Don Campbell this morning scraping the ice off snowblade at zero degrees.

Don Campbell this morning scraping the ice off snowblade at zero degrees., originally uploaded by Don Campbell Models.

SNOWPLOWING THURS. MORNING- Even though it was only zero degrees this morning, it seemed nice not to have any wind. Deb took this picture of me cleaning the last bits of ice off the blade . I got most of it off with the scraper in a nearby snowbank.
With water and wet snow underneath, and zero degree temps cause the wet snow to freeze to the snowplow blades and it won’t come off. This is a picture of the quick-tach snowscoop with reversable sides I built 10 years ago. It looks strange , but it works excellent on my residencial accounts. I can pull up to garage doors within 2 inches and don’t have to get off the tractor and shovel.
FIRST SILVER SPADE PICTURE- I don’t get much time in the shop usually on snowplow days , but I will still post the first picture of the very early progress on the cool Silver Spade model I am now building tomorrow. Hope you like it, be sure to use your imagination as it is barely started. It is rare I post pictures this early in building a model. They just don’t look like anything at the early stages.
WEIGHDAY TOMORROW- Tomorrow is Feb. 1st and my first official weighday since Christmas. I haven’t done 100% keeping at 2000 calories everyday since then, but I am proud to say I have not missed a single day of writing everything down and adding it up. So that alone is not easy to do. Feb. is our hardest month and when we always gain our most weight.
Because of the icy roads every weekend, we have not left town since Christmas , so we get a little cabin fever by Feb. Often times we don’t leave town during the whole month of Feb. either because of the icy roads . So that leaves two months of extra time to eat junk, ha,ha.
Have a nice Thurs.
The picture below this one shows me scraping the ice off the truck plow this morning.

Don Campbell scraping ice off snowplow

Don Campbell scraping ice off snowplow, originally uploaded by Don Campbell Models.

Zero degrees this morning and Deb took this picture from the window of me scraping the ice off the Fisher truck snowplow . Under the deep snow it is still wet and slushy from the pouring rain two days ago. Once that slushs meets the zero degree temps, it freezes on the blade and you carry a half a yard of snow stuck to the face of the blade. You can see me using the ice scraper to get the last of the ice off. I scraped most of it in a snowbank because I didn’t want the mess in the driveway .

Real nice Blizzard in Gaylord Today

Real nice Blizzard in Gaylord Today, originally uploaded by Don Campbell Models.

POURING RAIN TO A BLIZZARD – Last night at 10:00pm it was pouring rain and this morning at 4:00am I was up and 8 inches of new snow had fallen in 45mph winds.
Under the snow was wet, slush and the top was powdery and light and good for big drifts. With zero visibility it was tricky trying to find the driveways , but us snowplow people were the only ones on the roads so we are used to it. The blower and tractor did a good job and now it is back in the shed and all cleaned up again.
It is still blowing and this picture shows main street today at noon with just one car parked on main street. Wind chill is over twenty below zero. Along with zero visibility my tractor cab windows wanted to freeze up and I had to clean the ice off the wipers and the glass a few times.
LOSING WEIGHT IS EASIER WITH HELP FROM SPOUSE- Deb and I are very lucky we work together when we try to lose weight. We have friends that can’t ever seem to want to diet at the same time. So one of them is always sabotoging the other one. Friday will be Feb. 1st and I will officially weigh in from the Christmas Weight gain.
SILVER SPADE PROGRESS- I now have the A-frame mounting brackets welded to the steel beams and the frame is now bolted in the revolving house frame. Next I will work on the first top roof section and box it in around the A-frame .
Have a nice Wed.

Don Campbell’s Stripping Shovel parts , nine main structures,breakdown.

Don Campbell’s Stripping Shovel parts , nine main structures,breakdown., originally uploaded by Don Campbell Models.

Silver Spade- This is not the Spade , but this illustration does show the similar type of construction on a massive stripping shovel. You cannot see the crawlers , but they are one part, then the lower frame section, the House, The overhead Gantry, The Crowd Handle, the Stiff Leg, The Boom, the Dipper handle and the Dipper. This give all of you a little better idea of the steps involved in me building the Silver Spade. I am working away on the A-frame again today building the bolting brackets . By tonight the main A-frame should be bolted to the revolving house.
No School today, BLIZZARD HEADING OUR WAY TONIGHT- We still are 60 inches short of snow this winter compared to last winter. We are supposed to only get 5 or 6 inches tonight, but the winds are supposed to reach 40 and 50 mph. Should be interesting. All the schools were closed in the area today because of ice.
COUNTING CALORIES BACK ON TRACK- Deb and I have climbed back up that slippery slope we have been sliding down the last week and and the last few days have done great and ended up each day with our daily calorie totals. . So we are very happy about that. Five years now we have gained all our weight back or almost all of it from now til spring. It’s hard to believe that could be done , but trust me, I am proof of it. I still think writing down everything I eat everyday and totaling it up is really keeping me from completely quitting.
Snowmobiling – It’s been over a week since I went for a ride on the Ski-Doo. I’ll have to take it out this week after we get some fresh snow. The conditions are very good with lots of snow base.
Have a nice Tues.