months to go. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, to all of OC.com. Ski 4 Quote
skidooboy Posted January 13 Author Posted January 13 Went up on the 7th, dug out from our snows since the last trip. Was deep again. We have over 3 feet of settled snow in the backyard. Snow, rain, freezing rain, thursday night. Went to Hawk Junction friday for our first ride, and some awesome Big Bear food. Trees hanging everywhere, on the D south. Had to cut our way through in several places. Took trail 6 and the magpie home, the magpie is drifted pretty good, and slushy, making for an interesting 30kms. Our club president gathered a group to brush open the F trail to Dog lake, the pics and videos showed just how bad it was. It took them 3 days to go from the D trail to the lake. Lynne and I brushed the town trail, and D west toward white river, magpie but, only made it 5 miles in 7 hours. The club was going to finish it yesterday. Trails are good, just a lot of face slappers. Should be better with the brushing. We just need some sun, wind, and a lot will spring upright, and not be an issue. Ski 6 Quote
Ox Posted January 14 Posted January 14 Are you heating the house off of that bottle gas? That looks like a terribly low volume of reserve! Especially back during the flu! No wonder you was scared! . Quote
skidooboy Posted January 14 Author Posted January 14 40 minutes ago, Ox said: Are you heating the house off of that bottle gas? That looks like a terribly low volume of reserve! Especially back during the flu! No wonder you was scared! . We have 3, 420lb (120 gallon ea.) tanks, now. During covid we were with a different service, and only had two, they would fill them every 4 -6 weeks, while maintaining 55 degrees in the home. The new service said we would be better off with 3. Bonus was, the first provider charged us "rent" for each tank, the new service has 1 rental fee, no matter how many tanks. They fill them every 5 weeks but, we rarely dip below 60% when they fill. Having 3 now, keeps us way safer for running low. So yes, it was a very low volume for what we had. Several times the first provider would let us get down to below 10% before filling, and in a super cold temp time, it is hard for the tanks running that low to generate enough vapor and pressure, to run the furnace. Guessing that was what burnt out our motherboard in 2022. To utilize a big pill style 250-500 gallon tank, we have to have the tank so far from a property line, and so far from every building. In our case, that would put the tank smack dab in the middle of the backyard. The weird thing is, we can have as many of the 420s we want, anywhere we want. But, I still check the smart stat multiple times a day, and stress all winter the furnace will not run, and cause lots of issues. Ski 1 Quote
Ox Posted January 16 Posted January 16 I ended up right there last night myself! I have a 1000 gal tank here at the shop, and if I can hold out long enough, this next fill should carry me through the end of the season, so I milk the first tank. I checked it just a cpl days or so ago, and it was still at 10%, and warm. So, I'm holding out yet ... Then around 5:00 yesterday, I checked the 14 day, and holy smokes! Cold and high winds! Maybe I better top it up yet this week! So I went out to see fer sure where I was at, and it read 0, zilch, nadda, em-pa-tee. UGH! So I shut off all heaters and battened down the hatches. Put a space heater in the milk-house and shut that door. (that actually did much beter than I expected) My office was 36* this morning, but the shop was still upper 50's. Finally my truck got here mid afternoon. Had supper with Mrs' O and was discussing our businesses and such. When we got up to leave, I told her that I much rather discuss these first world problems, than deal with the first world one that I just had today! Also, not sure the issue with having the tank way out in the yard? . Quote
skidooboy Posted January 16 Author Posted January 16 13 hours ago, Ox said: Also, not sure the issue with having the tank way out in the yard? ruins the view. think of this pic, with a big white pill in the way. Ski Quote
Ox Posted January 17 Posted January 17 NEWSFLASH You are in_town. There are people there. View? . Quote
Ox Posted January 17 Posted January 17 On 1/14/2026 at 2:35 PM, skidooboy said: We have 3, 420lb (120 gallon ea.) tanks, now. During covid we were with a different service, and only had two, they would fill them every 4 -6 weeks, while maintaining 55 degrees in the home. The new service said we would be better off with 3. Bonus was, the first provider charged us "rent" for each tank, the new service has 1 rental fee, no matter how many tanks. They fill them every 5 weeks but, we rarely dip below 60% when they fill. Having 3 now, keeps us way safer for running low. So yes, it was a very low volume for what we had. Several times the first provider would let us get down to below 10% before filling, and in a super cold temp time, it is hard for the tanks running that low to generate enough vapor and pressure, to run the furnace. Guessing that was what burnt out our motherboard in 2022. To utilize a big pill style 250-500 gallon tank, we have to have the tank so far from a property line, and so far from every building. In our case, that would put the tank smack dab in the middle of the backyard. The weird thing is, we can have as many of the 420s we want, anywhere we want. But, I still check the smart stat multiple times a day, and stress all winter the furnace will not run, and cause lots of issues. Ski I absolutely love my I/R ventless wall units! If the hydro goes out, they keep on keep'n on. I don't know what low gas would hurt a printed circuit board? But I have seen those boards be a problem before. Relays are a lot more trustworthy than fancy gizmo boards! Having a ventless wall unit set a little below your forced air - would allow you a lot more security. They are only about $200 or so at Menards. Might be $250 since The Flu, but ... I would want one - especially for not being there. Does the hydro ever go out there? . Quote
skidooboy Posted January 17 Author Posted January 17 4 hours ago, Ox said: I absolutely love my I/R ventless wall units! If the hydro goes out, they keep on keep'n on. I don't know what low gas would hurt a printed circuit board? But I have seen those boards be a problem before. Relays are a lot more trustworthy than fancy gizmo boards! Having a ventless wall unit set a little below your forced air - would allow you a lot more security. They are only about $200 or so at Menards. Might be $250 since The Flu, but ... I would want one - especially for not being there. Does the hydro ever go out there? . Hydro goes out all the time. They even schedule 8-12 hour outages during the winter, for maintenance. I Believe the motherboard failed because the furnace was trying to light when the propane was so low it didnt have enough pressure to make fuel vapor. It just kept trying until the motherboard and ignitor completely failed. We have a ventless natural gas heater in the garage at home, and have a ventless gas log in a converted woodburner in our basement at home as well. I guess, I never thought of it up there. I could plumb it to the propane, and use it in the basement, for keeping the pipes from freezing. Good idea, thanks. Ski 1 Quote
Ox Posted January 17 Posted January 17 Yeah, got the gas logs at home as well. Love them! I have provissions mostly ready to hook up a Big Daddy portable heater in the basement if we get really desperate. (Zombies and all that goes with that) I've yet to git it out of the box, but it's there.... . 1 Quote
Ox Posted January 21 Posted January 21 Yeah - makin' ice, but that's on the hairy edge of making sugar too. . Quote
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