Winter advice for people new to winter

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:

Pearl Sutton wrote:I'm absolutely not desperate to do this. I have no real need at all. I have nowhere I need to go that bad. I'm mostly just tired of being in the house and curious :D
If I DID have a need, it might be a good trick to know about.
I can get my mowing deck to 6 inches up.
Don't have a clue whether it would start, it lives outside under a tarp.

I understand the feeling: I'm getting a bad case of cabin fever myself. I'm making a list of chores: When to graft, which trees/ bushes to get, from whom... Go over the seeds I've saved. Thumbing through seed catalogs. Any seeds that are too old will get tossed in fertile ground, in case they'd grow, somewhere, close to where the chickens can get at it. I fixed their door today. Before too long, spring cleaning and taxes. I'm not sure which one I hate the most. I want to build a chick-mobile... Spring fever... bad. Projects ... good.

I'm tackling sewing projects - same concept - keep my mind off things I'd *love* to be working on outside, but it's just not safe - we're getting rain on top of icy snow, so you never quite know where your foot will land once your weight's fully on it. I already had a bad fall 3 days ago - I'd just got my Right shoulder working and am back to square one or nearly... sigh...

However - we get wet heavy snow. A friend of mine bought a snow blower attachment for a walking tractor. He pushed it out of the shed through the snow - bad idea, as the front was now in the heavy snow and when he went to start it, he broke the shear bolts and spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how to fix it. Patience is a virtue. If I'm patient with this snow, it will go away on its own.

I think it may or may not work depending on lots of things.  Driving over the snow may suck it up and blow it out the side discharge.  Driving along and using the side discharge to blow snow on your right farther to the right may also work well.

My mower can't even pick up leaves off the driveway when I drive over them but it blows the ones on my right away.

I'm sure it would be highly dependent upon how wet the snow is.  Above 25 degrees I wouldn't try it.

I'm pretty sure it won't harm your mower at all to try as long as you don't leave a lot of snow on the mower to melt and rust it out.

Hubby figures if you don't have snow chains for your lawn tractor (yes, they are available - we just got a set), it probably won't work because you'll just get stuck. Go ahead and prove him wrong if you're that desperate to get out of the house! Actually, with the cold you guys are getting, it might be good just to start it and let it run a little to charge the battery?

If it's used to sitting all winter, I'd not start it to keep the battery charged.  Cold starting can take a bit of oomph and idling to recharge may take longer than you think (just a suspicion).  So you might end up with less juice than you started with.  On the other hand, an engine that runs every once in a while tends to start better the next go around.  On the first hand, older mowers require different viscosity oil for below 32 degrees.  If you don't have the thinner oil in there it could do some engine damage until it heats up.

Hm. I don't want to hurt it. Don't have special oil in it, forget what's in there, 15-40 probably, that's pretty standard for me. And I don't have chains, and it normally  parks up a short steep hill, might have to sleep in it's lower spot if I try this. Actually I HAVE chains. I do NOT require this enough to even consider putting them on. :D there's curiosity and amusement, and there's a shit ton of effort, and I have a large pile of work to do :) I might go out, see if it starts,see what it does within 8 feet of where it parks, and decide then if anything else happens.

As far as the throw, it still has it's grass deflector off from being a leaf picker upper, so it'll throw right and probably up, as well as a long ways. The idea of just using it to blow is interesting. It blows leaves well.  

Hmmm.... food for thought.

My best guess based on my friends experience with his skid steer is that you would have traction issues and likely not be able to get back up any hills you go down.  So if you do try it, keep that in mind.  Should you try it, please do let us know what happens, but since you really don't need to and it's an expensive piece of equipment I don't think I'd recommend it.

If you just want to get out of the house perhaps you can bundle up build a snow fort, and throw snowballs at anyone who comes by!

Pearl Sutton wrote:What happens if I take a riding mower to the snow? Does it blow it neatly? Damage the mower? I'd stay off the packed icky stuff, we got a lot of powder that's settling down now.

Personally, I wouldn't try this. With a light oil (5W30) or pre-warming, the engine would be fine. But snow is funny stuff. It may come down soft and fluffy, but when it's "worked" (mechanically manipulated) it turns into concrete. I suspect that's what will happen inside the mower deck housing, and possibly on the blades also. There's too much potential for imbalance and wear-and-tear IMO.

Looks like it'll remain speculation. I missed my window of opportunity to test it. The sun is out, and it's not powder anymore. I also have a severe back spasm that I can't get to calm down, don't think I could get on the mower if I tried.
Guess it remains theoretical....
Thank you all for input! Sorry I can't give results
Looks like housework again today

:D

Pearl Sutton wrote:Looks like it'll remain speculation. I missed my window of opportunity to test it. The sun is out, and it's not powder anymore. I also have a severe back spasm that I can't get to calm down, don't think I could get on the mower if I tried.
Guess it remains theoretical....
Thank you all for input! Sorry I can't give results
:D

So sorry to hear about your back spasm. Take care of yourself. Maybe a good warm bath with Epsom salts is in order. https://www.healthline.com/health/back-pain-home-remedies#:~:text=Take%20a%20relaxing%20Epsom%20salt%20bath&text=Soaking%20for%20about%2020%20minutes,can%20cause%20muscles%20to%20cramp.