Snow Again?

OK! After three weeks of glorious clear, sometimes record warm days, the forecast models have given the forecasters enough confidence to forecast snow for the weekend! Hallelujah!

Reno's Friday 2:50PM AFD says:
THIS LOW WILL BRING A QUICK SHOT OF SNOW TO THE SIERRA AND INTO THE
WESTERN NV VALLEYS LATE SATURDAY NIGHT/EARLY SUNDAY MORNING THROUGH SUNDAY AFTERNOON.
THIS STORM IS NOT OVERLY IMPRESSIVE...ESPECIALLY
BY JANUARY STANDARDS...BUT WITH SOME DECENT DYNAMICS THE
INSTABILITY MAY ACTUALLY OVERCOME IT AND GET SOME DECENT SNOW
AMOUNTS. THE STORM TOTALS SHOULD REMAIN AT LOW-END ADVISORY CRITERIA
AT ABOUT 5 TO 10 INCHES IN THE HIGH SIERRA ABOVE 7000 FEET AND
AROUND 3 TO 6 INCHES IN THE SIERRA BELOW 7000 FEET.

Prayers answered? Fingers still crossed!

My office takes on a much cozier feel when there's fresh snow outside!

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Gunfighter Grip?

Whaaaa? Shut your mouth..the flies will get in!

What's a Gunfighter Grip?

My apologies...I may have assumed too much.

The Gunfighter Grip is the tool that groomers use to control the Blade...It's an elaborate Joy Stick that the groomer manipulates with his Right Hand to control all the functions of the blade.

The Blade is the front mounted implement that does the Lion's Share of the work of the Snow Cat.

Today's Groomers all have 12-Way Blades...that is, the blade is capable of movement in 12 ways:

Up and Down...2

Swing, Left and Right...2

Curl (Angle of Attack) In and Out...2

Tilt, Right and Left...2

Two Wings, Front and Back...4

Total: 12

All these articulations are controlled by the Gunfighter Grip.

Over my 30 years behind the sticks of Grooming Machines, I've endured a plethora of Blade Controls. From No Blade on vintage Tucker Sno-Cats to today's aerospace-style Gunfighter Grips, this is the single most important interface between Groomers and the Snowpack.

As I write, I'm afraid I don't have any photos to illustrate the 12-Ways of the modern groomer's blade. Not to worry, I'll make the photos tonight and update this blog when I return to the DaveCAve in the morning...

I'm off to Beauty Sleep-Land now, thank you very much!

Fully Rested

I woke up last night at 11PM...a full hour late. I fell asleep around 11AM, and woke briefly around 5PM...I don't know if the alarm woke me and I turned it off and went back to sleep, or if I forgot to set it before passing out so early. I fell asleep before writing my daily CorduroyPlanet...hence the late post today.

You see, Tuesday I only got two hours of sleep before my "Monday" night, and boy that was one  painful shift, even with 30 minutes of shuteye for lunch!

So, up an hour late, I skipped my shower and shave, my dinner, and was only  one minute late...in fact the crew roared away from the shop about 10 minutes earlier than normal!

The grooming is still good...firm pack with all the sugar you can till up! So. armed with plenty of radio podcasts I roared off into the night. I tidied up two ramps right off the bat, and then set about making lots of corduroy.

The crew was way low maintenance, and toiled away in a most workmanlike manner.

The waning moon caught my attention when it rose just before 0530. I'd been meaning to catch a few photos, so I had my digicam in my bag.

Jeweler got a new iPhone and he's been taking a bunch of snaps with it, and they show up on Facebook most days, so I was feeling like the First Runner-Up in a backwater talent show who knows where...

I like the way the dash lights reflected in the windshield evoke a comet's tail...and I do regret the white socks! You can see what looks like the moon reflected by the back window too...actually that's a button on the Gunfighter Grip...looks like the moon...a little...

I haven't started carrying a tripod yet...but I'll make a point to during the next Full Moon...Movies by Moonlight? Hell yes!

All this gadget play is fun, but I'd rather be fighting a huge storm period...good news ahead, the weatherdudes are starting to say showers Sunday!

Fingers still crossed!

Old Home Week

Homecoming even...

As of Monday, I've been hearing from a lot of old compadres this month. Landcruiser Scott e-mailed after our meeting in the parking lot back at the beginning of the month. The first woman groomer I ever worked with (back in the 80's) dropped me a note this week as well. Julie got in touch, and some of my non-grooming friends from the past have shown up on my Facebook page this week...

Could it be that three weeks in January without any storms have turned otherwise engaged, focused ski people into bored, aimless web wanderers? I dunno...

I do know that I'm fully bored and feeling aimless...no news is no news...becalmed in the doldrums is kind of like Earthly Purgatory...even the Local TV News is infected...they featured a story this week about "the dangerous conditions on Sierra Ski Slopes"!

What the Frick? This was a new low, even for ratings hungry Valley News Directors! The Sacramento TV Stations have proven themselves to be cheerleaders of doom this season...a chance of showers is ballyhood as "a difficult weekend for driving Sierra highways" and this week, beautiful sunny weather on the slopes became "dangerous hard-pack conditions at Sierra ski resorts".

Beyond the pale..this week's conditions are no more dangerous than any firm-packed time...helmets are smart-wear for sliders anytime..put one on!

Tuesday has dawned a little brighter...SPEED is re-airing the 2010 German Grand Prix...just the diversion my mind needs...laundry and baking some Oatmeal/Nectarine Cookies are co-conspirators in my Self-Deception Plan...so far it's working...

Serendipity Saves My Night

Circumstances turned yours truly into a Big Crankypants Saturday night. I got all my sleep and everything...to no avail...

One of my guys, Eskimo, must have had too much caffeine because in the space of a mere three hours, he'd come up with three new Game Plans for his shift...all without any impetus from changing weather, machine breakdowns, or crew illness. He was on a roll, and I couldn't squelch his fervor to save my life.

I've always been a "don't say anything if you can't say something civil" guy...in fact I make it my business to never call out an employee over the 2-way radio...in fact if one of my guys needs a talking-to, I wait until the next shift when my blood pressure has returned to normal, and I've had a chance to "sleep on it". These bumpy roads are really opportunities if you don't squander them in a white hot fog.

So there I am...grinding around the hill at a slow walk...even with my boss reflexes fully aroused, and after a full day's sleep, "highway hypnosis" finally turns my eyelids heavy, so I key the mic and announce: "I'm goin' 10-7 for lunch", pull up to a remote steep, throttle down, turn off my lights, recline the throne, and set the timer on my iPod for 30mins...

In a second or two, my night vision kicks in and there's the International Space Station, scudding across the sky headed NNE! Not that bright really, but still an awesome sight as it glides by.

All the stars had aligned to give me that exact moment...Eskimo's over-caffeinated "planning" and every other little change-up combined to award me with that little moment.

Eskimo will get my treatise on planning next week...after a relaxing weekend...

After my nap Sunday, I looked at the internet to confirm my ISS sighting...I found another satellite that caught my interest, NASA's NanoSail-D2. This micro satellite surprised NASA when after it was believed lost to malfunction back in Novenber, the little loaf of bread sized satellite deployed it's 100 square foot solar sail and phoned home!

This guy is not very bright in the night sky, and it will reenter and burn up in 90-120 days, but I'll keep my eyes peeled for this one!

Record High Temps

Sacramento broke some records Saturday. Downtown hit 69°F and at Executive Airport, the mercury topped out at 71°F besting the 66°F set for the day back in 1976.

Ever so fortunately, the afternoon high on my Mountain was down into the low 40's, almost a 10°F fall from Friday.

This won't change things much...so I'm concentrating instead on a scheme to stay awake for Sunday's Packers vs Bears NFC Championship Game...fortunately it's the early game! I have enough room on my DVR to capture the AFC contest, when no matter what I do, sleep will have it's way with me.