Friday, February 25, 2011

Holy Whiteout Batman!

Settle down, Boy Wonder, it's only Winter's encore...did you flick your BIC? Whatta tired cliché...today's Hipsters just hold up their Smartphones with the brightest screen they've got.

What a difference a day makes! The forecast got the snow and wind right, but muffed the timing. According to Reno's AFD, it started snowing twelve hours early. It was another good night before the ceiling dropped onto the deck, and the visibility went to pot.

It started innocently enough...gentle flurries...but still beneath the cloud deck, the seeing was excellent. Near Hero Snow reigned again, and though not lightning fast, grooming was fast enough.

Last night's List was back to reasonable, and aside from one equipment glitch, we enjoyed a Cakewalk in the end. My tractor's parking brake wouldn't release. The Prinoth/exBombardier E-Brakes are electric over hydraulic. It turns out the driver's door switch failed...It wouldn't allow the Safety Interlock to release the E-Brake, and the Dome light wouldn't come on when the door opened. My beautiful snowcat, ready to jump over the Moon...but I couldn't get her outta the barn...sigh...fortunately, the park groomers were on top of things, and I could run one of their cats, so I didn't have to run a winch for and hour or two and then get in snowcat #3 for my shift!

Instead, I ran the BisonX. It's a nice tractor, but it's not my fave old BR350...we dispatched the List, and were off the hill at 0815!

SturgeUrge and his girlfriend, the Doña of Aragon, were in town for Ski Week...I called them while I was warming up the pickup. I told them they'd best flee before the roads turned into parking lots. Westbound I-80 was moving at 10MPH when I crossed over it. I advised SturgeUrge and the Dutchess to demure, and go over the Summit on Old HWY 40...much better visibility, much less traffic.

Back at the DaveCave, I put the pickup in the garage, and cooked up some Hot Buttered Rum. I make my own Hot Buttered Rum Batter, from Emeril Legasse's recipe.

That wind is positively Arctic! Outside, the wind is howling, but it's cozy warm in the DaveCave's Inner Sanctum...thanks Emeril!  Bam!

I'm watching the early Trainwreck News on my DVR, and watching the LIVE coverage of the launch of NASA's STS-133 the Space Shuttle Discovery's last mission into space online...it doesn't launch until 1:50PM PST Spaceflight Now is my Go-To Manned Spaceflight Website...all the LIVE Intel you want...thanks Internet Age!

OK, this is gonna be a good trick...my eyelids are heavy....sleep beckons...I've set my alarm for T-Minus 5 minutes...Godspeed Discovery...in case I don't get up for launch!

2 comments:

  1. Every time a hipster texts, jesus kills a kitten :o)

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  2. I know that cat killing Jesus fellow personally. He is a transplant from Juarez, lives in rural Colorado and hunts once domestic but now feral cats dumped out on the side of the road by guests from Denver.

    Properly prepared these abandoned felines taste just like greasy, dolphin-free tuna fed chickens. Yum!

    I was there and still am with the Space Shuttle. I hope they keep do keep two prepped for flight, but I taint hopeful. You know how the left is, they hate space but love high speed rail.

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