Boondox
Elite Member
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2000
- Messages
- 3,873
- Location
- Craftsbury Common, Vermont
- Tractor
- Deere 4044R cab, Kubota KX-121-3S
The blizzard of '07 that hit northern Vermont on Valentine's Day, though nothing like the lake effect snow in Oswego, NY, left us 34" in a 24 hour period. Our winters aren't known for that sort of storm. Typically we get a series of storms that leave up to 6" and it accumulates over a few weeks. This storm was enough that our usual snow removal equipment was badly outclassed. There are very few big snowblowers in our neck of the woods (this would have been the first time in a decade we actually needed one) and that leaves large bucket loaders to do the work. Of course they concentrate on the villages where most of the people live, leaving those of us on the back roads to our own devices.
I used my 3/4 ton Chevy to plow the first afternoon, but there was just too much snow and nowhere to push it because of all our stone walls. The big town plow came up our road but got stuck about 100' below my driveway. And that was it for two days. I finally fired up the Kubota and started moving snow one bucket at a time, backing up 100 yards to dump it, repeating for hours till I punched a hole thru the snow. Then I angled the rear blade and use it to pull down one side of the snow trench I'd just created, then moved that with the FEL over the course of several hours. Then reverse the blade and knock down the other side and hundreds more trips to move that snow downhill. By dark I'd cleared a path to freedom for myself, and used the truck to run into town for more diesel.
The next day I started clearning out my neighbors' long driveways, and by noon had freed them all. It's now three days after the blizzard and the town still hasn't been able to help. Without my Kubota we'd all still be stuck on the end of a half mile road completely isolated.
This is one of those times when I'm simply awestruck by the power and usefulness of this machine!
Pete
I used my 3/4 ton Chevy to plow the first afternoon, but there was just too much snow and nowhere to push it because of all our stone walls. The big town plow came up our road but got stuck about 100' below my driveway. And that was it for two days. I finally fired up the Kubota and started moving snow one bucket at a time, backing up 100 yards to dump it, repeating for hours till I punched a hole thru the snow. Then I angled the rear blade and use it to pull down one side of the snow trench I'd just created, then moved that with the FEL over the course of several hours. Then reverse the blade and knock down the other side and hundreds more trips to move that snow downhill. By dark I'd cleared a path to freedom for myself, and used the truck to run into town for more diesel.
The next day I started clearning out my neighbors' long driveways, and by noon had freed them all. It's now three days after the blizzard and the town still hasn't been able to help. Without my Kubota we'd all still be stuck on the end of a half mile road completely isolated.
This is one of those times when I'm simply awestruck by the power and usefulness of this machine!
Pete
