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!

D'oh!

The title above has worked it's way into the American Lexicon over the past twenty years. It's the exclamation that comes from the mouth of TV's "Number One Dad", Homer Simpson when yet another something blows up in his face. Today it's shorthand for "Dolt gets surprised" It's Wiley Coyote getting crushed by a falling cliff in the evergreen Warner Brothers "Roadrunner" cartoons, updated for the 21st Century.

It's the word that came out of my mouth Tuesday morning.

Over most of the month of June, I've been dealing with the biggest weed I've ever seen. It was a 20+ foot tall volunteer privet tree that sprung up sometime in the past 4-5 years in the backyard landscape. Privets are often spread by birds, they are a popular plant in the neighborhood, and this particular specimen sprouted inches from a privacy fence, and did some damage to the fence during the growth of it's trunk to six inches in diameter.

At it's ultimate height of twenty or so feet, it was shading a generous portion of the Ancestral Diggins sector of the backyard. I must have pulled 200 tiny privet seedlings that emerged looking for all the world like dichondra, in the rose garden my Dad put in when he first retired.

I attacked the interloper with pruning loppers. These "Homeowner Grade" loppers were up to the task until the branches were over an inch in diameter. A couple of hours of lopping and threading the branches through the rose garden, resulted in a big bushy pile of privet branches beneath the big apricot tree around the side of the garage.

A couple of days before garbage day, I wheeled the green waste container ( we have full-service curbside recycling here in the Inland Valley) back to the pile and methodically cut the limbs and branches up with an anvil pruner and filled the can in about three hours. I woke up the next morning with what felt like Popeye's right forearm after a can of spinach! We're talkin' Pumped Up!

Garbage day came and went, and the gardeners come the morning after the garbage man. I returned to the task at hand once the gardeners were done, and found they had taken a branch or two from my privet pile, and stuffed the green can to the brim!

The next day, I deployed my trusty Milwaukee Sawzall and finished the removal of the remaining standing privet. Over the following days, I hauled the remaining branches to a second, much larger pile...this one under the magnolia tree adjacent to the apricot. I set up my Hitachi 8 1/2 in slide saw, and made smallish, green can-sized pieces of the larger branches and trunk pieces.

I pulled out and cut up the stuffed branches, added some more cut-up privet, and topped up the can with the branch and trunk pieces and waited for next week's garbage day.

All this didn't happen in a vacuum of course, I was coming and going, doing the errands, and one afternoon I realized that there was a whole lot of tree work being done in our subdivision...all of it by professionals driving the requisite big trucks towing big, noisy, woodchippers!

I hatched my "Evil Plan"...I'd take a spin around the neighborhood, locate the tree service truck, park the car and introduce myself and offer $20 or so for them to chip up what I had left of the privet remains! I'd throw the remains in the back of my pickup, and haul it to their location, feed 'em my twenty, and hand 'em a sixer of cold beer...project complete!

OK, fired up with my new mission, I made daily laps around the subdivision...suddenly, the tree services were nowhere to be found! This continued all week until it was time to fill the green can again.

Another week passed...I started making special reconnaissance trips every morning...still not one tree service truck or woodchipper.

The privet pile was drying quickly in the summer heat. I needed to fill the green can once again. This week, I got the jump on the project, and allotted two days to cut up the now crispy remains. With the leaves dried, it was easy to just strip them off with a gloved hand, making quick work of reducing the bulk. I had the can half full when the gardeners arrived to trim the hedges and wisteria. Again they filled the can with fluffy clippings, which I removed before resuming my clipping and filling duties.

I did two shifts this Monday to finish the job. The new, fluffy cuttings had dried enough to easily crunch down to fit atop the now nearly full can. It was scorching hot Monday, so I left the can under the apricot, and headed for the shower.

This morning I needed to move the can to the driveway to make room to wheel my crab pots to the shed. They'll come out again in November when Dungeness Crab Season re-opens. Tonight I roll out the cans for Wednesday pickup.

I opened the gate and rolled the green can out to the front of the garage with the other cans. I looked across the street and there was a tree service truck and chipper parked at the neighbor's house!

D'oh!

Diggin'It

The digging never ends in the Ancestral Diggins. I'm still digging up the old irrigation stuff, tearing it out back to the base level, and adding new automation for the 21st Century. I automated my last garden just a season before I moved to the DaveCave.

Out in the wilds of Truckee, there's extra considerations when it comes to water, pipes, and such. Add freezing temperatures and water grows an IQ. Freezing water can travel uphill, and ice does not play nice with valves, pipes, drip emitters, or sprinklers.

I designed my automated irrigation system so that it would survive the frigid winters with a minimum of damage. My big innovation was to build the valve manifolds to be portable. When the harvest was nearly over, and the first hard freeze imminent, I would unhook the manifolds from the water supply, drain the water from the valves, pipes and hoses, and store the manifolds in the laundry room until spring.

My other genius innovation was to use soaker hoses instead of drip emitters and drip tubing. Drip systems are far from frost hardy! I heard someone on Mr Vegetable's Garden Talk Show recommend burying the soaker hose as the water will migrate down from the hose, thereby depriving weed seed on the surface of the garden of the water needed to germinate. I gave it a shot, and the results were spectacular! I weeded once a season...with a snowmaker's torch!

Weed Burners have long been in the snowmaker's arsenal...a hand-held wand with a big tube at the end makes a big flame...ideal for thawing frozen air and water valves on snowmaking hydrants...and for smokin' weeds when they're just a couple of seed leaves!

I lived on a flat, and I mean flat, lot made of clay. Once the snow melted in the spring, the meltwater hung around for a few weeks...I realized the only way to get a decent growing season would be to put in raised beds. My garden started with a greenhouse built to shelter a pair of 4x8 foot raised beds.

My room mate salvaged a bunch of windows from the old Echo Lake Lodge. I rounded up a 3-0 6-8 entry door that was mostly tempered glass, and an unused corrugated fiberglass greenhouse roof from a garage sale. I bought the 2x12's for the raised beds, and imported the soil. The first season, I harvested tomatoes and two of the cutest little softball-sized watermelons you ever laid eyes on.

In the Fall, I had to buy a 2 inch paddle bit to drill holes to plant my daffodil bulbs in front of the greenhouse! I drilled two dozen holes and tossed the bit! The daffodils pushed through that clay like nobody's business, but I understood that any productive gardening would have to be in raised beds filled with imported soil. By the time I moved to the DaveCave, my garden had grown to eight 4x8 foot raised beds...with 2x12 "boardwalks" everywhere.

The boardwalks protected the hose runs between the manifolds and the beds, and gave me a place to walk before the meltwater finally evaporated. Three of the beds had perennials in them. Delphiniums in one, one bed of Alpine Strawberries, and one bed of Asparagus. The hose runs stayed out all winter...with both ends open, ice could do no damage.

I found that once I was freed from the hours of watering, I was free to do the really fun gardening stuff. Pinching and shaping the plants, picking the Chinese Pea Pods, turning the compost, and picking the tiny weed starts that somehow germinated.

About the time I was inventing my Automated Garden of the 21st Century, My Dad was spending his retirement years upgrading his garden to drip irrigation, and ridding the yard of the last vestiges of lawn. He automated two drip irrigation circuits...around the backyard perimeter, and the South Facing privacy hedge. He mounted the timer in the garage, and the control valves were the expensive All-Bronze Anti-Siphon type.

Even without the News-Making Truckee Temperatures, those bronze valves suffered frost damage...they're junk now. It turns out that drip irrigation is far from "Set and Forget" as it was sold in the early days.

Drip systems need maintenance, just like any mechanical system. Filters need cleaning a couple of times a season, drippers need flushing, and the whole system needs flushing at the beginning of each season. Shirk this maintenance, and your drip system will be junk in a decade.

Enter TruckeeDave's 21st Century Irrigation System!

I've added extra hose to the end of each Soaker Hose Run, to accommodate seasonal flushing. The old drip system at the Diggins is shot. It's getting replaced by Soaker Hoses. Out front, the overhead sprinklers will get the portable manifold treatment.

After looking at the Ancestral Diggins Wishlist, I realized that I'm looking at a project that will unfold over a couple of years. Step by step, I'll update and automate. It turns out I'll be doing some remodeling too.

The hottest spot in the back yard has some shade-loving azaleas and an orphan hydrangea that would rather live under the redwoods in the front yard. There's a rhubarb plant that needs a different home, and once the old cedar deodara stump is gone, an Improved Meyer Lemon tree will command that hot spot!

Suffering For My Art

Well, Craft...

I paid the price last night, alright! One hour of Nap Time does not a full night's sleep make. (Sometimes I think I'll never learn)

So here's how it all shook out...

As I trudged up the Shop Road I heard my guys exclaim: "Dave's here!" Strange I thought, I'm supposed to be here... as it turns out, the Boss gave me the night off...and forgot to let me know!

Cool I thought...my suffering will be at the DaveCave, fighting to stay awake while working on my music collection project! Swing Shift was still on the Mountain, so the Graveyard Crew chewed the fat while waiting...looking at the Situation Board, I noticed two of our cats were already down.

Swing Shift started arriving at the Fuel Dock, and they trickled in...every one of them looking crestfallen and stressed...Not Good...

As they spun their tales of woe, I reconsidered my plan to take the night off. My cat was on the Board as down, and I quizzed the operator who downed it. Same tiller electrical problem that's been plaguing her for the past two weeks.

The other cat on the Board had a life-threatening hydraulic leak at the stinger, and the Graveyard Mechanic was enjoying his weekend...so my fate was seemingly sealed...

OK, Spring wasn't false today, the Hero Snow had morphed into Swing Goo/Grave Porcelain...I had to stay...the Guys were starting way out in the weeds, I have the patience to keep ahead of the electrical gremlins with my tiller, and the crew needed me to edit the Work Orders into something realistic...and attainable. (Let me say here that my Boss is still in training...he means well, but there's no substitute for experience) The Work Orders were of the "Most Optimistic Ever" variety, and the Swing Guys let the Orders psych them a little too much...

I did a little mental inventory, and found a cat for everyone...provided I was in my BR350. I made a mental deal with myself...I'll run her long enough to get the Guys onto a positive plane, do all the leftover Special Projects, finish the Ramp Work, edit the Orders, and when I can't keep the eyes online...I'll call it a night...and the Sow's Ear will be as close to Silk Purse territory as possible.

So confident was I of my Plan, that I left my lunchbox and backpack in the Locker Room, and armed with my trusty iPod and MiniMag flashlight, rumbled off into the night. It took reality just twenty minutes to disabuse me of said Plan...and I returned to the Shop, fetched my stuff, refueled my steed, and got down to business.

The Psych had been in full effect apparently...more than an hour of details didn't get taken care of by swing...so I did 'em, and edited some more.

About an hour and a half in, my tiller quit. Less than five minutes of fiddling with the wiring, and she was good to go, and the problem was diagnosed a little more finely. It didn't even hiccup the rest of the night.

Now my real fight began...my eyes wanted to close so badly! I was almost delirious, and the hard snow wasn't helping...grinding along the Flats at Full Slow Ahead is the textbook definition of Highway Hypnosis...I was doomed...once the nodding off began in earnest, I pulled up and took a 15 minute cat nap. That did the trick...for about 30 minutes...then I handed off the Great Wide Open of the Flats and went to some North Facing Tree Trails for relief...not much there either...

About 0330, one of the BR275 utility cats gave up...auxiliary hydraulic leak...an hour later back-up cat number two goes down...coolant leak with overheating. More editing...

I caught a little relief when the pre-dawn color began to silhouette the trees, and we ended the show on time, and without further drama.

The edits of the Work Orders tallied out to about 25 percent of the list...just reality...I told the Boss to use the results to keep making the case for leasing our fleet to the Big Boss.

I had enough life left in me, that I did some grocery shopping on my way home. I got a full day's sleep today too!

Back In The Groove

I spent my shift in my favorite tractor last night. You know, she's like a favorite old T-Shirt really...we're simpatico, and a great team. This is our fourth season together...she's got 6100 trouble-free hours on the clock now...that's a couple of megatons of corduroy and plowing!

No weather last night to speak of, clear roads, and a whole bunch of projects needed to be done for the Mountain's New Years Eve Festivities. There's just something about Fireworks over a Ski Resort that really says: Happy New Year!

These festivities are bittersweet for me now because I used to get to work early enough on New Years Eve to warm up a machine and head uphill to a Prime Viewing Location, where I'd tune in the Live Radio Broadcast of the Grateful Dead's New Years Eve Show on the stereo, and watch the pyrotechnic display...always a peak event. Godspeed Jerry...sadly, these days I just step outside the Groomer's Locker Room, and watch the show from the parking lot...next to the fuel dock...sans tunes...sigh...

On the bright side, the skiers just keep coming this month! Yesterday it was howling when we finished our shift...Overcast and very windy, There was nary a car in the parking lot when we headed home at 10AM. I was shocked to learn that 3500 guests braved those winds to buy Lift Tickets! Last night on the 10 O'Clock News, they did a story on the Ski Resorts Heavy Business Levels...while citing the Soft Economy, and High Gas Prices...several Resort Marketing People gushed about the good numbers they were seeing...My Boss said we probably won't make 40,000 Skier Visits for December, but close enough for another New Grooming Machine this year! Woo-Hoo!

This looks like it's going to be a Bang-Up Season for my Groomers...Two New Machines! Now that we're an All-BR350 Fleet, we get to re-prioritize Everything! I have to learn a new paradigm...I have to reset my internal alarm system, so I can turn on my rethink response in time to salvage the best result from the worst circumstances. This could be a part of the uneasiness I felt yesterday morning...I'm good at my job, but I don't know how I know when to make adjustments, and because I don't know consciously how I know, I can't teach my methods...unsettling? You bet!

It's a "Seat Of The Pants" world I inhabit...more Art than Science really, but Science enough to keep everything on the Up and Up. I'll just keep on "keepin' on"...perhaps I'll finally be able to quantify what I do, though I'm not holding my breath...somehow I understand that it will still be The Magic...It's what I do, and it's what I am...pay no attention to that man behind the curtain...

I Don't Know Why...

I had a good night at work despite having to park my favorite cat and finish my shift in another one. We got the job done, I even spent most of an hour re-contouring a spot on the Mountain that hasn't gotten the treatment for almost ten years! Change is afoot on My Mountain, and that's a good thing, but still it can be uncomfortable.

Now that the Fleet is All-BR350's, we save on average one shift-worth of time every night (except on Heavy Storm Nights) This is allowing us to re-order our priorities, to "leap back to the Future" in that many of the little details that we used to do, but dismissed in our rush for better production, can now be resurrected, and put back on our plates. This is great news, because I miss doing all the little things that made the mountain special.

These little projects are like cosmetic surgery...subtle-style. We don't remake the Mountain per se, but just make small changes that make the mountain flow better, look better, and feel better to our guests. We're not trying to turn the Wallflower into a Va-Va-Voom Pinup Girl, but we're just trying to make the Mountain more like your favorite comfy T-shirt or favorite old Levis...we're gettin' to fluff the goose down pillows before we place a handfull of mints on them now.

So why did I have this feeling of foreboding when I finished up this morning? I don't know why...maybe it's one of those Quiet/Too Quiet deals from Classic Cinema...I got a full shift in, as did my crew...we even re-rolled some Home Runs that accumulated 4-6 inches after we groomed them the first time around. Maybe it was the 80+ MPH wind gusts over the Ridgetops this morning, or maybe the road closure early last night when an accident blocked the Old Highway that I drive to work on... I can't say because I don't have my finger on it yet...

Don't misunderstand me...life is good, work is nearly effortless and wholly engaging, but there's a little something that piques my attention...vague, elusive, unfelt and unknown at this time...perhaps it's nothing...if it is something, I'll know soon enough.

C-Note Already!

Here is my 100th blog! Looking over the past four months, I owe you readers an apology! Of the now 100 posts, more than half have strayed far afield of my Mission Statement...too much fishing, cooking, and whining about the weather forecast...not enough nuts and bolts grooming stuff.

Going forward, I promise to stick to the template...this might be easier now that I'm back in my Snowcat five nights a week. However, the sad reality is, I don't possess a disciplined mind like my Father and the scores of the more successful around me. I guess you could say I'm Reactive, not Pro-Active. Not always, but "being in the moment" is my Default Setting...being a Baby Boomer is a curse in many ways!

Last night, I returned to work after an overwrought "weekend" of struggling with issues at the DaveCave, and accomplishing nothing on my "To Do" list.

Walking up the Shop Road from the Groomer's Parking Lot, I was greeted by the worst possible sight...three new BR350 snowcats parked forlornly outside the Vehicle Shop in various states of disrepair...unfortunately, included in the sad rogue's gallery was my favorite machine...sigh...In it's stead, I did my first shift in our brand new Bison with the "X" package...it only had 137 hours on the clock when I left the shop in her.

The Boss was at the shop, with his kneepads on, doing his best impression of a Vehicle Mechanic. The hand-off between Swing and Grave was a sad affair to say the least...we had more operators than we had cats for them to operate.

When the nights like this one conspire against the Grooming Crew, someone always says: "Moma said there'd be days like this"...Oh, I thought it, but didn't utter a word. The second year guys were pressed into service as Snowmaker Shock Troops pending the mending of their machines. A fair East Wind was upon us, and the mercury was in the teens...but the good snowmaking conditions were small compensation!

With clear, cold conditions, conditions were "fast"...just this side of "Hero Snow" as a matter of fact, but getting enthused when half the crew isn't contributing is outside of Accepted Groomer's Etiquette. Those of us still standing soldiered on, pending the arrival of the Graveyard Mechanic...

About the time the Graveyard Wrench punched in, another cat went down...a new winchcat lost it's winch, and while trying to remedy his troubles, he managed to loose a track as well! Fortunately, his cable wasn't crossing the whole Peak! This time I didn't allow myself to even think: "Moma said..."

With the handwriting on the wall, I wielded my trusty blue pencil, and fashioned a "Silk Purse Solution" from the "Sow's Ears" hand we were dealt.

Fortunately, Tuesday's 3600 Guests didn't do that much damage to the piste, and with good cold temps, the Workorders were reasonable...and highly customizable!

Around 5AM, one of the "Forlorn Three" went back online, and an operator was driven to the shop to warm it up and join the crew on the Mountain!

Well, I'm happy to report that my guys pulled another rabbit out of the hat! We got most of the list completed in time, and the edits weren't critical...I handed the Bison X over to the Park Groomer when I went in to refuel at 0700, and called it a day.

Our Guests would have plenty of Fresh Corduroy Groomers to please them, and more snowmaking helped the Park Crew in the building of our Pro Terrain Parks!

I got home so early, that I needed to kill hours before I could do my Reno errands. Nice weather continues through the Weekend, so the Mountain is looking good for the New Grooming Machine Sweepstakes!

Down Time/Days Off

Life never seems to follow my plan. Having a well thought out plan smoothes rough roads and increases productivity. So when Life Happens (while you're making other plans) it can be disconcerting...

Take today for example. A Simple Plan...stay up all night, do a load of laundry, and run errands in Reno while the clothes dry. All done before the little impulse of stormy weather makes driving a hassle Monday afternoon!

Simplicity itself...until reality set in. When the rinse and spin finished, I saw water on the floor under the laundry stack. Problem noted...soapy water on laundry closet floor...Simple. Mop it up, run the dryer, go to Reno.

OK, all done, and I hit the Dryer's Start Button...Nothing (except the 60 cycle hum of a stuck motor in the dryer)! Damn!

Here's where the "Best Laid Plans..." went off the rails. The "Laundry Room" in the DaveCave is really a small closet that does triple duty as the "Cleaning Closet", the "Laundry Room" and the "Pantry". There's no way to get into said closet to affect repairs, so all the stuff on the shelves, on the floor, and on top of the Laundry Stack need to be relocated. Next, disconnect both the water supply hoses, the 240V power plug, the washer drain and the dryer vent hose, and remove the shelving before walking the unit out of the closet and into the relative spaciousness of the entry hallway.

While hauling the stock out, I noticed the chewed hole through the plastic dryer vent hose....Hmm, critters...

Once I had the stack in the hall, my diagnosis began. I could only turn the dryer drum in one direction...something was jamming up the works... firing up my trusty Mini-Maglite, I peered into the dryer's exhaust and I saw a thicket of pine cones crammed into the end of the exhaust tact! These were "spent" pine cones...that is, the pine nuts had already been harvested by the furry little woodland creature prior to stashing his cache. The squirrel had jammed them into the squirrel cage fan that pushes the hot air through the dryer drum. I removed seven in all, but not before I totally disassembled the lion's share of the back of the dryer! All in all, it took me all afternoon to get 'er done...Reno will be there tomorrow...or Wednesday...

Whatta mess! A bushel of lint, mixed with a half dozen+ pine cones, and a side of Popcorn Kernels...ahh, nature. I remembered my landlord's wife had been engaged in a pitched battle with the local squirrels this Summer and Fall, as were most folks living in Truckee...Traps, Repellent Devices, and Poison Baits were all back ordered in every Truckee Hardware Store this year.

I wrote about the Folksy Nature Weather Forecast Analogs this summer...not exactly onion skins, or woolly worm coats, but locally celebrated all the same. Time will tell if this Winter lives up the the little critters' predictions.

Oh, the dryer's fixed. The laundry is dry and folded.

Buzz-Thrills

Anticipation
With a tip of my hat to Carly Simon...

It's started again...that anticipating/wishing/hoping/praying/buzzing in the skiing/snowboarding/big wave surfing/weather-geeking universes!

According to all the AFD's up and down the West Coast, the next big chance for Pattern Change is on it's way towards the forecast area. Friday morning's Reno ADF called the coming events: "the perfect recipe for snow"...how welcome is that news? Pretty darn...

Here I am, still cooling my heels at the Ancestral Digs, gathering online intel day in, day out, doing the myriad chores and projects to fill my days of waiting.

The Bay Area TV News folks are practically gushing in anticipation of this storm coming to town. Breathlessly they run through their forecast sound bites, and weave in their hoped-for announcement of the 2009/2010 Maverick's Surf Contest. Fifty foot waves are possible by Tuesday at Mavericks they gush. Good gosh, what a way to kick off Winter! Thanks are in order for all the Mountain Folk who've been doing their Snow Dances! Here's hoping those aligning models trumpet the arrival of a real El Niño Style Winter Season!

Getting Ready
Thursday afternoon, the FedEx Guy stopped by the Ancestral Digs to deliver my new Handheld Device. After hours of online research, trips to Geek Emporiums, and the local Verizon Wireless Store, I decided on an iPod Touch for my mobile internet solution.

The Touch is the Apple iPhone...sans the phone. Verizon, my carrier released the Motorola Droid last month, and driven by Google's Android Operating System, this Smartphone will remake the Smartphone Playing Field. This device was my number one choice, but I opted to wait to jump into a Smartphone Plan until the impact of Google's arrival on the Mobile Landscape plays out. To get all the cool advantages of Smartphones, you've got to get a Data Plan in addition to your monthly Cell Phone Plan. I'm too cheap to commit to doubling my monthly phone bill, especially since I don't really need Mobile Internet except during Grooming Season.

I spent all of my Thursday night (and a good portion into Friday morning) loading the Touch with handy "Aps", and synchronizing it with my computer. Even across platforms this was all enjoyable, not the giant cluster of hassles of a few years ago. Apple's Ap Store boasts 100,000 applications for the iPhone/iPod Touch today. Dozens and dozens of Weather Aps are available, with more choices coming online weekly.

In the coming weeks, as I become more adept at operating this little handheld computer that plays tunes, I'll be able to communicate right from the operator's throne of my Snowcat! That's the bonus, fun side of this device. Looking at Real-Time Weather Radar and Satellite Images on the Mountain will be invaluable! Getting up to the second intel about what's coming our way...without having to get off my Mountain to get in front of a Mountain network computer, is going to be Golden! Massaging the Back-Up Plan will become proactive, instead of reactive. This is going to save hours of grief, and make my crew even more effective.

One night this season, I expect my cat will go down...just a hydraulic hose or fitting, or maybe a relay will sideline me for an hour or so while the Graveyard Mechanic works on the problem to get me going again. If I'm in range of the Mountain's WiFi, I will write this blog from my broken cat!

If you're following @CorduroyPlanet on Twitter, expect an occasional Tweet from the seat of my cat as well...this is going to be too much fun!

More Lost Time
From the "It happens every Fall Division"...
So I'm playing with the iPod, while not watching the NewsFeed from FoxNews on the TV,and scrolling through my freshly imported Bookmarks, I clicked on my link to the Half Moon Bay Buoy from the NDBC (National Data Buoy Center) to see if Surf Contest Conditions were brewing. In an instant the page loads and says: "The page you requested is not found" I should have expected this...I looked at all my Buoy Pages just a month ago in preparation for Crab Season...all six were good to go.

I end up whining about this practice the Government goes through every Fall. I thought they change these pages because they have excess time on their hands, but as I started to revise my Bookmarks, I noticed that Google is now a major part of the NDBC Product.

All the Buoys are on Google Maps now. Typically, you zoom in on the World Map until you can resolve the little piece of ocean you want, and hover the cursor over the colorful specks representing the different Stations (read buoys) until the buoy you're looking for is displayed...click on it's link and you get to the Buoy's Page where the data is displayed...Whew!

I must have stumbled onto the NDBC's Annual Revision Festival half way through the process...of my six Bookmarked Buoys, four are the new-style Google-fied feeds: Point Reyes, Bodega Bay, San Francisco, and Half Moon Bay...just in time for the Big Surf Contest. All told, I shot 30 minutes resetting my Buoy Bookmarks...not as bad as I feared...side note: Bodega Bay's Station 46013 Buoy has been down since October, and the Coast Guard is working to get it into their Buoy Maintenance Schedule, and back online.

A quick look at the Buoy Data shows seas between 9 and 10ft this Friday 12/4/09. The Local TV WeatherGushers, are all abuzz about the Big Swell forecast to arrive Tuesday, and the possible call to arms of the 25 World's Greatest Big Wave Surfers. The Mavericks Surf Contest Window has been open since November 1st. When the Organizers decide the swell is huge enough, the call goes out to the 25, and they have 24 hours to get to Half Moon Bay for the Big Show.

It could be the Epic Kickoff to a Big Winter...Lord knows drought stricken California could use the water!

Grooming 101.6

Still Working With Gravity
Yesterday's lesson on Gravity and Berm Control didn't have anything to say about controlling Berms when the snow starts getting seriously deep. What happens when the snow is soft, dry, and deeper than the Snowcat's tracks?

Berms happen, that's what! When there's more snow than Tillers can chew, Modern Grooming Equipment can't do the job in a single pass. Today's Grooming Machines do much better than their fore-bearers, but even the most skilled groomer in the latest machine can't break the laws of physics. Mother nature bats last, and sometimes she goes on a hitting streak that would make Joltin' Joe DiMaggio envious.

When the snow gets to the topside of the machine's tracks, there's no alternative to Double Passing, to get the desired surface. Production goes out the window, Back up Plans take effect and the hunkering down begins. Old Hands know that there's a long hard slog ahead, and take steps to endure.

There's much satisfaction to be extracted from Big Storm Periods, provided you mete out your energy over the duration of the storm. It's not just up on the Mountain where deep snow means harder work...and more of it! Getting back and forth to work gets more difficult, vehicles need shoveled off, digging out and de-icing. All these extra chores eat the minutes until they become hours, and everything becomes slower as the snow deepens.

Coping Skills
Enduring the increased workload means adjusting your output of energy, and eliminating wasteful action in favor of tried and true methods to soldier through.

Step One: Stop hurrying! There's an old saying about the "hurrier I go, the behinder I get" or some such, just set a steady, sustainable pace, and grind it out.

I've learned to manage my excitement over my years on the Mountain, because hard won experience has taught me that more than likely, I'll be in my cat come 2PM, rather than hitting the sack back at the DaveCave. So, you keep a lid on your emotions, try and help everyone you work with to cope nicely so they too can stay in the game over the long haul.

Yes, the best laid plans of mice and men...when the snow gets deep, why do so many otherwise sane, intelligent people start to lose IQ Points by the bushel? Unfortunately, in all my years up in the High Sierra, I've never been able to put my finger on this weird behavior quirk.

You learn to tune out the frenzy, but stay vigilant, because you don't want to let anyone around you get stupid enough to hurt themselves or others. It's always during these extended siege periods that, people find ways to injure themselves or others. The Fire Departments and all our Emergency Responders already have their hands full, so we don't want to get on their waiting list! Sadly, if a wide-eyed Flatlander is going to tangle with a Road Grader on the Highway, or a Snowblower in a driveway, it'll be during a busy Storm Siege.

Mountain Sanctuary
Step Two: When you get away from the Base Areas and the IQ Altered, there is peace up on the Hill. Double Passing takes more than twice as long as grooming less snow in a single pass, but it is no less satisfying...especially if you've just escaped the circus below! Again, you tune up your Balancing Act.

When it's this deep, there are a couple of ways to proceed, depending on weather you're working solo, or working in a Pack. When I'm working by myself, I'll make as big a first pass as I dare, and groom my trail as wide as time allows, then go back to the beginning, and re-groom the whole shebang. A little "set-up time" helps things turn out better when you go back an "chase" those big berms.

If I'm leading a pack, we'll make fat passes going downhill, and gently chase the berms on our way back uphill. If the trail doesn't set up enough to do that, I move the pack to the next trail for it's first passes, and then return to chase the berms on the first trail...repeat as necessary, your acreage may vary...

When the guests hit the slopes, my crew leave the mountain to them. Most of the crew calls it a day, the Old Hands take a break, regroup and refuel, and head out for more Storm Fighting.

We stay off the Mountain during the day, but there are tons of places around the mountain where Groomers can help lighten the load of the snow that's piling ever deeper. Lots of plowing and pushing eat up the hours...this is where a good stereo and mp3 players come in handy. These gadgets help the time pass while keeping boredom at bay. Before you know it, it's afternoon and the body starts making it's needs known. Bedtime beckons, and you can veto the drive to rest for a few days, but as with all things worth doing, eventually you must succumb to nature and call it a shift.

The sleep you get after this kind of shift is deep, but the alarm clock goes off as soon as your head hits the pillow. Time to get up and do it all over again. We do this for days on end when the storm door is wide open…believe me, all the Old Hands live for this stuff!

Hard Work…Good Times.

Grooming 101.4

Where Have All the Heroes Gone?
Alas, Hero Snow isn't around every night...What goes wrong when all the Heroes turn into Zeros?

The list of things that can turn an otherwise good productive night into Groomer's Hell is long and infamous. Simple or stupid, events sometimes best even the most experienced, working from the best List, in the best equipment, with the best of intentions, and the best record of rolling with the punches. Shit Happens...

It always seems to happen when it's pounding snow...don't ask me why. I starts innocently enough...say one guy oversleeps, or another gets his truck stuck on his way to work. The wind is howling, and the snow is piling up into big drifts...visibility is "less than ideal"...un-noticed, the disintegration has already begun. Welcome to my Snow Day Hell...

The Shift Foreman makes the call...fall back and regroup. Reprioritize, shift gears, try Plan B...

The Back-Up Plan shreds the Work Orders. New goals, though scaled back in acreage, take on new, and deadly important weight. Remember what we sell: A safe ride up a safe, groomed mountain. Heavy winds and high rates of snowfall are Mother Nature's recipe for Avalanches.

The Back-Up Plan grooms all the Peaks, the easiest way down from each lift, all ramps and maze areas, and all the "flats" around the Lodges and the Base Area where pedestrians will be walking to work, the Lodges, and all the shops. Roads to the tops of all six peaks need to be snowmobile friendly at 6AM, and roads to weather stations, snow study plots, and explosives magazines need to be maintained for use by the Opening Crews. The Back-Up Plan avoids all potential Avalanche Hazard Zones.

On good "Bad Days", going to the Back-Up Plan usually rights the ship, and the best is made from the burgeoning mess. Expectations are lowered to RealWorld levels, and the Shift Foreman and his Crew turn back into Rock Stars...on top of their game. Prepared, and battle hardened, they've made a Silk Purse from the Sow's Ear yet again. These nights feel good, relief feels good, dodging a bullet and getting away with it feels great. We don't get to feel these feeling every time things take a turn for the worse. Sometimes, Shit Keeps Happening...

Sometimes, right after calling the Back-Up Plan, the Foreman is starting to feel smug when the 2-Way crackles with Bad News..."Hey Boss? I just lost all drive" Uh-oh...there goes an hour of working time for Two machines.

On nights when it's really pounding, the Graveyard Mechanic usually has his hand full before any Grooming Machine shis attention. On Storm Nights, the Grooming Cats work their hardest....at the same time, the Snow removal Crew is working their fleet to the Red Line also.

On these nights, the Mechanic already has his hands full keeping the Snow Removal Equipment online...Groomers gotta wait their turn. When things are going according to plan, there's a back-up grooming machine parked down at the Shop, ready to rumble. Another crewman fetches the operator from the stricken machine, and ferries him back to the shop so the back-up groomer can be pressed into service. Most times an hour of both operators' night are consumed by this snowcat shuffle.

Provided that this drama is played out at least an hour before dawn, a total save is still possible...but it just isn't guaranteed...as often as not, another snowcat will join the injured reserve list. All it takes is the addition of a random broken winch cable or burst hydraulic hose to seal the Doom.

What's the one Single Point Failure most likely to down a Modern Grooming Machine? Windshield Wiper Failure! You can't groom if you can't see...but you can persevere. A confident operator can run with "under-performing" wipers with impunity...until the sun rises. Once there's light in the sky, wipers are a must. In the dark, operators are "Masters of their Domain" to borrow the concept from the Seinfeld Show. In the dark, groomers have total control of the lighting of their workplace...often running without forward lights makes for better seeing...it's counter-intuitive, but it works, and it's a core lesson in the Grooming 101 Syllabus. Once the sun rises, all bets are off, and groomers rejoin the mere mortals eyesight-wise.

With the huge front windshields of today's Groomers, wiper failure is far too common. Massive heated windshields, coupled with heated wiper blades almost three feet long, conspire to overheat wiper motors or tweak linkages all too often. This failure can be absorbed for most of the shift, but the Piper must be paid at Dawn...right when the cost of losing a machine is the highest. When the snow is flying, and the sun is rising, even with clean windows, it's near impossible to resolve the difference between snow and sky...throw in a little wind, and it's Helen Keller City.

When these nights end (always badly) there no whoopin' or hollerin' back at the pump...just moanin' and groanin' ...it's not a pretty sight, and it feels just plain lousy. These are the nights that try men's souls...no luck, no glory, no gold stars.

Nothing is worse than when a Hero takes a Fall...wounded is the worst way to end a shift.

Grooming 101.3

Friday Night Follies
As I write tonight, Chain Controls are up on Interstate 80. Here's the kicker from CalTrans' Road Info Page:
CHAINS ARE REQUIRED ON ALL VEHICLES EXCEPT 4-WHEEL-DRIVE VEHICLES WITH SNOWTIRES ON ALL 4 WHEELS FROM TRUCKEE TO 12 MI EAST OF TRUCKEE (NEVADA CO)

The storm somehow missed the Donner Summit/Tahoe Westshore Area almost entirely! Sugar Bowl's LiveCam shows some flurry action, but the CalTrans webcam at the Truck Inspection Station show heavier snowfall. Northstar is getting snow. Boreal's webcam hasn't updated since Thanksgiving Afternoon...

SisterSweetly called from Humboldt County reporting clearing skies, and really cold temps. The Reno AFD said the cold would set in for several days once the front passed. Perhaps High Sierra Snowmaking Crews will bank some Overtime this week. Mother Nature seems unwilling to contribute any precipitation for the next week, so 'Pray for Cold"

Back To Work
Now we can get to the business of grooming the Mountain. Today's modern, powerful Groomers are capable of high degrees of production, even when the new fallen snow is deep. There's no substitute for Horsepower goes the old saying.

My BR350 is so named because it's powered by a 350HP Caterpillar Electronic Diesel. This engine is powerful, has plenty of torque, and runs almost without odor. It's an amazing machine.

After a thorough checkout and walkaround, the cat's all warmed up, and the fuel's topped up, it's time to go grooming. Enter the Work Orders.

The best way to improve productivity in a Groomer, is to follow a good plan. The Work Orders are that plan. Long years of development went into creation of tonight's Work Orders. They are simple, really...Start at the beginning, and go down the "List" The trails are groomed in a sequence that minimizes extra passes, avoids grooming passes that have already been groomed tonight, and organized in such a way as to require the least amount of backing up, and fixing Turn Ruts.

Groomers only make Corduroy when they are moving forward, and grooming over fresh Corduroy doesn't make any New Corduroy. Following the List minimizes waste, and maximizes production.

Following the List, leads the Grooming Crews from one end of the Mountain to the other. Factored into the List are travel times from each of the Mountain's Six Peaks to the Vehicle Shop, where the Diesel Fuel Pumps refuel the fleet. At top speed, going in to refuel can be a 45 minute round trip. The List ensures these trips are never made. As the List is completed from top to bottom, each trail checked off the list brings the fleet closer to the Shop. Unless unforseen drama interrupts the smooth execution of the list, the Swing Shift should finish their work load and be at the Shop, refueling just in time for the Shift Change.

All the Secondary Trails, ramps, Maze Areas, and Special Projects are done on Swing Shift. Once the Graveyard Crew is in their cats, they head out and complete the List. Usually, there's several Secondaries still to do, before the Homeruns are groomed. The Homeruns are where all the Secondary Trails end on their way back to the bottom of each Chairlift. Turning Ruts, made by snowcats grooming up and down the Secondary trails are filled and tilled when the Homeruns get Groomed. No extra moves required.

Swing Shift grooms a little less than half of each night's acreage. Because the Swing Shift does so many detailed tasks, and the Ramp Cat travels from one end to the other of the Mountain to prepare each ramp, they "set the table" for the Graveyard Crew. With all the pesky details and special projects complete, the Graveyard Guys just make Corduroy...full speed ahead. On good nights, this is non-stop fun (and non-stop production) We call this "Hero Snow" anyone who can drive in a clean line makes tons of beautiful Corduroy.

Graveyard follows the List too, and it leads them to the bottom of the Mountain in time to make any last minute "touch-ups" around the Lifts and Lodges before our Guests begin to stream onto the Mountain.

The list also moves us closer and closer to the Vehicle Shop, until the whole crew in on the last Peak of the night, where we race the clock for the last precious acres of production before we sneak off the mountain just as the crowds begin to load the Last Peak Chairlift.

It's a beautiful thing when the whole crew is firing on all cylinders, the Hero Snow cooperates, and the day dawns sunny and blue! I never get tired of it all when we have nights like this. Every operator gets out of his cat back at the shop with a big ol' Grin on their face, and there's plenty of whoopin' and hollerin' about how great life is...It just doesn't get any better than that!

Grooming 101.2

Where to Really Begin
On My Mountain, we always start at the beginning. I'm not trying to be funny, it's just that "the beginning" has meant many different things over the years. Early in my nights behind the sticks, the Grooming Program was pretty loose...by necessity.

Oh, we always started with Work Orders, but back when I started grooming in the early 80's, Grooming was more "Reactive" than ProActive. The technology just hadn't matured in those days. When the fleet was mostly Gas Powered Tucker Sno-Cats towing Rolling Stock, there were many nights when conditions didn't allow much of the Work Orders to be completed.

When the Tuckers couldn't climb the mountain anymore, we'd move on to the next project on the Work Orders, and hope that the abandoned trails would "set up" enough so that we could come back later and finish the job. On the nights when that didn't work out, dawn brought mornings that Ski Patrol dreaded...you see when the Groomers couldn't get the job done, Patrol would have to "Boot Pack" the unfinished edges of our work to ensure our guests' safety. Man I pitied those guys on those days!

By the Mid-80's most of the fleet had been upgraded to Thiokol 3700 Hydromaster Groomers. For a few years, the Hydros, powered with Allis Chalmers straight-six Diesels without mufflers, still didn't have Tillers, so Rolling Stock still made the finished surface. Rolling Stock was lots of work, even when it wasn't doing much...it always had to be Dug Out and repositioned atop the pack. Every Snow Day meant all the Rolling Stock had to be moved up. Lots of shoveling, getting in and out of the tractors, and ending the shift with some real Ditch Digging Labor...we really earned our meager paychecks in those days!

Finally, Thiokol sold their Snowcat business and the new owner, John Delorean of Stainless Steel Sports Car fame, bought the Company and designed and added Tillers along with V8 Caterpillar Power, giving birth to the 3700C Model...Sayonara Rolling Stock! Those were great days!

Renamed DMC, the DeLorean Motor Company brought evolutionary change to the breed before Mr DeLorean ran afoul of the Law, and he sold the Company again. Now know as LMC, Logan Manufacturing Company, they soldiered along until Bombardier Groomers arrived in the High Sierra.

Bombardier's were another Quantum Leap in Groomer Evolution. The Mid-Engine, Cab Forward design was as big a step as the one from Tucker to Thiokol had been.

The next improvement proved to be the watershed idea that changed the whole ball game. Bombardier developed their Flex Tiller...the rest is history, as they say.

Now, Groomers could work from the Work Orders or "List" with impunity. Now only breakdowns, and weather could derail the Plan. Production rose by a factor of Two...unless the snow was flying. More snow on the mountain is a Double Whammy. more snow to pack, and harder, thus slower climbing...there go those Production Gains again...

Enter Winches...OK this is the Tech Evolution that finally "levels the playing field" LMC first brought Winches to Sierra Ski Resorts. The WinchCat was a standard Free Groomer with a hyrdoststic winch mounted on the back of the cat. Derisively named "Phantom Tollbooths", the WinchCat was positioned at the top of a steep trail, where the operator whould push up a big pile called a pad, and dig the tracks into the pad. the bare stinger was lowered into the pad, and the winch was activated. The winch operator payed out some winch cable, and a second Grooming Cat would hook to the cable by way of a large Eye mounted to the Push Frame of the Forward Blade.

This cat, the "Yoyo" did the grooming, the winch held the Yoyo on the hill. The Winch didn't actually tow the Yoyo up the hill, but held tension on the winch cable so the Yoyo could groom uphill without digging in. It was tedious for both operators, and ripe for disaster. The Yoyo only groomed going uphill, backing down under winch tension every pass...not very efficiant, but better than "going around" like a free cat, and the winch assisted down passes turned out perfectly most nights.

In those days, all grooming machines were prototypes, really...grooming crews were developers of the technology, as well as Guinea Pigs. Twice the labor, and twice the equipment, but still production improved.

A few years later, the last piece of the puzzle was added. The Tower Winch was born. Adding an overhead boom the turned 360 degrees, retired the Phantom Tollbooth, and now two winch operators were available. The WinchCat Operator works solo, hooking his cable to an anchor and grooming up and down the run, held fast by the winch...Production...way up, again.

With the technology settled, now the List guides the crews to high levels of performance, hindered only by Mother Nature's Bounty. When a fierce Winter Storm is lashing the Mountain, production suffers, but compared to twenty-five years ago, the work we get done is still amazing, given the conditions.

Grooming 101.1

What To Do?
How do Ski Resorts decide what to groom every night? Before the Swing Shift hits the Mountain, Work Orders must be made. Grooming costs a bucketload of cash, so there isn't any room for "flyin' by the seat of the pants" in the 21st Century. New equipment and new realities in the Industry have retired the old "That Looks About Right" method at all but the smallest Mom&Pop Ski Hills.

The Work Orders are compiled with input from several sources.

First the Grooming Boss has an idea of what needs done, given what didn't get done the previous night. Most Secondary Trails get groomed every-other night. Weekends, the Mountain tries to groom every groomable acre unless it's storming. All Primary Trails are groomed every night, unless the mountain is just barely open and snow conservation is a priority. All Snowmaking Areas get groomed whenever Snowmaking occurs on them.

Equal in weight is the input from the Lift Operations Forman. His crew of Lift Operators is responsible for helping the Mountain's Guests interface safely with the lifts. The lifties maintain the Ramps and Maze Areas during the day. The Forman adds his Wish List to the Work Orders. Lift Ramps are repaired and tilled on Swing Shift to maximize the amount of freezing they receive. Longer freeze means longer until skier-caused ruts begin to form near the bottom of the ramps. As the season progresses and more snow accumulates, ramps are lengthened, and made less steep, until they are perfect. At the bottom terminals, the Mazes or Line Areas are enlarged so our guests can line and load our chairs with the least amount of fuss and muss.

When a total rebuild is called for, the lift Operations Foreman lets the Swing Shift Ramp Groomer know where, and they work together to make the ramp the best it can be. If there's snow in the forecast, the Ramps still are done on Swing Shift, and the Graveyard Crew cleans them off and puts a fresh till on the Ramps and Mazes just before the Guests arrive at the lifts...at least that's the way it goes in a Perfect World.

Ski Patrol also has something to contribute to the Work Orders. Patrol are the Groomers' eyes on the hill during the day, and they find the wrinkles that need ironing that aren't apparent to a groomer in the dark of night. Patrol has a vested interest in the Work Orders...they need to pull all their signage and closures that might be impacted by grooming ops overnight. Life is better when all oars pull together.

Now there's still a few more Mountain Departments that need work done by the Grooming Crew...The Race Department issues a Season Calendar every season, so Race Dept. requests don't catch us with our pants down. The Race Team need different runs groomed early on Swing Shift for their Early Training on the Mountain, too.

The Marketing Department has scheduled events that need a little Grooming Help from time to time. DemoDays, photo shoots, News Crews to ride with a Groomer...the list is as varied as it is endless. Over the years, I built Bars with my snowcat for Après-Ski Parties, built launch pads for New Years Eve Fireworks Shows, towed brand new cars and trucks up the mountain for Sponsor's Events, and towed them off the hill the next morning...there's never a dull moment when Marketing calls!

Just a couple more 'till we're done!
The Maintenance Departments need our help from time to time. The Lift Maintenance Crew has their own cat equipped with a hoist, forklift, and welder. They let us know when and where they'll be taking their cat so we'll be able to follow along after them and clean up their mess. There's always a note on the Work Orders about these projects, so we can follow up before opening.

Building Maintenance can have the worst jobs on the hill...every once in a while, they'll need to dig up a pipe or conduit that's in the ground. The Groomers push all the snow away from the area in question, and hang around to help the backhoe over the snow to the site. Once the Maintenance Guys wrap it up, the Groomers hear back to the scene to cover the scene of the crime so to speak...trying to keep the clean snow on top is murder in the dark!

The last one is fun, but it's a pain in the ass too because this call always comes when you're all done with your shift and headed back to the shop! Security hails the Grooming Crew by 2-Way and say: "We've got a vehicle stuck near..." Now the last thing a groomer wants to do at the end of a good shift is tow some dufus out of a fresh groomed Over the Snow Vehicle Road! We only get a couple of these a year...usually early season, and often as not, it's a new employee showing up for their first day of work! "Well, I drove in last time I was here!"

It's not easy for tired groomers to "suffer fools lightly"...it's not in our written Job Description, but it's understood...kinda like a Gentleman's Agreement. At least there's always a good story to tell afterwards!

That's the story of the Work Orders. Armed with the Work Orders, the Plan is in place for the night. That's when my job gets interesting! Things change, cats break, guests go missing and searches are mounted, or we get 12 inches of "Partly Cloudy"...all these things play into the mix. The orders must be completed by opening.

What about the Terrain Parks, The Half Pipe, and SkierCross Course, you ask? Well, my Mountain has a Grooming Crew and a Park Crew. We work along side one another, and together when the chips are down. I'm the Free Groomer Guy, those guys are the Park Crew...I'm not that Guy.

Working With My Tools

The Boss called today. He's all pumped because the weather is cooperating with the Snowmaking Plan. He thinks he can beat the Target Opening Date by a week. It depends on those pesky Computer Models they use at the NWS Office to forecast the weather going forward, and a good measure of help from Mother Nature.

After most of the week having trouble with their models diverging all over the map, all the models aligned overnight and voilà, Snowmaking Temps low enough to hang a dream on! Frigid nights ahead bode well for the plan, and now I know when I'll be heading back up the Hill.

My Family's Thanksgiving is safe. I've ordered the Bird, and I'm testing some new recipes this week.

I've got some carpentry jobs to wrap up, and some wrenching on my Pickup still to do. Deadlines are the Ultimate Motivator.

Here at the Ancestral Digs, my tools and toolboxes fill half of the Two Car Garage. They'll be busy for a couple of days before I pack the Pickup full of toolboxes and toys and roll up to the High Sierra.

When I started writing for CorduroyPlanet, I wrote about the Online Tools I use to keep tabs on the Weather Forecasts, Remote Sensors, and Road Conditions. I promised to list those tools, and today I make good on that promise. Behold the "CorduroyPlanet Toolbox"!

I put The Toolbox atop the Right Column so it's easy to use. I'll add Tools as I find more useful ones.

When Thanksgiving Proper rolls around, I'll be climbing back into my favorite tool, my good ol' Prinoth BR350 Groomer. The Boss said "no expense was spared to get the fleet in top shape, and that we'll have a Graveyard Mechanic full time like always...whew!

I love that BR350, it's been a Groomer that just works. It's got a big heart, and rarely did it let me down. It's never lost it's Hydrostatic Fluid, so it's pumps and motors are good and tight...still, having full mechanic coverage will ease my mind though...my cat does have 5000+ hours on her clock. 09/10 will be her last season on my mountain, she'll be traded in next year for a new one.

I've operated some great cats in my time, my favorite old Bombardier had 12K+ hours on it when I finally got in a new rig. Progress is a wonderful thing. That old Bombardier was State of the Art when she was new, her replacement a few years hence was too. My 350 was a revelation when I got it, and I can only hope that next year's model continues the upward arc I've come to expect from the breed.