I'm about to go to the country and wrap some outside pipes. The temp will be around 30* or so with a mix of rain, sleet and snow. I dread having to get out in it, and the 80 mile round trip drive in traffic will not be fun.

This brings me to my question: What kind of work do you folks in the Frozen North do and how far do you have to commute?

 

Well,Ill be thefirst one to say, I HATE THE COLD!!!!!! We are in the mist of putting up a new mega- hog farrowing barn, and it will hold 2500 sows, and the false floor is getting this new kind of plastic grating sysem with plastic coated cast-iron centers and they all have to be assembled. this just so happens that they have to be assembled ON-SITE! the pit is there but no building stick built on the site yet {so this means we are on top of a hill standing on 3ft'x60'ft strips of concrete that are hanging over a 14'ft deep manure pit-it is empty ecxept for 2 foot of ice! assembleing 2'x2' plastic pieces together-if not breaking them! all this with a 20-30mph west wind and its been -2 degrees the past 3 days here!!: I honestly cannot dress warm enough. They are talking a high of -6 tomarrow!mad: I am ready to hybernate!

 

Wow! I just thought my couple of hours outside today was bad.

You need to move that pig farm to South Texas.

 

I work at a Water Pollution Control Facility. Checking clarifiers and mixers on the decks are pretty chilly. doodah has it on the head: frigid up here right now, lots of wind whipping through the river valley. I commute 35 miles one way every day. I chose to live in a small town and work for the big city. I love winter, personally, but I prefer to be waiting for a prize buck, freezing my keester in a tree stand instead of standing in a fine ice mist thawing Liquid Oxygen pressure relief valves in -20 weather.

Where I grew up in Wisconsin got considerably colder for longer periods of time than where I live in Iowa, but we really get the winds that chill clear to the bone!!!

 

Farming.......................

Spend 3 or four hours at a time feeding cattle and moving bales on an open tractor, wind and snow whipping in your face. was -26 monday.

Today is much more mild but one of the worst blizzards I have seen in a long time.

Roads are almost impassable......

I generally commute about 1.5 - 2 hours a day. Not today though!

Got stuck down at the other farm. Than alternator quit chargin (probably due to engine compartmen being packed full of snow )

Not much fun.......

Last January we dug an irrigation pond for three weeks or a month. Temperature was -38 overnight. Had to leave the cat dozer running 24 hours a day or else it simply wouldn't start. Hittachi High Hoe with Isuzu diesel always started very well. But would not stay running.... Frozen fuel lines, water, dirt etc. as well as gelled fuel issues. Spent hours wrenching on that thing with another guy, freezing our tails off.

Ever had frost bite???

Oh well... builds character.

 

I laugh at these people in Florida...after 6 yrs of Alaska winters, this Florida winter is a joke! It'll be 40-50 degrees outside and people are wearing winter coats, hats, and gloves...I'm running around in a thin flannel shirt.

I've seen -45 and I've seen -30 for 2 weeks straight...had to work outside in some of that too. You know it's time to go warm up when the moisture from your breath freezes to your eyelashes and the upper and lower eyelashes freeze together every time you blink!

You know you're in trouble when you start taking your clothes off because you feel too hot when you're actually too cold...that's severe hypothermia and your brain is playing tricks on you.

Stay warm! Don't let the iceworms bite! And don't lick the frost!