Spring Snow Out & A Flying Chicken

Well, today marks the day that all of the snow (what little we actually got) completely melted from the yard.  We have had about four days now with temperatures of 50 degree plus!  Looking at the weather forecast, we migth even be hitting 80 degrees this weekend!  Crazy for March!  I know March can be pretty unpredictable and we might see some more snow, but I think these will be the last set of front and back yard shots for the 2011-2012 snow season!

 

 

To go with the nice weather, I noticed a bunch of motorcycles, old cars, and old trucks cruising around the streets.  I usually don’t like to take the Trans Am out until we get a good rain storm to wash all the salt off the roads (which we got on Monday) and then I usually wait for city streets to get swept.  Since we had such a weak, mild winter, there is almost no gravel on the roads!  So, I figured today was a great day to wake the Trans Am for the 2012 driving season!

 

 

The battery just needed a quick charge and it fired right up!  After about a 30 minute idle warm up, Will and I hit the streets!  We went up to Mom and Dad’s then cruised Bloomington a bit.  He LOVES riding in the Trans Am.  Even though he fell asleep, I’m sure he will want to go again sometime!

Vehicle History & Horsepower Quest!

I have been doing some thinking lately about the vehicles I have owned in the past and the memories I have had with them.  I have wanted to document each vehicle individually on here for some time now, but it always get put on the back burner.  I even teased about it HERE a couple years ago.  So below I am going to chronologically list each vehicle (with a picture) I have owned over the years.  I am also going to list the engine size, horsepower, torque, and transmission type.  I hope to, over the next year or so, do an individual write up on each one of these vehicles.

 

1986 Jeep Cherokee

2.8 L (173 cu in) V6 – 115 hp/145 lb ft of torque – 5 speed manual

 

1985 Lincoln Mark VII

5.0 L (302 cu in) HO V8 – 180 hp/260 lb ft of torque – 4 speed automatic

 

1994 Chevrolet K1500 (Regular Cab, Long Bed) Pickup

5.7 L (350 cu in) V8 – 200 hp/310 lb ft of torque – 4 speed automatic

 

1999 Chevrolet Suburban K2500

7.4 L (454 cu in) V8 – 290 hp/410 lb ft of torque) – 4 speed automatic

 

1980 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

4.9 L (301 cu in) V8 – 150 hp/235 lb ft of torque – 3 speed automatic

 

2006 GMC Envoy

4.2 L (258 cu in) I6 – 291 hp/277 lb ft of torque – 4 speed automatic

 

Listing the information about the engines and transmissions brings me to the second part of this post “Horsepower Quest.”  I consider myself a “car guy.”  I can appreciate all makes, models, types, and styles.  I like many kinds myself. If you look at the above engine power ratings, I haven’t exactly owned any overly powerful (fast) vehicles.  I have always held onto my vehicles for longer than normal periods of time and always gone with more practical than impractical vehicle choices.  Sadly, after looking over the numbers I just realized something….I have never owned a vehicle with more than 300 horsepower?!?!  This is something that needs to change! :)

Leap Day Snow Storm…

Maybe “Snow Storm” isn’t the best term to use, but considering this winter, it was pretty much the closest thing to a storm that we have received!  The news and radio were predicting anywhere from all rain to 12 inches of snow, depending on where the storm tracked.  We ended up with about eight hours of rain, which then froze, turned to slush, and then was coated with about two inches of snow.  This made for horrible driving conditions and difficult shoveling.  I have still yet to use my snowblower!  It is nice to have some more snow on the ground, but they are predicting temperatures in the 40’s next week and possible even one day of 50 degree weather, so I don’t think the snow will be sticking around!

 

 

February Snowmobiling 2012

Well, believe it or not, we did actually manage to go snowmobiling!  Our plan was to go up to my friend’s family cabin in Bayfield County Wisconsin.  When his dad got up there on Wednesday, he let us all know there was decent snow to ride on!  The plan was for Dad and I to leave early (0600) Friday morning and head up.  We were going to be met up there my Phil Larson (my buddy’s Dad), then Brian Larson, Brian Moline, and Bob Claerhout would all be arriving that same morning.

We put about 75 miles on the first day and another 75 miles the second day.  It seemed that the area where the cabin is had the best snow.  I would say a solid three to five inches with areas that were in the seven range and some down to a trace.  We basically just road the trails, fire roads, and logging trails until we started to run out of snow, then turned around and road a different way!  This made it more difficult to get to a town for a final destination, but it was still fun riding!  We ate out on the trails a couple times and enjoyed some good bar food!  We didn’t come across too many other snowmobilers, but the few we ran into were having pretty good luck finding snow, just like us.  the temperatures stayed in the mid 20’s most of the weekend.

The only mechanical issue we had the entire weekend was a rusted bolt on the tilt release of Brian Moline’s trailer, and Dad lost the low beam and high beam headlights and the brake light on his sled.  Then high/low beam dimmer switch appears to be broken, so that might have something to do with it, but since we didn’t do any night riding, it wasn’t a huge deal.  I managed to fix the plug fowling issue on my sled last fall, so it was nice not having to change plugs every 50 miles.

I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall, it was a great trip.  I was hoping we weren’t going to get skunked snowmobiling this year, and this was just what we all needed!  I’m not sure if we will be going out again this year or not, but even if we don’t, I am happy with the season, considering the lack of snow we have had all year!

Well….

We got another couple inches of snow.  I didn’t get a chance to take any “before” pictures, but basically there was no snow at all in the front yard and the only snow/ice in the back yard is where the shadow of the house prevents the sun from melting it.

 

It sounds like we are supposed to get a couple more inches over the next few days, but the temperatures are floating in the mid 30’s so I don’t think it will stick around too long!  We have snowmobile trip planned for this weekend, but I don’t think it is going to come together.  Northern Wisconsin, doesn’t have much more snow than we do!  Hopefully we will get a good dumping soon!

Captain Coupon!!!

That is what I am calling myself, at least after today!

The grocery store we regularly go to, CUB Foods, has a gas coupon deal in place with a local convenience store/gas station, Holiday.  The deal is, for every $50 you spend at CUB, you get a $0.05 off a gallon of gas coupon (limit to the first 15 gallons of gas).  Well, with a family of four, we have had some larger grocery store trips over the last few weeks.  We had a pending $0.25 off a gallon coupon and a $0.15 off a gallon coupon.

Most of the gas stations around the Twin Cities have been regularly accepting competitors gas coupons, even expired ones, and they don’t enforce the gallon restrictions.  On Tuesdays, the same stations that accept competitors gas coupons also double them!  However, Holiday will not double their own coupons, this included the special CUB Foods ones.  So what does this mean you ask?  I can take my CUB Foods/Holiday gas coupons to SuperAmerica and they double them!  That’s right, $0.50 off a gallon and $0.30 off a gallon!

 

Altima:

16.861 gallons @ $3.49 per gallon = $59.00 – $4.80 coupon = $54.20

Enovy:

20.292 gallons @ $3.49 per gallon = $71.00 – $6.08 coupon = $64.92

 

That is a total savings of $10.88 in gas just by having a coupon and being lucky enough that both our cars needed gas on a Tuesday!

 

I am CAPTAIN COUPON!!!

 

(Bonus Question:  Leave a comment and tell me what CUB stands for in CUB Foods.  My wife, parents, and sibling are not eligible to play!)

This Is Getting Old…

Not that I am real surprised but the little bit of snow we got a couple weeks ago isn’t sticking around.  I figured that couple inches would last until the end of the winter, but the 47 degree day we had today combined with the normal temperatures over the last couple of weeks in the 30’s, the snow didn’t stand a chance.

 

02/06/12

 

Since Dad and I didn’t go on the last snowmobile trip, we are hoping by the end of this month, when we have our next trip planned, we will have some decent snow finally!  I am also hoping for a real snowy March!  I seriously can not remember a winter like this in the past 15 years…