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S4-158: Winter Storm Fern at Dulles International Airport with Top Dog Services!
738 Plays9 days ago
The guys welcome Todd Dickerson of Top Dog, as well as some imported snow fighters who were brought in to help battle the storm at Dulles!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Setup
00:00:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Here we go, Snow Jobs Nation. We are back again bringing you episode 158 of the Snow Jobs Podcast, main show powered by Top Gun Backblades, the best show in snow. You know who I am You know who's with me.
00:00:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Steve and Jeremy for the 158th Monday in a row coming to you live. Well, not live. We're recorded. Everybody knows that. But we're doing it ahead of schedule. We are recording on Thursday.
00:01:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
So this can you know this is not going to go well.
00:01:12
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:01:14
RICK JAMES
so
00:01:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
The universe does not like when we do anything other than Sunday night under the guns. We have technical glitches galore. never works out. but What's up, Jay? How you doing?
00:01:26
RICK JAMES
Hey, Steve-O, not a lot. It's been a pretty uneventful week here, kind of laying low, not much happening, waiting for it to snow
Weather and Valentine's Day
00:01:34
RICK JAMES
again. How about you?
00:01:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
No snow? Nothing?
00:01:35
RICK JAMES
No snow. No, it's been like upper 30s all week, but nothing pretty.
00:01:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really?
00:01:40
RICK JAMES
Yeah, there ain't much snow left here besides the piles.
00:01:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
They're going to going to Lake Fargo and stuff, you know getting in the water at 30 degrees out there.
00:01:47
RICK JAMES
I was at a dealership today and the yard was like ah like springtime, just mud. so
00:01:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow. That's crazy. and Nothing on the horizon for you?
00:01:57
RICK JAMES
Next Wednesday, I think it is. They're talking something. Which sounds like The track right now looks like it's all going to go. The heavy stuff is going to go north of us, but we'll probably get our standard inch.
00:02:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
So you get 24 hours of pushing and then 72 hours of hauling.
00:02:15
RICK JAMES
Yeah, that's the plan.
00:02:17
RICK JAMES
That's the plan.
00:02:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go.
00:02:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Nobody, nobody has it better. I'll tell you. That's great. Well, I mean, anytime you want to come bring some of this shit from the East back to you, I'm fine with that.
00:02:27
RICK JAMES
I tried.
00:02:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh
00:02:27
RICK JAMES
I tried.
00:02:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
No, you just chased it.
00:02:29
RICK JAMES
That's why.
00:02:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
You didn't try and bring it back with you.
00:02:31
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:02:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, you just chased it out here.
00:02:31
RICK JAMES
Wow. Yeah, I wish it was somewhere where I could chase it right now because honestly pretty bored.
00:02:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
What?
00:02:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
We're getting lucky, actually. This is the second straight weekend. We're going to miss out on a big one again. It looks like it's going out to sea again if the weather guys are correct.
00:02:45
RICK JAMES
heard that. Now
00:02:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
I mean, whoever knows. but
00:02:49
RICK JAMES
now you're going have to stay home and bring your wife out for Valentine's Day.
00:02:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
We got hockey. so
00:02:56
RICK JAMES
Oh, hockey day.
00:02:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah hockey Yeah, hockey knows no breaks. right so it's a We'll be celebrating at the rink. Does anybody do Valentine's Day, really? I mean, come on.
00:03:08
RICK JAMES
Every restaurant in town booked apparently. don't know.
00:03:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
I don't know.
00:03:12
RICK JAMES
Steve's
00:03:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
I don't know. I don't know about that. She got flowers. She got chocolate. She got, she, you know, she had all the boxes checked. I got it. But it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:03:22
RICK JAMES
Look at you, mr Romantic.
00:03:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's, ah you know, that's me. Definitely.
Megastorm Fern Stories and Guest Introductions
00:03:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah in a nutshell uh but yeah it's uh it's been a good week man we ah we got we got a little surprise snow the old 10 o'clock last night text but oh by the way we're seeing some activity you might get a a quick dusting or something and we sure enough we did So glad the, uh, we did, we did get it.
00:03:47
RICK JAMES
Did you get it? and i talked to you last night. You said you'd.
00:03:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
I, uh, I'm glad the dog woke me up at two 30. Cause I, I let the dogs out and, uh, everything was covered. i'm like, you gotta be freaking kidding me. But just enough to burn up some of that precious salt that we're running out of. So it's a interesting.
00:04:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
but Yeah, so this was supposed to be this was supposed to be an episode all about salt this week, and we got canceled on.
00:04:09
RICK JAMES
you can use gravel.
00:04:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
So they can't let out all the all the salt conglomerate secrets just yet.
00:04:16
RICK JAMES
Got canceled.
00:04:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
They got to see what's able to be said and what's not able to be said, apparently.
00:04:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah. well, we'll see what we can get them.
00:04:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. Yep, we'll see why we'll see how it goes. But, yeah, so like Jeremy said, today we're going to be talking to a few of the guys who went out with him and helped Top Dog Services out at Dulles Airport during Megastorm Fern that hit a couple weeks back.
00:04:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
So to help us do that tonight, we got Todd Dickerson, all right? The big dick himself is here at Top Dog, Mr. On-the-Boat-Chillin'. He hates what I call him. Ha, ha, ha.
00:04:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
We got Tom neck who's been on multiple times with the glacier crew. We got Josh putz Abrahamson of Valley green. He's always attached to the, at the hip with the glacier guys. You know, they do everything together and we got Arctic Steve podcast, Steve Smythe.
00:05:10
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:05:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. And they all flew out to chase the big storm out East cause they couldn't buy any snow back in the Midwest. So They all came out here to see what real snow looks like and get a big dose of it.
00:05:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
And it was by the videos and pictures we saw, it was ah they had a good time. It was a lot of lot of pushing. you know East Coast equipment cannot hold up to Midwest operators. you know A couple trannies were dropped. and you know not the
00:05:37
RICK JAMES
Whoopsie.
00:05:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
I heard everything did not make it through unscathed.
00:05:40
RICK JAMES
Whoopsie-daisy.
00:05:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah it happens it happens but that's what we got for you today we're going to talk about it and uh you know that's it's one thing to to plow that much snow and know commercial settings but it's a whole nother thing to keep an international airport up and running during that kind of storm so looking forward to hearing about it and it's definitely worth hearing about but before we do that as always we're going hear from team top gun we'll come back and do a quick weekend review we got a couple announcements to make and then we'll get into it with the boys
00:05:45
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:06:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
all right we're back thank you top gun like we said we can review last week uh we had a bunch of my fellow local new york snow pros uh they came back on with us they did the pre-storm you know prep episode and then they came back on to tell us how the storm actually went for them and you know what they went through and that was a really good episode so thanks to those guys for coming back on with us and doing that twice in three weeks Well, let's see. Everybody will love hearing this. Storks Plows announced the dates for Snow Alliance 2026, and they are April 24th and 25th. Tickets will go on sale the end of February on the Storks webpage.
00:07:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
For those interested, Storks is going to be having a golf tournament during the day on Friday the 24th before the welcome party that night that is sponsored again by Case Construction Equipment.
00:07:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Saturday's format will be the same from what Gene said, much of the same. But Friday, I think they will also have a couple deep discussion deep discussion groups, panel discussions going on Friday afternoon, if I read that correctly. But like I said, we got some time, so we'll hammer out the details with Gene as more of them come become available. They've been just as busy as we all have, if not busier.
00:07:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
um So but that to put it on your radar It is April 24th and 25th This year for Storks Snow Alliance 26 Let's see what else I had something from Jeremy Kirkham Jeremy needs me to make an announcement for him Let's see here So Jeremy needs some snow Some snow guys from the US and Canada To be Let's see he needs them to be surveyed he's got They got to fill out a survey. It's for something they're doing to pass a CSA standard for snow and ice up in Canada.
00:08:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
So he needs a he needs some people from America and Canada that are willing to be surveyed by the CSA.
00:08:36
RICK JAMES
USA.
00:08:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
it's yeah it's also yeah He says it's also going to become an ANSI standard in the future, and it's to basically eliminate the lowballers and the chucks and the trucks because it would be mandatory training and operations and stuff like that.
00:08:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
industry standards so if you're interested uh email him at jeremy.kirkham k-i-r-k-h-a-m k i r k h a m at clintar c-l-i-n-t-a-r.com all right so reach out to him if you want to be involved in that survey Keep hitting the like and subscribe on Apple podcasts and Spotify. Definitely keep giving us the reviews guys. They click the five stars and, uh, keep, keep hammering them up there. Those five stars actually mean a lot more than most people think.
00:09:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Um, so the more of them, the better. So definitely keep hitting it for us on Spotify and Apple podcasts. Uh, we have a lot more five-star ratings than, uh, even some mainstream podcasts. So it's, it's kind of nice to have a niche market podcast with that kind of, uh,
00:09:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
that kind of following. So keep hitting the, uh, keep hitting the like button. Keep giving us the five stars on both of those. Um, let's see. New sweatshirts are in. Jeremy's got new sweatshirts. They're out. I'm wearing one now. It's nice. Uh, like it. It's kind of like a muted black and gray.
00:09:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Uh, very cool, very different from what we, what we already have in the store. So go to snow jobs, nation store.com and check them out.
00:10:05
RICK JAMES
Reflective.
00:10:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
They are reflective. They are reflective.
00:10:08
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
00:10:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
So do not wear them in committance of a crime at night. You will be visible.
00:10:17
RICK JAMES
And we ran out of backpacks, I ordered some new ones today.
00:10:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Whoa. You got backpacks coming.
00:10:22
RICK JAMES
i got some new ones coming.
00:10:24
RICK JAMES
So I got you some stuff coming too.
00:10:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
00:10:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, cool.
00:10:27
RICK JAMES
So
00:10:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh oh are we traveling in style this year?
00:10:32
RICK JAMES
we are.
00:10:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice. Nice. Snow jobs luggage coming soon.
00:10:38
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:10:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah ah Where did you find Travis Matthews suitcases?
00:10:39
RICK JAMES
least for us.
00:10:44
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:10:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's all I got. I got to know that. Like is Gucci making carry ons now?
00:10:46
RICK JAMES
No, Lulu. V-R-E. V-R-E.
00:10:52
RICK JAMES
Seven diamonds. You know, only the best.
00:10:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
her oh well, that's cool. So stay tuned for the Gucci snow jobs suitcases. We'll be coming soon.
00:11:03
RICK JAMES
I don't know about that, but we'll have them.
00:11:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, keep ordering the new tumblers. They are in there flying off the shelves. A lot of guys seem to like those. And like I said, check out snowjobsnationstore.com for all your apparel needs. And thank you, everybody, for all the recent orders. They've been coming in.
00:11:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
So what else? We got anything else we got to say? Announcements or anything?
00:11:23
RICK JAMES
um think so. I think that's about everything we were talking about. so
00:11:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool. All right. Then let's hear from our partners. We'll be right back, and we'll get into with the boys.
00:13:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, we're back. So let's welcome in all the boys.
Storm Experiences at Dulles Airport
00:13:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Todd, Steve, Putz, and Tom. How we doing, guys? Everybody good?
00:13:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
00:13:57
Arctic Steve
Doing good.
00:13:57
Todd Dickerson
What's up?
00:13:57
TK
yeah, great.
00:13:57
Putz
Yeah,
00:13:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good. Very good. how was ah How was your big trip east?
00:14:05
TK
was a good time. was lot of fun.
00:14:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah? All right.
00:14:09
Putz
it was good.
00:14:09
TK
so Saw all that real snow, you know.
00:14:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
And what'd you think? It was, it was actually, you got sleet. You guys don't get sleet out there, right? Much not inches of it like that, or it's literally trying to push a million BBs in one direction.
00:14:18
RICK JAMES
Not really.
00:14:20
Arctic Steve
I like that.
00:14:21
RICK JAMES
No.
00:14:24
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:14:25
Arctic Steve
was heavy.
00:14:25
TK
crazy how heavy that stuff was, yeah.
00:14:26
Arctic Steve
That was heavy.
00:14:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, it's very heavy. It gets very heavy. Yep. And it don't like to be pushed around either. Don't stay where you want it to fun though, but that's cool.
00:14:35
RICK JAMES
Yeah. yeah
00:14:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
So winter storm fern at Dulles international airport. You guys were all at Dulles, correct?
00:14:44
RICK JAMES
Yes, sir.
00:14:44
Arctic Steve
yes
00:14:44
Putz
Yeah.
00:14:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, Todd, what did they tell you you were getting down there? What did your weather guy say? He's usually better than most I hear.
00:14:52
Todd Dickerson
ah He was 9 to 13.
00:14:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nine to 13. All right. That's reasonable.
00:14:55
Todd Dickerson
And, you know, he did have the sleet coming in. The official measurement was 7.9 at the airport, but we never believed them anyway.
00:15:07
Todd Dickerson
um I mean, look, there's a lot of years on on this podcast right now with snow. And I'm telling you right now, it was every bit of 11 to inches of snow. And then the sleet came, in my opinion.
00:15:21
Todd Dickerson
So...
00:15:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
I believe it.
00:15:22
Arctic Steve
I agree.
00:15:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
And that's, and the sleet, if you get sleet on top of any snow, that's compressing your total.
00:15:24
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:15:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
So by the time those national weather service spotters wake up at 1130 in the morning, go out to their freaking slotted table with their yardstick, it's four inches less than what you had minimum.
00:15:40
Todd Dickerson
No question. No question. So it was ah it was a challenge. We tried a couple different techniques at different areas. um I think are our game plan of shutting one of the areas down and just doing it once the sleep was done was a good idea. But then, of course, all the airport people started driving on the place that we wanted no action and just compacted it and made it even worse. So, you know, that turned into...
00:16:08
Todd Dickerson
the the great idea turned into a nightmare. um But I would have done a couple of things differently looking at it now, you know, a couple of weeks later, even though I'm still in the middle of paperwork nightmare, um you know, looking back every now and then I'm like, I would have done this, I would have done that.
00:16:26
Todd Dickerson
But yeah.
00:16:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
I think that's everybody, every storm.
00:16:29
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
00:16:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's never perfect.
00:16:30
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:16:30
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
00:16:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's always a work in progress. What now, when you got a storm coming like that, because this is different than most people that are listening to this show, not many people out there are doing international airports. So when a storm of that magnitude is coming, does the airport have a plan to say, hey, we're going to, when it hits three inches, we're shutting down? Or like, how does that work? Do they just want you to keep it open as long as possible?
00:16:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
really have a plan.
00:16:56
Todd Dickerson
Yeah. so
00:16:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really?
00:16:57
Todd Dickerson
um, generally across the board at most airports, shutting down is, is taboo, right? Like they either have to start paying back the airlines or rent situation or, you know, compensating the airlines for shutting down.
00:17:11
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:17:14
Todd Dickerson
So generally what they'll do is they'll let the airlines move all their aircraft out of the area and cancel everything on their side, but they won't shut the airport.
00:17:25
Todd Dickerson
Um, I can only think of one other time that the airport totally closed, and that was during Snowmageddon 2009 and 10. two thousand nine and ten and the only reason they closed is it was like five hours four hours of i mean white out conditions you could not see the front of your truck i mean that's how bad it was um and literally they just told everybody just park and and stand stand down and you know we'll we'll fire everybody back up once it's once it's safe but
00:17:59
Todd Dickerson
um I think at one time all the runways were closed at Dulles during Firm, um but i don't think anything I don't think it was ever officially, the airport was ever officially closed per se.
00:18:14
Todd Dickerson
So, but the the hard part with Fern is they left us 57, what we call RONs, which are overnight parking airline airplanes, which generally were in the 20s, right?
00:18:29
Todd Dickerson
So, you know, you almost had three times the normal amount of RONs because they couldn't put them anywhere. They were they flew some planes to San Francisco. They flew them to Denver, but every place else was getting it.
00:18:42
Todd Dickerson
I mean, you know,
00:18:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, it was miles long
00:18:45
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, there was no hiding spots for the airplanes. So I know they flew a handful to San Fran and a handful to Denver. But other than that, they didn't have any place to to hide them.
00:18:56
Todd Dickerson
um So it turned into it turned into a challenge a little more of a challenge than what we thought. um You know, i think I'm really excited.
00:19:08
Todd Dickerson
We have a team's call scheduled with these guys next week to kind of debrief on the whole thing and get their views.
00:19:09
TK
Thank you.
00:19:16
Todd Dickerson
um I think right away we need to make some equipment adjustments for, you know, to give us more op, you know, I'm a big options guy like leave things in the yard if we need them go get them.
00:19:30
Todd Dickerson
For example, instead of rubber cutting edges, which is what we normally always use right, but we haven't had temperatures this long this cold in over 30 years, so you know, like we need to have
00:19:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:19:46
Todd Dickerson
you know both rubber cutting edges and then steel cutting edges as well, because we were fighting that scenario the whole time as well. So, you know just little, I don't want to say little things because those are big things, but Little things that we're adding to our list that we got to revamp. And I'm sure Arctic's going to love to hear that we want some ah steel cutting edge boxes. But ah <unk> we'll ah we'll make some adjustments and you know train, train, and retrain, and and hopefully get better better as it goes along.
00:20:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, like you said, I mean, you're not normally dealing with those kind of conditions where you're you're having lockdown cold for that long. So, I mean, it doesn't happen until it happens. And then once it happens, then okay, now we have a plan for when that happens again.
00:20:37
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, exactly. So
00:20:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
You got Jeremy Lindstrom in ah behind a rubber edge?
00:20:44
Todd Dickerson
he didn't know it was a rubber edge. All he saw was the Mercedes cabin chassis. And he's like, Ooh, that goes well.
00:20:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
gotcha all right yep that that makes sense that makes sense yeah it's uggs oh my gosh ah ah
00:20:51
Todd Dickerson
That goes well with my ah juicy, my juicy gouture jumpsuit.
00:20:52
RICK JAMES
It was a poly edge. I had a poly edge. had a poly edge.
00:20:57
Todd Dickerson
yes
00:20:57
Arctic Steve
lu lu Lulu. Lulu.
00:20:59
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
00:21:00
RICK JAMES
Ooh, fuck yeah.
00:21:00
Putz
uh
00:21:00
Arctic Steve
yeah
00:21:01
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
00:21:02
RICK JAMES
Hey, I go for comfort, man. I don't care what you all say.
00:21:04
Todd Dickerson
His Uggs didn't get wet.
00:21:04
RICK JAMES
I didn't even bring my Uggs.
00:21:05
Todd Dickerson
I can tell you that.
00:21:08
RICK JAMES
I didn't bring my Uggs.
00:21:12
RICK JAMES
i think I've worn them one time.
00:21:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh my good lord
00:21:15
Todd Dickerson
One too many.
00:21:15
RICK JAMES
And I did not buy them. i did not buy them. They were given to me by another snow guy.
00:21:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
No, that still doesn't make it right.
00:21:22
Todd Dickerson
I don't know. But no, I kind of like to just sit back.
00:21:25
RICK JAMES
Lupin.
00:21:27
Todd Dickerson
I don't want to say sit back, but I want to hear what these guys say, right?
00:21:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
That still doesn't make it right.
00:21:30
Todd Dickerson
Like, you know, beat me up, tell me what's good, what's bad. And, you know, let's talk about it.
00:21:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, I mean, let's lea let's let's hear it. like You guys all flew in for the big one. What were you expecting? Was it was it what you expected? Was it worse? Was it better? you know Was it nothing you even imagined? like What was it like working at an airport? Nobody's ever done that before, have they?
00:21:54
RICK JAMES
No, no, no.
00:21:54
Arctic Steve
yeah it was the for go ahead jeremy
00:21:55
TK
Never.
00:21:58
RICK JAMES
Go ahead. No, like I said, I've never worked at it. I mean, i' I went there once, like a month before and checked it out on a little, but you know, on an event that didn't really happen. So I kind of knew a little bit, but nothing like, we never had an actual snow event like we had that time.
00:22:16
RICK JAMES
i mean, we were expecting the worst because Todd kept saying they're talking 20 inches and stuff, so, which we were, excited for we knew was gonna be a lot of work but i mean it was fun we all got there and the snow event it was great i mean we put we logged a lot of hours but i mean hours there go fast mean when you're working especially with bunch your buddies and stuff it's just time flies by and you're like oh i'm 30 hours in what the hell
00:22:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:22:45
RICK JAMES
probably go take a nap for a little bit now. But, no, it was a good time. i everybody Everybody in the crew, even the guys that went to Houston and Atlanta, they'd go to tomorrow again.
00:22:57
RICK JAMES
They all had a good time. So, i mean, it was – well, they did.
00:22:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, yeah, they partied, right? They didn't get hit, did they?
00:23:01
RICK JAMES
Yeah, they got treated really well.
00:23:02
Putz
Yeah.
00:23:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:23:03
RICK JAMES
tough Todd him a vacation.
00:23:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'll go again.
00:23:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:23:06
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:23:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
yes Sign me up for Houston. I'm in.
00:23:09
RICK JAMES
We're like, we're like, we're all working like 30 hour shifts.
00:23:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah but
00:23:12
RICK JAMES
And these guys are Snapchatting us. They're at seafood restaurants, eating all this food and shit and having a good time.
00:23:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah. i mean
00:23:19
RICK JAMES
but no, it was, it was good.
00:23:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's, yeah.
00:23:21
RICK JAMES
no Anyway, but yeah, the airport is a whole different ballgame. It was, you know, number one, you got to get through all the security and stuff like that. That's a whole different ballgame than what you're used to. So once you get behind that fence, you're kind of, you're back there for the duration, you know, until it
00:23:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
And wait a minute, this this whole crew on this episode passed security?
00:23:39
RICK JAMES
Well, we, yeah.
00:23:40
Arctic Steve
We were smuggled in.
00:23:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Holy it crap.
00:23:41
Arctic Steve
We were smuggled in.
00:23:42
RICK JAMES
We were snuck in, smugg smuggled Smuggle.
00:23:43
Arctic Steve
we were smuggled in
00:23:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay. They got a hollowed out fuel truck that's empty.
00:23:48
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:23:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
They just pop them out tank. All right, get out.
00:23:51
Todd Dickerson
Like a clown car.
00:23:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's smuggling.
00:23:53
RICK JAMES
Pretty much.
00:23:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, Jesus. thats That does not say much for security. Oh, my goodness. but That's cool. So once you're in there, how's it go?
00:24:04
Arctic Steve
It was...
00:24:04
RICK JAMES
Yeah, go ahead, Steve.
00:24:05
Arctic Steve
ay it was It was super cool. I'm a big airplane buff, and it worked out pretty sweet because Putz and Tommy and I were kind the same little group, and we all have this flight flight tracker app on our phones, every private jet that we're coming in, we were running tail numbers, and everybody else is probably like, shut up, but we're like, check this plane out, check that plane out.
00:24:12
Putz
It
00:24:25
RICK JAMES
was nonstop. oh I was like, what?
00:24:26
TK
Yeah, was awesome.
00:24:27
Putz
wasn't.
00:24:28
Arctic Steve
We've seen...
00:24:29
TK
We were right by the private hangars.
00:24:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
What's seeing who owned it?
00:24:30
TK
were watching them all come in.
00:24:31
Arctic Steve
Yeah, we were over over in that area in the de-icing pads, and it was, I don't know, it was it was a dream come true for me. I mean, I've pushed snow a lot of different places, but between the airplanes and pushing snow, it was like, i I don't know, I've told Jeremy this a bunch of times, it couldn't get any much better for me than what we did, so it's pretty cool.
00:24:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hmm. Did anybody hit any planes?
00:24:52
Todd Dickerson
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:24:53
RICK JAMES
No, no, God, no.
00:24:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:24:56
RICK JAMES
Well, Steve almost got, he he got a little like surprised by you a UPS cargo plane.
00:24:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
but
00:25:01
Arctic Steve
Putsy, tell them the story on that. You saw it.
00:25:04
Putz
Well, yeah, we had to get this one gate cleaned off. They said this plane is coming at six and all a sudden in here, Steve talking on our like phone call and this plane's coming down the tarmac or whatever they call it.
00:25:17
Arctic Steve
Big UPS plane.
00:25:19
Putz
A big UPS plane. And so we were yelling like, Steve, you there? Like he's coming for you. And Steve wakes up and thinks this thing's coming right in his cab with his loader.
00:25:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:25:28
Putz
You know, he's sitting right there sleeping.
00:25:30
Arctic Steve
We were we were loading trucks and loading trucks and moving piles, and the trucks were gone, and it was just kind of that little, I don't know, if probably an hour 30 or whatever, but we were a little break between trucks, and I i dot nodded off and woke up and seen the seen all these lights shining, and these things were like right in front.
00:25:30
Putz
And he's like, oh, that guy kind of scared me.
00:25:47
Arctic Steve
i thought i I thought I went out on the runway or something. freaked out.
00:25:50
Putz
know
00:25:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Being abducted.
00:25:51
TK
You had to have been under the wing of that plane.
00:25:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
my gosh.
00:25:52
RICK JAMES
well
00:25:54
Arctic Steve
God.
00:25:54
Putz
yeah
00:25:55
Arctic Steve
ah
00:25:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
guys
00:25:56
Putz
Well, the best was right before that we cleared the FedEx one because we had had this big, you know, they got to get this deal done by 530.
00:25:57
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:26:03
Putz
And here's this little pole jumper hauling six packages that pulls up on the runway.
00:26:06
Arctic Steve
It...
00:26:06
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:26:07
Putz
We're like, should we wasted two and a half hours cleaning it for this little guy.
00:26:08
Arctic Steve
maybe
00:26:11
Putz
but But then the UPS, but he showed up.
00:26:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I needed that stuff.
00:26:14
Putz
So, yeah. Yeah.
00:26:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, that's funny. That's funny.
00:26:18
Putz
It was good times. ah It's definitely a different ball game than doing sidewalks back in Morehead or Fargo, North Dakota. So I don't get to push a lot of snow. And actually, i never even pushed snow out there.
00:26:32
Putz
i When I got in because me and Tom and Weston were on like second shift. And so when I got in, I started hauling snow and I ran the melter for a while.
00:26:43
Putz
and then we did a bunch more like pile relocation and stuff like that.
00:26:44
Arctic Steve
one.
00:26:46
Putz
But I mean, it you keep busy the whole time. And like Jeremy said, you're 20 hours in and feels like you just showed up for work. Like if you don't even know what time it is. So it's a good time.
00:26:57
Putz
so
00:26:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's cool. Now, like I said, I'm not familiar with airport operations.
Snow Operations and Equipment
00:27:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Todd, are you free to do basically what you need to as far as with the guys, or do you fall under any mandates that are there as far as mandatory rest, like with truckers and stuff?
00:27:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, a you got to rotate them every 12.
00:27:15
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, we work 12 hour shifts.
00:27:17
Putz
say
00:27:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's smart. That's smart and safe. Good good for you. Good for you. Yeah, that's, a it's cool.
00:27:22
Todd Dickerson
Yup. So when they're saying 20, they really mean 12 hours is what they were.
00:27:24
RICK JAMES
We just yeah, 12, and our other personality took over the next 12.
00:27:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
12.
00:27:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
twelve
00:27:28
Arctic Steve
Yeah.
00:27:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, no, i was I was at least taking it as you work 20 hours total that day.
00:27:29
Putz
Yeah, yeah, yeah
00:27:33
Putz
yeah. she Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:27:34
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:27:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
with
00:27:35
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:27:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah Okay, got it. 20 hours is not that big a deal.
00:27:37
RICK JAMES
we got We got different personalities, they count. no
00:27:40
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
00:27:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah ah
00:27:42
Todd Dickerson
Exactly.
00:27:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, that's i mean that's pretty cool. That really is cool. So what was um i'm trying to think what what was the visibility like? Were you guys getting the the rates that we were getting, like the two-inch-an-hour deals, where it was just total whiteout, or or was it a little little more easy down there?
00:27:59
Putz
Bye.
00:28:00
RICK JAMES
It snowed pretty hard for a while. It came down really pretty good. I think we got some good shots. were doing a storm chase in episode two when we were out there and we had camera crews out there. So they got some pretty cool shots at where snow was coming down really good.
00:28:13
RICK JAMES
it I mean, it was it was it was different, obviously. Us, the crew I have here, we don't get to see snow like that around here. oh we get this i mean, we get white out, but that's because if we get a half inch of snow and 80 mile an hour wind, we don't get like straight down snow where it's...
00:28:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
a wind
00:28:27
RICK JAMES
And it wasn't really straight down. It was actually blowing pretty good when we were out there too. So it was it was... I guess everybody said it was a little different because the wind was blowing. It doesn't usually blow like that. So...
00:28:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
what was the duration that it snowed actually how many hours did it actually snow for
00:28:42
Arctic Steve
it It started what about seven o'clock Saturday night that Saturday night somewhere around there.
00:28:47
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, yep.
00:28:48
Arctic Steve
It went through
00:28:48
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:28:51
Arctic Steve
Good part of the day Sunday, right?
00:28:51
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:28:54
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, I would say Sunday. i would say it was a good –
00:28:57
Putz
It was like Sunday at 8 o'clock, I think.
00:28:58
TK
I think 8 p.m. eight p m Sunday night.
00:29:00
Arctic Steve
Yeah.
00:29:00
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, I'd say 24 hours, 25 hours, but the last the last chunk of that was just pelting sleet.
00:29:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really?
00:29:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha
00:29:07
Todd Dickerson
I mean, accumulating sleet that is what really shut everything down at Dulles is the sleet because the planes will not and cannot fly in that.
00:29:19
Todd Dickerson
So they ground FAA grounds everything in pellets.
00:29:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah because that'll screw with the engines right the ice pellets yeah they can ingest water but i don't think they can ingest the solids real well that's so that's cool so does that now when they do that is that like how does that work for you guys is that like a like a big relief when okay we got sleep now they're shutting down flight ops now we can catch up catch up on the runways or or do it or is that just you know still the same shit burger
00:29:24
Todd Dickerson
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:30
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, exactly. So,
00:29:38
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:29:38
TK
Thank you.
00:29:48
Todd Dickerson
So we, we don't, at Dulles, we don't handle any runways. We handle some of the taxiway stuff, um, near the cargo areas.
00:29:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:29:56
Todd Dickerson
We handle some of the, uh, we handle all the, all the gates and, um, ramp area. Um, but at Dulles, they have their own runway team, which these guys all kept sitting there staring at them.
00:30:09
Todd Dickerson
Like, how do we get on that?
00:30:10
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah.
00:30:11
Arctic Steve
Yeah.
00:30:11
Todd Dickerson
How do we get, i'm like, he can't get on that.
00:30:12
RICK JAMES
it
00:30:13
Todd Dickerson
He can't get on that.
00:30:14
RICK JAMES
Oh, that's, that was pretty cool.
00:30:16
Todd Dickerson
Um,
00:30:16
RICK JAMES
the The train, they call it, they call it the train.
00:30:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
And what do they use to do that? Are they the multifunctionals as well?
00:30:20
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, I think they have like 47 multifunctionals in their there arsenal.
00:30:21
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:30:21
Arctic Steve
yeah
00:30:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, wow. How many multis does it take to...
00:30:27
RICK JAMES
Yeah. It's,
00:30:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
I don't even know how wide runways are. Like, how many multis does it take across to get it in one shot?
00:30:35
Todd Dickerson
So generally, um like in Atlanta, we use five and we do two passes. So. um You know, you you do, I mean, if you wanted to do it, the way you would do it is you do like three Maltese, then a blower to get rid of the windrow and then three more um Maltese and then another blower and you would, you'd probably get the whole runway that way.
00:30:59
Todd Dickerson
Maybe not light to light, but you would get it.
00:30:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:31:02
Todd Dickerson
So, you know,
00:31:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Interesting.
00:31:04
Todd Dickerson
Yeah. I mean, if you go to Buffalo, I mean, they barely even, i don't want to say they barely touched the runway, but like, they're not worried about like the light in Buffalo.
00:31:05
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:31:13
Todd Dickerson
You drive in there, it's like going over a, a cheese grater when you land, um you know, but different areas have different, you know, expectations and, you know, it's, it kind of is based on each airport.
00:31:30
Putz
I thought it was kind of crazy like these what do they call them the train or whatever but they left like from the United Gate and then to the north was like the the Delta and American gates and stuff like that so they left that whole like tarmac or runway area
00:31:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:31:35
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:31:45
Putz
And they come in Sunday night and start clearing that. you know It was a foot deep, let's call it. And they're coming down to that taxiway. And they push it all the north. And by the time they finally got down there, mean, it took a lot of passes. It's a super, I mean, a lot of concrete, really wide.
00:31:58
Putz
um It had to have been three to four foot, like, wind drill. And then they start splitting it apart with these loaders. And they had, I don't know, 30 or 40 off roads. They started hauling it all out. I mean, that it was a lot of you don't realize how much concrete is there and how much snow has to get hauled out of an airport until you actually see it.
00:32:15
Putz
um
00:32:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, all of it.
00:32:16
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:32:16
Putz
It was me and Weston were over there, I think for sure. And they started coming in and we're like, they're moving all that snow to that one side. we're like, there's no way they're going to make it happen. And they they made it happen and they hauled it all out before six zero in the morning that next day. And it was one impressive operation. Like, I mean, it was pretty cool to see. So.
00:32:35
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, I mean...
00:32:35
TK
You should have seen the de-icing pad. they The de-icing pad we had looking perfect. The thing was spotless, just gorgeous.
00:32:40
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:32:40
Arctic Steve
ah
00:32:42
TK
Like, could have been a could have been one of the lots back here. And then all of a sudden that train came through and they just blew all that snow right back onto of the de-icing pad.
00:32:49
RICK JAMES
ah
00:32:50
Putz
he
00:32:51
Arctic Steve
They did it twice, Tommy.
00:32:51
TK
It was amazing watch, but holy crap.
00:32:51
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah, they did it a couple times.
00:32:53
Arctic Steve
Tommy, twice they did it.
00:32:53
TK
It was four feet, yeah, twice. Four feet of snow they had sitting there after they came through. like, oh, God.
00:32:59
Putz
yeah You guys were just saying, i you didn't even know how to move it. You're like, what do I do?
00:33:03
TK
yeah
00:33:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
how big is it the icing pad for those out there that don't know what what kind of area is that
00:33:09
Todd Dickerson
one points
00:33:09
RICK JAMES
it's big.
00:33:10
Todd Dickerson
1.6 million is the big de-icing pad.
00:33:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh oh so that that makes it sound different like you should say the icing block or something like well the icing pad sounds like a shed yeah yeah oh my gosh
00:33:14
RICK JAMES
yeah It's... it's big it's
00:33:16
TK
massive.
00:33:19
TK
Yeah.
00:33:19
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
00:33:20
RICK JAMES
as
00:33:21
Arctic Steve
With 1.6 million square feet with a lot of J lines.
00:33:26
Putz
well
00:33:26
TK
Yeah.
00:33:26
RICK JAMES
Yeah, the J-line.
00:33:27
Arctic Steve
ah
00:33:28
RICK JAMES
Get the J-line.
00:33:29
Putz
um
00:33:29
Todd Dickerson
these guys These guys love some of the terminology and how my guys are communicating to them on the radio.
00:33:30
RICK JAMES
ah
00:33:35
Todd Dickerson
I think we're, go you know, you guys talk about t-shirts all the time.
00:33:35
Arctic Steve
What a.
00:33:38
Todd Dickerson
I think we just came up with a new t-shirt.
00:33:40
Arctic Steve
Yep. wrote Roland, Roland's one of the, one of Todd's supervisors and awesome guy, just very knowledgeable, very good guy.
00:33:42
RICK JAMES
Blue blade, J-line. Blue blade, J-line.
00:33:50
Arctic Steve
And he kept getting on the radio. He's like, Blue Blade, because that's, we had some plows on our our loaders that were blue. He made Blue Blade do the J line. Finally, like, what is fucking J line? And then he explained it.
00:34:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
speak English
00:34:02
Arctic Steve
But i i I wake up, I wake up in the middle night yelling Blue Line, J line in my head still.
00:34:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
blue blade J line flashbacks post-traumatic stress oh my god that's funny so Todd did you split this whole Midwest crew up or were they working in the same area
00:34:09
Arctic Steve
Yeah.
00:34:09
Putz
Thank you. with
00:34:13
Arctic Steve
It was awesome.
00:34:15
RICK JAMES
You gotta get a tattoo with the J light on or something.
00:34:17
Putz
mail man
00:34:24
Todd Dickerson
um I had to split them up because, you know, you get the band of brothers together, you know, you know how things that basically. um Well, let's talk pre-storm, right? Jeremy and I talked about how many guys, you know, were coming and how many guys I had coming from Iowa.
00:34:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:34:40
Todd Dickerson
And then, you know, we we game planned on. All right.
00:34:45
Arctic Steve
Okay.
00:34:45
Todd Dickerson
Because at the time when we first started talking about this, I mean, even the local channels were talking 18 to shit, Jeremy. I think it was up to like 26, wasn't it?
00:34:55
RICK JAMES
Yeah, that's what you're saying.
00:34:56
Todd Dickerson
like that So, I mean, of course, we're stoked for that, right? Because they weren't talking sleet or anything yet. So we're like, man, this is going to be beautiful, cold, real fluffy snow. We're going to eat this up.
00:35:08
Todd Dickerson
And so we came up with a game plan on, all right, send these to Houston, send these to Atlanta, send these to Dulles.
00:35:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Thank you.
00:35:15
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:35:16
Todd Dickerson
And then when the Dulles crew got there, we had split the, ah we just called them the Fargo boys, split the Fargo boys in two shifts and they'll just cover each other's shift or whatever the case may be.
00:35:29
Todd Dickerson
And that's kind of how we did it. And then, you know, I think some of them were like, I'm not going to bed. I'm staying i'm staying up for this. And next thing you know, it was like, All right, well, I'll put some of my other guys down.
00:35:42
Todd Dickerson
And then, you know, and, you know, the biggest challenge is, you know, the the security situation, right?
00:35:48
Putz
right.
00:35:49
Todd Dickerson
Like, again, on my list, I would, for future events, I'd fly these guys in here and and get them badged and and, you know, so that we don't have any I don't want to say restrictions, but it doesn't limit us at all to, you know, getting them to where they need to go, knowing what signs mean what, like, you know, just the the lay of the land a little bit.
00:36:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
could be a big deal. Not knowing what the signs mean.
00:36:16
Todd Dickerson
Yeah. I mean, it it's totally, and I think these guys will admit, look, I've been, this is our 25th year at Dulles, is our 30th year in business.
00:36:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh
00:36:22
Arctic Steve
Thank
00:36:25
Todd Dickerson
And like, to this day, when I drive on the airfield, I still get white knuckled at times. Right. And I've done it. I can't even count how many times I've been out there.
00:36:36
Todd Dickerson
And, Whether it's daytime or nighttime, it's a totally different world, you know day or night. So I mean, I don't know if any of these guys saw it, but I had some grown men that have worked storms for me before, but have never worked a storm like this before that cracked.
00:36:44
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
00:36:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm. huh
00:36:57
Todd Dickerson
I mean, totally cracked, like, get me off this airfield. i i can't do this. I'll come back you know during the daytime. Not that they haven't worked night before, but, you know, the conditions were just above and beyond of what some of these guys have seen. And, you know, they've had they've had coached in their head, you know, stay away from the planes 40 feet away, 25 feet away here, you know, whatever.
00:37:24
Todd Dickerson
And, you know, your mind starts playing tricks on you at night when the the lighting's different and everything's different.
00:37:25
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:37:25
Putz
you
00:37:30
Todd Dickerson
And, you know, it's just it's snowing to beat the bands. Right. So.
00:37:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
hmm. Hmm.
00:37:35
Todd Dickerson
um We definitely had a handful of guys you know call me and say, I need a break. I got to get off this airfield. you know Get me back to the hotel like now. And had to switch out, which I've seen it happen numerous times, especially during the bigger events. um you We're not perfect.
00:37:55
Todd Dickerson
Even landside, we had some... let's just call them fender bender, shall we call them? um You know, so it happens, right?
00:38:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
It happens. It happens.
00:38:04
Todd Dickerson
um You know, so that That's kind of how we game plan the the sniper crew that came in. And like I said, we had Jeremy's group come in. We had some guys from Iowa come in I had some other guys from Pennsylvania come in.
00:38:18
Todd Dickerson
So they were spread all over in West Virginia. Let me not leave those guys out. So um so we had them spread all across the country in different different spots. Oh, were you?
00:38:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
and We were actually we were able to record some some audio of you talking to one of your supervisors about the Fargo Boys.
00:38:40
Putz
Hehehehe.
00:38:43
Arctic Steve
Oh,
00:38:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Every of the times.
00:38:50
Todd Dickerson
I would never play that in public.
00:38:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
00:38:50
RICK JAMES
That'll be true.
00:38:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah public that's got to be super stressful though i can't even imagine like pushing snow and having like a 737 bearing down on you like that's that's a whole different level of pressure
00:39:08
Todd Dickerson
So, you know, these guys were so locked in at the, at the, at their, uh, on their J-lines that I wanted to get them over to the gates more because it's kind of it's like snow guys that we are, it's kind of fun to hear like, you know, hey, D32, you got six minutes, let's go, right? And quick response, get in there, get it get it to where the plane can get in, hit the J-line before you leave, and, you know, you're sitting there, and by the time that last – pieces pulling out you know ends coming the the 787 max at the gate and you're like holy shit like that's that's crazy so but you know i think we got them a little bit of that um you know when we were running at the end and stuff
00:39:45
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:39:49
Arctic Steve
Okay.
00:39:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
it.
00:39:55
RICK JAMES
It's definitely definitely different working around the the gates.
00:39:56
TK
Thank you.
00:39:59
RICK JAMES
and you know I was at the de-icing pads quite a bit of time. and in like I don't know what day it was, but it was I ended up being at the gates and stuff throughout the night loading trucks and doing doing some fine detailing with the 744 right around airplanes and stuff.
00:40:14
RICK JAMES
That's pretty fun.
00:40:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Now, let me ask a question for somebody who knows nothing about airport operations here, which I think most of our listeners out there, same
Airplane Operations in Snowy Conditions
00:40:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
thing. How how much snow can a plane roll in, basically? Like, what is their traction like once they land?
00:40:30
Todd Dickerson
So they're they're allowed to to travel in four inches of snow.
00:40:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:40:37
Todd Dickerson
um
00:40:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
I wouldn't have thought that much, so that's good.
00:40:39
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, per FAA, they're allowed four inches. Yeah,
00:40:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
They put the Nokians on in the winter. You're good to go.
00:40:45
Todd Dickerson
yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:40:47
Arctic Steve
Thank
00:40:47
RICK JAMES
Ugh.
00:40:48
Todd Dickerson
um but obviously we always try to keep it way less than that um and mwad does a pretty good job of of uh keeping the taxiways and the runways priority one areas open um but i mean look anybody that says this storm wasn't a challenge based off of multiple situations is kidding themselves um you know i mean We sent melters to Baltimore City a few days after these guys left, and they just stopped working Sunday morning.
00:41:20
Todd Dickerson
um And I got a call from one of the other contractors that's up there this morning.
00:41:22
Arctic Steve
Thank
00:41:26
Todd Dickerson
He's already been told he's working six more days up there with his loaders and dump trucks. So, like, this place is still digging out and moving moving snow. And, you know, it's crazy here.
00:41:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:41:38
Todd Dickerson
Just because don't deal with these temperatures.
00:41:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, they're not really equipped for it, right? Yeah. And they're not really equipped to deal with mega storms down there. You don't like you don't hear Maryland getting wiped off the grid with 10 inches of snow plus very often.
00:41:50
Todd Dickerson
No, I mean, generally we'll get those East Coast bombs, which are are fine and we'll get a day of, you know, single digits.
00:41:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:41:59
Todd Dickerson
But I mean, we're not below zero for numerous days on end.
00:42:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
No No us either This has definitely been the most Locked down cold winter we've had in a long Long time Hmm
00:42:04
Todd Dickerson
I mean, numerous.
00:42:12
Todd Dickerson
Yeah. So, I mean, we've had people calling us to move piles and I'm like, you really think we can move the pile right now? Like, let's let let's let the sun hit on it for a couple of days and then we'll come in and, you know, beat up the equipment, but there's no reason to just go there and keep hitting ice.
00:42:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hmm
00:42:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely. What now for you guys have mentioned it 15 times already. What the hell is a J line? Cause everybody's going to be asking that question. I already see the questions coming in. Once this drops.
00:42:42
Todd Dickerson
So, Archie, Steve, you know this by now, so I'll let i'll let you answer that.
00:42:42
Arctic Steve
Todd.
00:42:45
RICK JAMES
Steve Seam knows it.
00:42:46
Putz
ha
00:42:47
Todd Dickerson
All
00:42:48
Arctic Steve
So the J line is where the correct me if I'm wrong, Todd, where the front wheel of plane lines up on it and that's his path.
00:42:52
Todd Dickerson
right.
00:42:55
Arctic Steve
So the pilot the pilots are up there moving their planes in and they have to follow that line.
00:42:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, to get to the gate, get to the gate. Got it.
00:43:00
Arctic Steve
So when there's 10 inches of snow or four inches of snow or three inches of snow and you don't know what a J line is, you got to find the J line.
00:43:06
RICK JAMES
You got find the damn J-line.
00:43:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:43:10
Arctic Steve
And it was, yeah, needle in a haystack. Once we figured it out, and we were on it. the blue The blue blades were chasing J-lines.
00:43:15
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:43:18
RICK JAMES
and And you ain't fucking around. You're hauling ass because somebody's coming with a plane or something.
00:43:23
Arctic Steve
Yes, it was.
00:43:23
RICK JAMES
so you you got to be moving.
00:43:24
Arctic Steve
ah
00:43:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:43:25
Arctic Steve
I mean, we're always moving when we're doing our commercial lots and stuff too, but it just felt like this was a whole different type of pace. It was very, I don't know. It felt, I don't know.
00:43:34
TK
A
00:43:35
Arctic Steve
You guys tell me what you thought, but it felt like it was very high pace.
00:43:38
TK
lot of pressure, yeah.
00:43:39
Arctic Steve
yeah Yes, that was, yes.
00:43:40
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:43:41
Arctic Steve
And it, ah I don't know, that's why I probably dozed off finally when that truck left, but like your your adrenaline's like at 110% the whole time because you're, I don't know, we're not on the runway, but these big things are coming by you, so you're always, your head's on a swivel.
00:43:55
RICK JAMES
Yeah, it's definitely a different ballgame where you obviously wasn't all of our first time doing this on an airport and a big airport like that. So number one, we don't want to fuck up.
00:44:06
RICK JAMES
We don't want to screw anything up. So you got that in the back of your mind.
00:44:08
Arctic Steve
Yeah, we don't want...
00:44:09
RICK JAMES
We just want to do everything perfect and try to hit everything right. So we, so, I mean, yeah, it was, it was nerve wracking for a while. And then you, after you, you know, got in a groove, it you know, everybody kind of cooled down.
00:44:21
RICK JAMES
At least I think we did all did. You know, we, we were all, everybody was like quiet for for like the first 12 hours.
00:44:22
Arctic Steve
Yeah.
00:44:27
RICK JAMES
And after that, everybody's like, okay, we were,
00:44:30
Todd Dickerson
Well, it's funny, all these all these guys show up with these headsets on, right?
00:44:30
RICK JAMES
We're getting this now, so...
00:44:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
We got this. We're pros now.
00:44:35
Todd Dickerson
And they're all on these, you know, phone calls and headsets and they're like, hey, you need to get on our call. I'm like, my phone never stops ringing right now. Like the last thing I want to be on is another phone call.
00:44:47
Todd Dickerson
Like, You know, where I get my enjoyment is I get to go jump in ah in a loader or blower or whatever for an hour and I leave everything in the truck just to, you know, to get away.
00:44:59
Todd Dickerson
Meanwhile, these guys are the total opposite, right? Like they want to be talking to all their boys, which I get.
00:45:02
Arctic Steve
Thank
00:45:05
Todd Dickerson
Like that's that's fun. And believe me. I would assume if I went to, I don't know, Fargo or New York and, you know, I didn't have to answer my phone 9 million times, you know, it'd be a lot, a lot more fun for me to sit on ah headset and be on a group phone call.
00:45:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
you know You don't have two phones, Todd?
00:45:22
Putz
It was lot less stress. I mean, like Jeremy and I run a lot of guys.
00:45:25
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
00:45:27
Putz
And when we got out there, I'm like, this seems really weird. We're going go push snow tomorrow night. And I haven't made a phone call yet. Like, this is really different.
00:45:35
RICK JAMES
yeah It was great.
00:45:36
Putz
So, yeah, i'm like this it does it it didn't seem right, but it it was really good.
00:45:37
RICK JAMES
It was great.
00:45:42
Putz
So, yeah.
00:45:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Putsy, how did they rope you into this, Putz?
00:45:43
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
00:45:43
RICK JAMES
Putz relaxed. Having a good time.
00:45:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, weren't you in, like, Montego Bay or something? Weren't you away on vacation?
00:45:49
Putz
in ah o po I was in Palm Springs, California, and Jeremy's like, oh, Todd might need some guys out in D.C. So I asked Nikki, I'm like, if they need help, do you mind if I go?
00:46:01
Putz
And she's like, oh, no, I don't care. So we were supposed to come back to Fargo on Saturday, and then i ended up going out to D.C.
00:46:04
Arctic Steve
Sorry.
00:46:07
Putz
on Friday. So a day early, went from coast to coast, and yeah, it was good. tod Todd picked us up, and about two in the morning gave us a D.C.
00:46:16
RICK JAMES
what
00:46:17
Putz
tour, and Yeah,
00:46:18
RICK JAMES
Yeah, we did a tour at at 2 in the morning after we picked up putts.
00:46:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice. At 2 a.m. m that's That's when you want to do a tour of DC, right?
00:46:25
Putz
yeah it was awesome.
00:46:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah to
00:46:26
RICK JAMES
yeah That's the second time I've done that.
00:46:27
Putz
hu
00:46:28
RICK JAMES
It's the best time.
00:46:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:46:28
Putz
Yeah, we were waiting for Steve and all these guys to get in.
00:46:29
Todd Dickerson
Nobody wants go in there during the day.
00:46:32
Putz
So it was it it worked out good. There was nothing else going on. And yeah, we yeah got a little joy ride around in Washington, DC. So yeah.
00:46:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
00:46:41
RICK JAMES
It was fun.
00:46:42
Todd Dickerson
That's where all your new um you know modeling pictures are from that for the website or more.
00:46:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool.
00:46:47
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:46:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:46:48
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:46:48
Putz
three of them
00:46:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Saw all that.
00:46:49
RICK JAMES
Yeah. The next, the next day when we, when picked the other guys came up, they were supposed be in a midnight too. And same time putts to it, but their playing got delayed. So I think we picked them up like three in the morning, three.
00:46:59
Putz
all night.
00:47:00
Arctic Steve
As close, close to three.
00:47:01
RICK JAMES
this So then the next day we got up and had breakfast or like, well, we guys want to something. think Tom was like, Tom and Wessner, like we want to go see some DC stuff. So was like, Todd, can we, you care if we go and run in DC quick? And,
00:47:17
RICK JAMES
So we took ah Dave from Unseen and and he was kind of our tour guy and I was driving the old, what, 15 passenger van or whatever it was.
00:47:23
Putz
That
00:47:24
RICK JAMES
And he went to the tour guide through DC with my crew. That was that was great. That was a fun time. Guys, we all got to take our quick pictures and I mean, it was it was great.
00:47:30
Putz
was really a thing.
00:47:30
TK
Oh, yeah.
00:47:32
Arctic Steve
was That was fun when we rolled up to the Capitol in that big black van and like, what, eight of us get out of it and the camera guy, Dave's there with the camera and the Capitol security, the Capitol police come and they're like, what are you guys doing?
00:47:40
RICK JAMES
Yeah, he's, he's shoot us like we're somebody.
00:47:46
Arctic Steve
What are you doing?
00:47:46
Putz
Yeah.
00:47:47
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:47:48
TK
Yeah, i was i was never there in the nighttime, but I enjoyed the daytime when the protesters were there and everything.
00:47:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man.
00:47:48
RICK JAMES
the
00:47:54
TK
you know It was fun to see.
00:47:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, you got to come east to see protesters. Actually, you don't.
00:47:59
RICK JAMES
if
00:48:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
You can go well you you can go to Minnesota.
00:48:00
TK
Thank
00:48:00
RICK JAMES
Yes.
00:48:01
Arctic Steve
i I can go 15 minutes north, Evo, and see plenty.
00:48:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go. That's it. you got You got the market cornered right now on that.
00:48:07
Putz
I
00:48:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, Todd disappeared in his boat again. He went overboard. ah no, he's back. ah
00:48:15
RICK JAMES
ah
00:48:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah I hope it was a Mercedes van that Jeremy was forced to drive.
00:48:19
Arctic Steve
It was a Mercedes, man.
00:48:19
Putz
ain't wife.
00:48:20
RICK JAMES
I think it was a Mercedes-Benz.
00:48:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah there All right, there we go.
00:48:20
Putz
Yeah.
00:48:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
So see, Todd knows the deal now. You know?
00:48:25
Arctic Steve
isn't there a song Wasn't there a song like back in the 80s, Mercedes girl or something?
00:48:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
got
00:48:25
RICK JAMES
doesn't
00:48:29
Arctic Steve
I don't know.
00:48:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
I don't know, but I'll find it because I think the next shirt we're going to do is something bougie, like Snow Job's bougie.
00:48:31
Arctic Steve
who ah good
00:48:37
RICK JAMES
Hey, that was great.
00:48:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:48:38
RICK JAMES
The guys all had a good time. I mean... I was like, I don't care. I'll jab the van as long as I got a tour guide. Dave was great. Dave knew all the spots. And he's telling me where to go. And he had the camera in our face and stuff.
00:48:50
RICK JAMES
So it was it was fun. We had a great time.
00:48:51
Putz
next time though that much snow and they need me four-wheel drive because when me Tom and Weston got picked up at the hotel we had to push them out at least two times we're out pushing them out digging them out yeah they they don't get too much snow but uh but it was good to get the job done so yeah
00:48:56
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
00:49:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's fun. So overall, you guys like plowing at the airport?
00:49:14
Putz
yeah
00:49:14
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
00:49:15
Arctic Steve
Yeah, the it was an awesome experience.
00:49:15
TK
Yeah.
00:49:17
Arctic Steve
i think I think one of the coolest experiences for me, too, was just the whole the whole experience with what Todd did. You know, we we get there, we get picked up by Jeremy and them in the van at 3 in the morning. Hotel was already set for us. We were there. We went and checked in the hotel, and they had all their rooms ready for us. And then what blew me away as we do this. I mean, we take guys out for breakfast and stuff when we're out plowing, but they had three meals minimum a day for us, and they they have their big, you know the big kind of,
00:49:44
Arctic Steve
their headquarter area where all the equipment is and their jobs, the job site starts from, and you get the option to go there and eat, or they, they deliver food out to you. Getting three, three meals in a machine a day.
00:49:55
Arctic Steve
It was just like, man, Jeremy's got Jeremy's got to figure it out for for next week.
00:50:00
Putz
Yeah,
00:50:01
Arctic Steve
I come up there. I want to expect the but, uh,
00:50:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
uh
00:50:04
TK
Yeah, we were spoiled.
00:50:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:50:04
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:50:05
TK
we were spoiled for sure.
00:50:05
Putz
yeah that's why I mean like the
00:50:06
Arctic Steve
We were spoiled. I mean, that the hospitality that they gave for us, it was it was great. And it wasn't just for us. It was every every guy that works for those guys, they were doing the same for all them. you know And it's it's different when you're plowing you know when you're plowing a Walmart or or you know something in the cities or whatever where you you have plenty of gas stations to go use the restroom or whatnot. You're kind of limited when you're out on the space. And Wayne would come pick us up and bring us to a bring us to a restroom or whatever. It was just top-notch.
00:50:36
Putz
Yeah, one thing I'd like to wait to is like, I mean, if it snows in Fargo or Mankato or wherever, like it starts snowing at seven, we might go plow at midnight, right?
00:50:37
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
00:50:45
Putz
Like you show up at midnight to go to work. Where like here it didn't start, I mean, let's say it starts snowing at 10 o'clock at night and we were on the airfield at, you know, six o'clock that that evening. And because it just takes so long, i mean, you have to be prepared to like, I mean, you got to get through the security and get on to the to the job shack, get your equipment.
00:51:04
Putz
Like, there's a lot more like pre planning than there is back in like Fargo, North Dakota, right? Like, If it's going snow tonight, we're not worried about until 2 in the morning. But out there, you got to be worried about it six hours prior to get all those people onto the airfield or on to wherever you need to go.
00:51:23
Putz
So it's a total different planning ballgame. And it was definitely cool to see because it's something that doesn't happen around here. So...
00:51:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
And Todd, are you guys in constant contact with the airport side, the those personnel?
00:51:37
Todd Dickerson
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, that' problem
00:51:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
So you're on a party call. You're on with them.
00:51:41
Todd Dickerson
yeah i mean that's probably 80% of my phone calls, on in all honesty. And then I got two of our radios going. um I got one of the United radios going. And think that's all I had this storm, but that was enough.
00:51:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
what's ah What's a typical call from the airport personnel sound?
00:51:59
RICK JAMES
Well, you...
00:52:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, who are these morons you have on these J-lines? Something like that along those lines.
00:52:06
Arctic Steve
Yeah.
00:52:06
Todd Dickerson
No, they're actually like, you guys are killing it.
00:52:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
but
00:52:09
Todd Dickerson
Can we get these guys back? And I'm like, well, we'll see. We got to talk about.
00:52:13
RICK JAMES
ah
00:52:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
What kind of plow are the blue blades? Because I saw a bunch of video with those in there.
00:52:19
Todd Dickerson
The big Walsall high speed funnel blades. Um,
00:52:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
They're high speed? Nice. how How high speed?
00:52:25
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, generally generally you'll use those on, you know, you'd use them on a taxiway or a, a ah you know, on the edge of the runway because the funnel will get that, you know, snow coming off high enough where you're over top of the the light extensions, which are like, I think they're like 12 inch light candlesticks, basically.
00:52:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:52:45
Todd Dickerson
um So you're not snapping the the lights off with just a regular plow. which now everybody's kind of going to, you know, the the blowers to just blow it over top of the the light sticks.
00:52:54
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:52:59
Todd Dickerson
So,
00:53:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Now, this might be a stupid question, but is there a is there a rule or any kind of regulation as far as the windrows? You can't just push snow into piles because of the wings and stuff. So, like, how how do you deal with that? You just get a blower and blow it somewhere where it can go or into a truck?
00:53:19
Todd Dickerson
so
00:53:19
RICK JAMES
is an un...
00:53:20
Todd Dickerson
on the runways you have to be outside the uh edge lights which are the are on those uh sticks right the candle sticks um and that that you can just openly blow wherever so like in atlanta we just you know well we haven't had accumulating snow there yet but basically you just run a blower right down the the the edge of the runway and just you know cast it into the the field or spot cast it with your shoot or whatever you need to do.
00:53:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:53:50
Todd Dickerson
um on the On the gates and such, we just, they give us, I think they gave us eight gates this time to build snow piles. And I mean, we had to couple those gates stacked.
00:54:03
Todd Dickerson
I mean, like stacked.
00:54:04
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:54:04
Arctic Steve
Yeah, they were stacked.
00:54:06
Todd Dickerson
And what, you know, Putsy kind of hit it earlier, people tend to forget. i mean, we just talked about the the the icing pad, right, at 1.6 million square feet. I mean, you put two inches on that and you work that, you know, 1.6 million square feet all in one direction.
00:54:21
RICK JAMES
so
00:54:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:54:23
Todd Dickerson
I mean, you're talking serious, serious windrows.
00:54:25
RICK JAMES
you
00:54:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's very misleading.
00:54:27
RICK JAMES
You lose a tranny in that.
00:54:27
Todd Dickerson
So
00:54:27
TK
with an angle.
00:54:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's very misleading calling it a pad.
00:54:29
RICK JAMES
You lose a tranny in that.
00:54:29
Putz
That's
00:54:32
Todd Dickerson
what's that?
00:54:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, I said it's very misleading calling it a de-icing pad because it's the size of like five city blocks, you know, I mean.
00:54:39
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, I mean, you know, we might have blown a tranny or two along the way. I'm not going to mention any names, but, you know, they got a little ah aggressive, but that's all right.
00:54:46
Arctic Steve
Lulu. Lulu.
00:54:50
Todd Dickerson
I mean, it happens, you know, the Uggs still didn't get wet.
00:54:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
I don't know. I was told he was within operational parameters.
00:54:56
Todd Dickerson
That's what's important.
00:54:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Is that true?
00:54:58
RICK JAMES
i was i was in operational parameters. i was doing what was told.
00:55:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
I was told it was within operational parameters.
00:55:04
Todd Dickerson
Hey, like I said, during during the whole thing, if that's the worst thing that happened in the event, we're we're doing all right in that kind of event.
00:55:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
00:55:07
RICK JAMES
Keep this...
00:55:13
Todd Dickerson
so And honestly, the boys got it all torn apart. I think it was yesterday. I don't know. My days are all running the together. But I think yesterday they tore it apart, and they've already got – Got the new one on the jack stand ready to go in tomorrow and hopefully have it buttoned up by Monday or Tuesday.
00:55:31
Todd Dickerson
So, um you know, it is what it is.
00:55:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
00:55:34
Todd Dickerson
And it's it's kind of a kind of easy when you can do that stuff yourself and not have to send it out and deal with all that in the air.
00:55:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, absolutely.
00:55:41
RICK JAMES
it was it was It was slipping when I got into it. So, you know, I just i finished it off.
00:55:46
Todd Dickerson
You were splitting it was?
00:55:49
Putz
yeah
00:55:49
RICK JAMES
It was.
00:55:50
Todd Dickerson
Oh, okay. Okay.
00:55:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Jeremy, were you in the the multifunctional the whole time?
00:55:55
RICK JAMES
Until the tranny went out, I was, yeah.
00:55:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Till you broke it.
00:55:58
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:55:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Till you broke it.
00:55:59
RICK JAMES
That was fun. The multifunction was unit to run. It was amazing. fun unit to run and it it was
00:56:05
Todd Dickerson
ah you were gonna say the tranny was a fun thing to run, but.
00:56:08
RICK JAMES
Oh, no, that's not me.
00:56:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:56:09
Putz
thank
00:56:10
RICK JAMES
That's probably you. That's you.
00:56:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah um
00:56:13
RICK JAMES
No, it was it was a it was totally different than anything I've ever ran. and But it was, you know, I drive truck a lot, so was pretty much just like that. it was a good time.
00:56:24
RICK JAMES
i mean, running that blade, the blower, or the broom and the blower, it was, you know, pretty much,
00:56:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
and putsy tom and steve were all in loaders blue blades
00:56:33
Arctic Steve
Blue Blades.
00:56:33
RICK JAMES
you know,
00:56:33
TK
Blue Blades.
00:56:35
Putz
Yeah, I was in a loader with the bucket. So 744 or don't know. Yeah.
00:56:38
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:56:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know you can plow pretty fast with Ardix, too.
00:56:44
RICK JAMES
Yeah, we're going to have that conversation.
00:56:47
Todd Dickerson
Slow your roll there. I mean, I know you're on commission, but, you know.
00:56:51
Putz
ah
00:56:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
no Oh, yeah, I wish.
00:56:53
RICK JAMES
wish I was.
00:56:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
That'd be great because we've sold a ton of them. That would be fucking awesome, actually.
00:56:58
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I know.
00:57:00
Todd Dickerson
Don't worry.
00:57:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
we we should probably talk about that.
00:57:01
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:57:01
Todd Dickerson
I listened to the Razorback podcast.
00:57:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, dude, that thing. Oh, my God. did you Did your brother get to use it yet?
00:57:12
Todd Dickerson
he did
00:57:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
And?
00:57:13
RICK JAMES
Did you get the upgrade?
00:57:16
Todd Dickerson
um let's say he's had a couple line problems which we're trying to get fixed now yeah
00:57:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, dear.
00:57:23
RICK JAMES
all leaks? Yeah.
00:57:23
Arctic Steve
that's That's easy.
00:57:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, I'm telling you, my guy Mark is going to be hired by Arctic because I haven't had a single leak on a single line yet, and I beat the balls off that thing this winter trying to make it fuck up.
00:57:32
Todd Dickerson
yeah
00:57:34
Todd Dickerson
No, I will say he spoke very highly of it. He did say, you know, I mean, look, all we've ever had, and i don't want to say ever, but we're 99.9% Fisher. um and you know he's like You know, just getting to learn the the remote is is a different, you know, but, you know, but once he figures that out, he did say, you know, when, once he got it, it was, it was impressive.
00:57:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
it is yeah i could see you guys loving the power angles
00:58:01
Todd Dickerson
So I'm i'm sure there's more of those in our future. um But, you know, we're definitely going to, going to look at some Arctic stuff for, for Dulles for sure.
00:58:16
Todd Dickerson
So.
00:58:18
RICK JAMES
Did Kyle get the Velarde upgrade on his Razorback?
00:58:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
What Velarde upgrade?
00:58:25
Todd Dickerson
What's that?
00:58:27
RICK JAMES
Oh, the option? The glory hole?
00:58:29
Todd Dickerson
ah No, he did not.
00:58:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, that's going.
00:58:31
Todd Dickerson
I heard that too. Yeah.
00:58:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's 11 inches deep and it's three inches wide.
00:58:33
Todd Dickerson
No.
00:58:39
Arctic Steve
put DOT tape around it so you can see it at night.
00:58:41
Putz
you.
00:58:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
and shit. Too funny. Too funny.
00:58:47
Arctic Steve
Todd, do you want to touch base? I thought one other thing that' pretty cool is on these de-icing pads is the dirty snow versus the clean snow, like how how they pile it and where they haul it and stuff like that.
00:58:53
TK
you.
00:58:57
Arctic Steve
I thought that was pretty
Snow Handling and Environmental Considerations
00:58:58
Arctic Steve
neat.
00:58:58
Todd Dickerson
Yeah. so anytime they spray, as soon as they spray one plane on the de-icing pad, the whole pad is then contaminated. Um, which means we have to dispose of it in a different, different fashion.
00:59:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:59:12
Todd Dickerson
Um, you know, a lot of times I try to get us on there like right away, you know, and we did, but then the, the, Tim Jones, team came back and kind of painted us into a tight corner and then they sprayed one plane literally and then FAA shut that down because of other situations so
00:59:25
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:59:36
Todd Dickerson
um We had to then transition into a whole contaminated situation. And the reason that's that is, is couple different things. Number one, for the contaminated, they reclaim the glycol with vacuum trucks, number one, and you know recycle it to make more glycol down the road.
00:59:58
Todd Dickerson
And number two, um the county, which is Fairfax County there, it actually the airport sits in two counties, Loudoun County and Fairfax, but Fairfax County water,
01:00:11
Todd Dickerson
authority or whatever it's called monitors the streams there. And if too much glycol gets into the, into the stream, all the alarms and bells and whistles go off and everybody starts getting, you know, panicky, which, you know, rightfully so I'm not saying anything's wrong with that, but we gotta, we gotta to dispose of it the right way. And,
01:00:36
Todd Dickerson
Like I said, I always try to get into the situation where we're way ahead of that. So we don't have a lot of contaminated snow to deal with, but the storm kind of flipped on us a little bit with the runway team kind of putting us in a corner and we ended up getting it, but it was it was a way longer process than what we normally like.
01:01:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
how do they How do they dispose of the dirty snow if that's not a secret?
01:01:05
Todd Dickerson
No, that's not a secret. So they they put it in a its own area. um And ah as it melts, they do one of two things.
01:01:14
Arctic Steve
Okay.
01:01:15
Todd Dickerson
Either it it melts um on a on one of the pads, like a holding pad, and then the vacuum trucks just for days just continuously drive around the pad and suck up the water.
01:01:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
01:01:28
Todd Dickerson
Or they let it just leach naturally across you know the grass. And by the time it gets to down you know far enough to the stream where the monitors are, it's diluted so much that you know there's no issues. so um
01:01:47
Arctic Steve
Okay.
01:01:47
Todd Dickerson
you know And sunlight obviously helps that a lot. So the the more sunshine, obviously today it was, I think, I don't know, 40 and bright sunshine but wind blowing a ah gale so the sunshine helps with that to uh eliminate some of the glycol so um there's there's a whole whole process to it but
01:02:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's crazy. So now what do they what do they do in a winter like this where it's been below freezing since the storm and there's not much melting going on? That just sits there for the whole winter?
01:02:22
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, yeah.
01:02:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
You can't manually melt it?
01:02:24
Todd Dickerson
Oh, I still have contaminated piles on FedEx and UPS's ramp right now because the contaminated dump is totally full. never It's never been full.
01:02:34
Putz
Yeah, they made pull out of the ditch.
01:02:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hmm.
01:02:36
Todd Dickerson
It's never been full.
01:02:37
TK
Yeah, I was going to say they don't like it if ah the dirty snow leaves the concrete. They do not like that.
01:02:42
Arctic Steve
no
01:02:42
RICK JAMES
ah
01:02:43
Putz
No.
01:02:44
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
01:02:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
So you can't manually melt it with one of your melters and collect the water? Stuff like that?
01:02:50
Todd Dickerson
ah Yeah, we've we've done that before, but um the problem is the contractor who does the vacuum trucks, they'll only work certain, they're they're very ah bougie like somebody else we know and only work certain hours.
01:03:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wearing some Gucci jumpsuits and stuff?
01:03:06
Putz
ha ha ha.
01:03:07
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:03:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:03:08
RICK JAMES
Oh my God.
01:03:09
Todd Dickerson
Gold chains, gold chains, the whole nine yards.
01:03:09
RICK JAMES
I work every hour of the day.
01:03:11
TK
Yeah.
01:03:12
Todd Dickerson
So, yeah.
01:03:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
gold chains high heels who whoa where'd that come from oh man
01:03:13
RICK JAMES
Jesus.
01:03:15
Todd Dickerson
you Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:03:15
RICK JAMES
Oh
01:03:16
Arctic Steve
High heels.
01:03:19
Arctic Steve
Yeah.
01:03:20
RICK JAMES
Where did you come up with that?
01:03:24
Todd Dickerson
well No, but i'll kind of back on Steve's comment about the meals, you know, like when you're out there, you're you're there. You got, you know, you got nothing.
01:03:35
Todd Dickerson
So, yeah, I mean, honestly, three squares and a hot cot, you're loving life.
01:03:36
RICK JAMES
You're like in prison.
01:03:37
Putz
Yeah.
01:03:41
Todd Dickerson
I mean, let's be real. um
01:03:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Is it airline food or is it actually good catering?
01:03:47
RICK JAMES
Well, it's good cater.
01:03:48
Putz
good who That's good.
01:03:48
Todd Dickerson
No, so...
01:03:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
01:03:48
Arctic Steve
No, it's...
01:03:49
Putz
Who does cater that? Is it is it from the airport there was at a local company?
01:03:54
Todd Dickerson
So it's a local company and they serve all the private private jets. So they have access to the airfield.
01:03:59
Putz
Okay.
01:04:01
Todd Dickerson
So years ago I went to him and I was like, and his name's Giuseppe from a company called Maroney's Catering.
01:04:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
01:04:01
Putz
Okay.
01:04:08
Todd Dickerson
And they have a huge, huge commercial kitchen.
01:04:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
That makes no sense.
01:04:12
Todd Dickerson
So I went to him and I'm like, Hey, here's what I got. you know
01:04:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
01:04:17
Todd Dickerson
can you Can you help us? And he's like, You give me an hour's notice, I'll make you as many meals as you want, whatever you want. I mean, we've gone from lasagna to ziti to, you know, steak and cheese subs to breakfast sandwiches to seafood pasta.
01:04:35
Todd Dickerson
I mean, we've done we've done everything, you know, and I kind of just call them and I'm like, hey, you know, I want a hot meal tonight.
01:04:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
nice
01:04:43
Todd Dickerson
I want, you know, this, I want that. And I just let them run because the food, I mean, i I've always eaten it and it's always been rock solid to me. So, and i'm I'm not real picky, but, you know, it's not like you're getting two slices of ham and a slice of cheese on, you know, on bread.
01:05:01
Putz
No, it was good. Yeah.
01:05:03
RICK JAMES
I'm pretty picky. Can a guy actually put an order in next time or?
01:05:10
Todd Dickerson
I'll get you your vegan meal.
01:05:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
He wants the kosher meal.
01:05:11
Putz
<unk>
01:05:12
TK
you
01:05:12
Arctic Steve
Thank
01:05:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
01:05:13
RICK JAMES
I don't want vegan. I don't want a vegan.
01:05:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Oh my good Lord.
01:05:18
RICK JAMES
No, I mean, honestly, the airport was, it it was crazy. therere the The biggest thing is like Todd said, and are we also, it's the security, you know, we got to get through security and and you just can't roam around. You know, you got to,
01:05:30
RICK JAMES
you got to stay with whoever you're with, or if you got, if they want you somewhere else, you got to wait for an escort. Somebody who's, somebody who's badged to, so kind of, kind limited you where you can go and when you can do it, you know, you know, with the badges and escorting and stuff like that. So.
01:05:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
So, Todd, you said you you you do the land side stuff there, too?
01:05:51
Todd Dickerson
We do. yep
01:05:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do you do all of it, or is there another contract? Do you split it with contractors, or you guys got it?
01:05:57
Todd Dickerson
i I split the air side with the concrete company that's, that does it.
01:06:03
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
01:06:04
Todd Dickerson
They, they handle the um general population gates. All I handle is United. um And then land side, I do it all. It's all, all us.
01:06:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
gotcha
01:06:16
Todd Dickerson
So. Um, that's where I originally cut my teeth at Dulles is the land side. So, yeah.
01:06:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
nice that's cool that's where the magic happens their sides easy
01:06:27
Todd Dickerson
So, um, yeah.
01:06:32
RICK JAMES
yes We didn't really see much land side. but we We were all air side, so we didn't really see much happening on the land side. Another thing you don't probably don't realize, least at Dulles, was all the snow we talked about gets hauled away. It's all off-road dump trucks going.
01:06:49
Putz
Yeah.
01:06:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
01:06:51
RICK JAMES
It's crazy to see all these off-road dump trucks. han well How many do you think were on the airfield?
01:06:59
Arctic Steve
And there was a ton of them out there.
01:07:00
Putz
There must have been at least 60 to 70 between Todd's and the other company.
01:07:03
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
01:07:04
Putz
I mean.
01:07:05
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, so I had 14 going and they had, want to say 40 at least.
01:07:05
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:07:13
Putz
Yeah, one time they were all parked over on like the, the general population gates where they must have been taking a shift break. And I think we counted 40 of them. So yeah, so
01:07:22
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
01:07:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do they have a snow dump on site at Dallas or where are they sending the snow?
01:07:23
Putz
yeah
01:07:28
Todd Dickerson
Yeah. Yeah. And we filled that thing.
01:07:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
They do.
01:07:31
Todd Dickerson
I mean, we filled it full. So both the contaminated and the the regular snow.
01:07:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
So do you wait till that dump is full before you start doing melting stuff right at or or are you melting certain areas off as a rule?
01:07:47
Todd Dickerson
So generally we'll start melting like the, we call them the A gates, which is United's like commuter section, um you know, the regionals.
01:07:58
Todd Dickerson
um We'll start melting that right out of the gate.
01:07:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
huh
01:08:01
Todd Dickerson
And then the main concourse, C and D, we have to wait for approval to get out because the drains are on i would say probably i don't know 30 feet on the taxiway um maybe a little bit more than that but roughly half not even half a third into the end of the taxiway is the drain so we want to get as close as we can to the drain um and really we had to do it that way anyway because the
01:08:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay
01:08:31
Todd Dickerson
the gate The gate with the snow was so full, we didn't have room to do it inside the gate and just let the water sheet feed down to the to the drain. so um But no, we we would rather melt. it's ah It's a quicker process, in my opinion, um especially once we get the all the units up and running and you know figure out the dance. It's a lot lot faster.
01:08:57
Todd Dickerson
um but You know, you're always gonna have to, you're going to have to do both there at all times. Anybody that wants that they can truck it all or milk it all is is crazy.
01:09:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. All right, boys.
01:09:11
RICK JAMES
josh got to be Josh got to run in a lot of them melt or the melting putsy.
01:09:13
Arctic Steve
Thank
Admiration for Snow Removal Equipment
01:09:15
Putz
Yeah, one night on Sunday night, yeah, once they finally they let them start melting, but they showed up with those melters at like 3 in the afternoon, and I think it was about 8.30 before they finally gave them approval to set it up or whatever, because they had to come clear that whole taxiway, and like you say, like Amolite, you don't just show up, you gotta let them tell you when to go in, I think, so yeah, it was a...
01:09:15
RICK JAMES
He got to do some of that.
01:09:36
Todd Dickerson
Thank you.
01:09:38
Putz
We moved a lot of snow down to that D-19 or whatever gate it was while we were waiting, but ah there was a lot of snow there to melt.
01:09:43
Arctic Steve
you
01:09:44
RICK JAMES
Delta.
01:09:46
Putz
So we didn't even make a damper in it. So... But yeah, as fast as I can load that thing, it was taking it. So, I mean, it was a 644 or whatever with, don't know what yard bucket, but I mean, as fast as they had a pile right there as fast as you could it was taking it. So it was a fun process. Never loaded a melter before. So, yeah.
01:10:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
So top dogs got a lot of cool stuff like that. What was the, what was the coolest piece of equipment that you guys noticed? Anything catch your eye?
01:10:21
RICK JAMES
i would I would say the Melt is pretty cool. it I didn't even get around it. but Honestly, the multi-running that was cool to me. It's just because I got to run it. and there was I've always wanted to run one.
01:10:31
RICK JAMES
They're just badass machines.
01:10:35
Arctic Steve
I'd say for me, the Wausau Blueblade.
01:10:39
RICK JAMES
you got your ass chewed for lifting it, too.
01:10:39
TK
Yeah, the Blue Blades are sick.
01:10:41
RICK JAMES
Until you got in trouble.
01:10:42
Arctic Steve
Yeah. can't you can't lift You can't lift them.
01:10:44
Putz
Yeah.
01:10:44
RICK JAMES
He lifted it.
01:10:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
got in trouble?
01:10:45
Putz
i think everyone
01:10:46
Arctic Steve
you get they They run on caster wheels and you leave them on the caster wheels.
01:10:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really? So you you just drive around with the blade cutting the whole time?
01:10:51
Arctic Steve
Yeah.
01:10:55
Arctic Steve
Yeah, or you can raise it up a little bit and just have it on your caster wheels there, you know, so the edge is off the ground.
01:10:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, okay.
01:11:02
Putz
Run or load the melter was cool.
01:11:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
That seems odd
01:11:03
Putz
But i think the other thing that like I thought I never ran one, it would have been fun run one was those ah like the
01:11:07
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:11:09
Putz
I even know. They're the yellow and the orange sweepers that go up by all the gates, by like the jet bridges and stuff.
01:11:15
Arctic Steve
huh
01:11:16
Putz
They have a little, I don't think it's like a 96 inch blade and 96 inch broom. And they clear all that snow away from the building and it does one hell of a job. ah
01:11:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
i lose the Are those the ones the paving companies use?
01:11:26
Putz
I was super impressed. What's that?
01:11:29
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
01:11:29
RICK JAMES
ye
01:11:30
Arctic Steve
Yeah.
01:11:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Those are the ones the paving companies use?
01:11:31
Putz
Yeah, yeah.
01:11:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:11:32
Putz
I mean, coming from like I do obviously all sidewalks mainly in Fargo here and like when I was sitting there on a break one time I googled on to see what the smallest one they made was I think it's 96 so it's too big for what we want to use on sidewalks but it did the finish it left was perfect.
01:11:48
Putz
And the fact they had the blade on the front and some of them I mean I don't think you ran Brian or the icing on them they had tanks left run you could be ice out of them if you wanted to. um Yeah, I thought that was one hell of a unit and it did exactly what they needed to do to get all that snow.
01:12:02
Putz
I had never, never would guessed of using one of those. So Todd's got to figure it out on what to use. So, and I guess the cabs are hot as hell.
01:12:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
And they're fast as hell.
01:12:10
Arctic Steve
Yeah, it seems like...
01:12:11
Putz
Like the guy, everyone that was running them said you just run them in a t-shirt. They're so hot. So yeah.
01:12:17
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, i've been pushing I've been pushing those for ever since we all started talking, right?
01:12:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's cool.
01:12:21
Todd Dickerson
Like they are just... They are some bad-ass units and yes, they do they do have the the sprayers on them and we use potassium acetate in those for spot spraying.
01:12:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I saw some video.
01:12:32
Todd Dickerson
And i mean, i i can't speak highly enough about those and you know those are the superior broom units that we use. And I mean, they are they are clutch money machines for us.
01:12:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
01:12:47
Putz
and they were moving a lot of snow.
01:12:47
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:12:48
Putz
I mean, we're talking a foot of snow on the ground. and Some of these guys are going these gates with the blade down. but i mean, the one guy didn't get stuck. He got himself out, but they're going in pushing all the snow all with the broom down the whole time. And it's perfect down the concrete. I mean,
01:13:02
Putz
like nowhere else like you get these 204s or 244s or whatever the smaller wheel loaders were it's not perfectly down the concrete with the amount snow like we were talking and how it kind of set up but these sweepers come in and it was right down the concrete they can sweep the lines out i mean they did one hell of a job i was i was very impressed with those so yeah
01:13:23
Todd Dickerson
J-Line's baby, J-Line.
01:13:23
Arctic Steve
a...
01:13:23
RICK JAMES
J-line?
01:13:23
Arctic Steve
ultimatelyly
01:13:25
RICK JAMES
J-line.
01:13:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
What about
Logistical Challenges of Snow Removal
01:13:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
you, Tom?
01:13:29
RICK JAMES
You
01:13:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Any piece of equipment there that that stood out that you liked, even if you didn't get to run it?
01:13:30
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, Tom's been quiet.
01:13:35
TK
Yeah, I don't know. I like the blue blades as a big angle. You know, as a big angle
01:13:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
How wide are they?
01:13:43
TK
What is it, 20 feet?
01:13:44
Todd Dickerson
I think they're 20 footers. 18 or 20.
01:13:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
01:13:48
TK
Yeah, they're big.
01:13:48
RICK JAMES
you guys touched tips with those.
01:13:49
Todd Dickerson
you know twenty
01:13:50
TK
Oh yeah, plenty of plenty of tip touching going on out there.
01:13:51
Arctic Steve
We did.
01:13:53
Arctic Steve
We did some tip touching. Got some video.
01:13:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh my god.
01:13:56
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Roland's like, what the fuck are you guys doing when you first did that? Wasn't he, Steve, on on the radio?
01:14:02
Arctic Steve
Yeah, it was gate Gage gagee and I. He's like, what are you guys doing? And then we did it and he's like, you just keep doing what you're doing.
01:14:09
Putz
yeah
01:14:10
RICK JAMES
He's like, that's working.
01:14:10
Todd Dickerson
Roland's awesome. He's been with us a long time and you know he he knows the airport really well and he's pretty good pretty good at communicating. i should have done a better job looking back of being, maybe having a quick toolbox talk with you guys so that he knew that you know if he's saying J-Line, you all don't know what the hell did he you're calling he's talking about.
01:14:32
Putz
why
01:14:33
Arctic Steve
We know now.
01:14:34
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, yeah i sure.
01:14:34
TK
Yeah.
01:14:36
Todd Dickerson
That was on me.
01:14:37
RICK JAMES
Cowboy. Don't forget about Cowboy.
01:14:38
Arctic Steve
oh yeah, cowboy.
01:14:39
RICK JAMES
he's Cowboy's awesome.
01:14:41
Arctic Steve
Yep.
01:14:41
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, cowboys a Cowboy's a good cat. He's from Florida. So I forgot to mention Florida earlier, but he came up from Florida. So um he's an old salty dog that just can't can't get rid of it. So, um you know, lot of fun. look Look, as hard as it was and, you know, my phone's ringing off the hook with other deals. I mean, we had, I think I literally turned away five other airports going, oh my God, we need your help.
01:15:11
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
01:15:11
Todd Dickerson
you know, because the storm was so big and, you know, ah I don't think I've ever said no to an airport and I had to say it numerous times this storm. um You know, my, my staff was, my, my main staff was, was stretched to the max.
01:15:28
Todd Dickerson
I had key personnel in Houston. I had key personnel in Atlanta and Iowa was going. i mean, we had, we laughed about this back in August of, Oh my God, could you imagine if every station got hit?
01:15:42
Todd Dickerson
And, you know, we were like, that'll never happen.
01:15:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hello
01:15:46
Todd Dickerson
That'll never happen. Well, guess what? Here we are.
01:15:49
Arctic Steve
It did.
01:15:49
Todd Dickerson
you Look, we got punched in and in the nose a couple of times, our eyes watered, but we didn't we didn't fall.
01:15:54
TK
Thank
01:15:56
Todd Dickerson
And you know people were ah we tested and passed the test, but you know my team did a fucking knockout job in my opinion.
01:16:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Got it done That's it Don't gotta be pretty Gotta get done
01:16:09
Todd Dickerson
So, yeah.
01:16:13
Todd Dickerson
Yeah. So, and I do think if, If we're being honest on this call, which we always tend to do way too much, I think these guys would admit there were times where you're like, why are we putting the snow here? And then we would move it three more times. Well, unfortunately that's just the nature of the airport, right?
01:16:34
Todd Dickerson
You know, Hey, we, we have this much time to clear this and oh, by the way, can you move the pile?
01:16:36
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:16:40
Todd Dickerson
we got a plane coming here, you know? So it it doesn't matter if it's two inches or 22 inches that happens consistently. So, you know, it's just the nature of the beast, unfortunately.
01:16:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, it's got to be something else.
01:16:54
RICK JAMES
Right. I
01:16:55
Todd Dickerson
So that's a little different than what I'm sure you guys are used to on the commercial side is, you know, you know where your piles are going all the time.
01:17:03
Arctic Steve
And just on some of those piles, those remote piles too, just, you know, to have to keep some of them under four feet high, you know, just because of the wings and stuff like that.
01:17:03
RICK JAMES
mean, yeah.
01:17:11
Arctic Steve
There's just a lot, it's a lot different than what we're used to. And it was, I don't know, I thought it was, again, super, super neat.
01:17:14
Todd Dickerson
Yep.
01:17:19
TK
Oh yeah, I couldn't believe it.
01:17:19
RICK JAMES
I mean, the rare...
01:17:20
TK
It seemed like nobody, I'm like, why why isn't anybody, nobody knows how to push up into a pile. And then it's like, well, you can't, you can't because the wing will clip it.
01:17:25
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
01:17:29
Putz
Well, you know, you don't faddle them how much snow it is.
01:17:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh.
01:17:31
Putz
Like we got to that UPS gate and hauled out from 8 a.m. m to 5 p.m. or 8 a.m. m to 5 p.m. that one day. And think Jeremy said they're on the de-icing pad. They all like 600 loads out of there.
01:17:42
Putz
ah And you get to this pile and you think, oh, this is going go really fast. But... it's It's not like going to Shields or Walmart or wherever, where it's like, oh, 15 truckloads and you're on to the next pile.
01:17:53
Putz
I mean, you're talking hundreds of truckloads.
01:17:54
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:17:56
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
01:17:56
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:17:57
Putz
Everything is so big. I mean, like the concrete's big, the the pile's big, your equipment's big, the trucks are big, everything's big, and it just takes a lot longer than one think. So, yeah.
01:18:07
Todd Dickerson
Well, and that's...
01:18:07
TK
I think that and then being mixed with like we're working on something and then it's like okay we got a plane coming in over here we got to go we got to drop what we're doing and go across the.
01:18:07
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:18:17
TK
Go across the airport and go work on this other pile get this one cleared and then all of a sudden it's like oh drop that go work on this other you know it's like just bouncing all over the place.
01:18:20
Putz
Yeah.
01:18:24
Putz
Great.
01:18:28
Todd Dickerson
Yeah. And that's why we use the off-roads, right? Because the volume and, you know, I mean, just imagine if I had to have, I mean, generally they say three to one, right? So I would have to have, if I had 14, I'd have to have 42 regular triaxles out there. I mean, that would be, that would just be a cluster.
01:18:48
Putz
well
01:18:48
Todd Dickerson
So, you know, it just works out a lot easier.
01:18:49
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
01:18:52
Todd Dickerson
So, um but I am,
01:18:52
TK
Thank you.
Upcoming Episode and Sleet vs. Snow
01:18:58
Todd Dickerson
I'm super stoked that we got to to shoot the the episode coming up because think it's going to be... pretty cool. um
01:19:06
Arctic Steve
All right.
01:19:06
Todd Dickerson
You know, as much as way back in the beginning, i think it was Thanksgiving weekend, I wanted to shoot the episode out at Cedar Rapids with 14 inches. And I've been bitter ever since because they don't get that kind of snow out there.
01:19:16
RICK JAMES
this
01:19:20
Todd Dickerson
But, you know, Mother Nature said, all right, we're going to give you the right episode. And i think this is going to be I mean, in my eyes, I think it's going to be epic because I know what my media team does every day.
01:19:35
Todd Dickerson
um And they they do some pretty cool stuff. and i think it's goingnna be And think it's going to be pretty cool.
01:19:44
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:19:45
Todd Dickerson
So, you know. and And to have this all the celebrities in town, you know, only adds to it. We were only missing, you know, the the big Steve Velarde.
01:19:59
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:20:02
RICK JAMES
You must be muted.
01:20:05
RICK JAMES
You're muted, Steve.
01:20:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, look at that. Yeah, I did mute.
01:20:07
RICK JAMES
Yeah, you screwed up. Woo-hoo!
01:20:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
I did mute.
01:20:08
Putz
Oh Oh
01:20:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow. Well, it happens.
01:20:09
RICK JAMES
I always get in trouble.
01:20:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
i haven't slept in two days.
01:20:11
RICK JAMES
Oh, man. Oh, man.
01:20:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah i was trying not to snore because I haven't slept in two days. So I was like, ah let me mute this in case I start breathing heavy. ah ah
01:20:23
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:20:23
Arctic Steve
Steve-O's tired.
01:20:24
Todd Dickerson
So I won the first bet, but we you guys lost the second bet.
01:20:26
Putz
Oh
01:20:27
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:20:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh it's been bad it's been a bad couple nights i wish uh i wish i wasn't but uh yeah sucks that's uh that's cool though man i'm glad you guys had fun we were freaking busy as hell that was uh it hit us even worse than hit you guys but we didn't get the sleet i would much rather deal with all snow than deal with a couple inches of sleet at the end
01:20:29
TK
Mm-hmm.
01:20:41
Putz
you
01:20:51
RICK JAMES
Yeah, that was a whole different ballgame than Sleet.
01:20:54
Arctic Steve
Yep. Heavy, heavy, heavy.
01:20:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, that's when stuff starts breaking.
01:20:56
RICK JAMES
Loading that in the trucks was just crazy.
01:21:03
RICK JAMES
We like to stack trucks, and we couldn't stack trucks with that shit. It just rolled out.
01:21:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, no.
01:21:07
Arctic Steve
Potsy, Tom, we still stacked them up. Potsy.
01:21:12
TK
Oh, yeah.
01:21:16
Todd Dickerson
know, it's funny you talk.
01:21:16
Putz
Yeah.
01:21:16
RICK JAMES
Yeah, who did I hear, was it Todd? I heard say, don't fill the trucks that full. Then i was like, fuck that. We're filling these trucks like we always fill trucks.
01:21:24
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, but you guys kept filling them and half half that last bucket was going out on the other side where we were almost done. And I'm like, oh, come on. Like, clear those things down.
01:21:33
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:21:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's Fargo Holland.
01:21:36
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, exactly.
01:21:36
Arctic Steve
We had some tones.
01:21:36
RICK JAMES
Yeah, we clean, we and then we clean it up.
01:21:39
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
01:21:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, God.
01:21:41
Todd Dickerson
But Steve, you mentioned everything breaking and you know, I had, ah yeah, they they were they were rock stars, but
01:21:47
RICK JAMES
Your mechanics, holy shit.
01:21:50
Putz
Yeah.
01:21:51
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:21:52
Todd Dickerson
To tell a quick story, everybody on here has met Richard at either shows or whatever, right? My head's super...
01:21:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm. Yep.
01:21:59
Todd Dickerson
Well, I had Steve settle down running in Texas, so I knew that was good. I had Richard running Atlanta. I knew that was good. But Richard got back into town and...
01:22:10
Todd Dickerson
Like all those guys in Atlanta and and Houston were like, man, what's what's so hard about this storm? Like, you know, it was, it was great where we were. And meanwhile, we're getting our nose punched. Right. And i mean, we had some doozies going on with equipment and, you know, Richard's,
01:22:31
Todd Dickerson
all upset of what, you know, how did this happen? How did that happen? And i'm like, I don't know, but we'll figure it out and fix it. And like, it it is what it is at this point. I mean, we've never, ever, ever seen, mean, you guys were there. I think every bit of two inches of accumulating sleep, every bit of it.
01:22:52
Todd Dickerson
um
01:22:53
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:22:53
Todd Dickerson
you know You throw that on top of the last time I looked at my phone before the transition, it was 11.2 accumulation on my phone.
01:22:53
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:23:03
Todd Dickerson
um you know And then it transitioned and and i I mean, if if I'm lying, tell me, but I'm telling you there was every bit of two inches of accumulating sleet on top of that. 7.9.
01:23:15
Arctic Steve
um'd I'd say, yeah, at least two inches of that sleet.
01:23:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
what and what they certify yeah total eight inches
01:23:16
TK
Oh, yeah.
01:23:17
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:23:21
Todd Dickerson
seven point nine
01:23:22
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:23:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, that's dude.
01:23:22
Putz
Yes.
01:23:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's the same problem we had here. That's the same problem we had.
01:23:25
Todd Dickerson
Yeah. Yep.
01:23:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, what are you guys looking at?
01:23:27
Todd Dickerson
So, yeah.
01:23:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cause there is a disconnect.
01:23:31
Todd Dickerson
So, and honestly, i mean, that's a, that's a huge battle going on right now down at the Pentagon. Cause you know, that's a, they go off that measurement and I'm like, no, we're, we're going to have a conversation here because yeah.
01:23:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, really? That's a per inch contract.
01:23:47
Todd Dickerson
Yep.
01:23:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, Oh, Oh shit.
01:23:49
Todd Dickerson
So,
01:23:51
RICK JAMES
What are they saying DC got?
01:23:54
Todd Dickerson
7.9 or DCA got. Yeah. So.
01:23:58
RICK JAMES
Oh, really?
01:23:58
RICK JAMES
According
01:23:58
Todd Dickerson
Yeah, yeah.
01:23:58
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
Weather Predictions and Accident Issues
01:24:00
Todd Dickerson
so
01:24:01
RICK JAMES
to TV, it looks a lot worse than that.
01:24:03
Todd Dickerson
yeah i mean
01:24:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, everybody knows it was worse.
01:24:04
RICK JAMES
weren't Weren't they out of school for like a week, the kids?
01:24:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:24:07
Todd Dickerson
oh yeah
01:24:07
TK
Thank you.
01:24:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Everybody knows it was worse.
01:24:08
RICK JAMES
Jesus.
01:24:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
The problem is the weather guys put out what they think you're going to get, and then they don't want to post totals that say that it was double or, you know, 50% more because then it makes them look bad.
01:24:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
So then you got to prove them wrong. it's ah It's a pain in the ass. But something it's something is wrong this year. Something is wrong. They've consistently been off by 100% on the totals and the end times. How was your end time?
01:24:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Did it get out when they thought it was going to get out? Or did it linger?
01:24:41
RICK JAMES
I don't remember.
01:24:42
Todd Dickerson
I didn't think I gotta be honest Steve I can't remember that to be honest um and then and that's kind of
01:24:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
remember. It's all good.
01:24:48
Putz
I thought they said it was gonna be open by like eight and it was around that eight, nine o'clock, but that's what it's like the local stuff.
01:24:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
You got a lot of balls in the air.
01:24:51
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:24:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, good.
01:24:54
Putz
I guess I didn't have a true weather out there, but.
01:24:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Locally higher. Love that.
01:25:01
RICK JAMES
so
01:25:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's, you know what? That's another t-shirt. Locally higher.
01:25:05
Putz
Eight to 12 was locally higher.
01:25:06
Arctic Steve
Yeah.
01:25:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep absolutely and we got of our town oh man anyway what else boys what else about the airport how's all the uh how are the john deers tom are you usually in a cat or usually in a deer so uh he oh yeah yeah you don't want to run with the deer anymore
01:25:08
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:25:11
Putz
yeah
01:25:22
Putz
Thank you.
01:25:27
TK
Usually in a cat and boy was I glad to get back into one when we got back to Fargo.
01:25:36
TK
They're just slow, it's slow hydraulics, slow acceleration. It's just, I mean, they're great machines.
01:25:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
01:25:43
TK
Don't get me wrong. Cav is fantastic. I just, I'm so used to the quick, you know, reacts at snap of a finger.
01:25:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep ten four
01:25:51
TK
You pull that joystick back, that boom is going up kind of a, So yeah, I was glad to be back.
01:26:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
cool cool yeah i bet
01:26:01
TK
Big 744s though. That is a big loader.
01:26:05
Arctic Steve
uh huh.
01:26:05
RICK JAMES
Yeah, it's fun owner.
01:26:07
TK
Yeah, those were fun to run. 644 was great with the blue blade. Plenty of power for that.
01:26:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
todd did you guys have a lot of broken down machines from this one okay
01:26:19
Todd Dickerson
Um, I don't think we had any iron go down, um, except, uh, over Haasen. Um, but, uh, we had some, uh, some plows and spreaders, uh, not fair so well.
01:26:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
gotcha 10 for but no iron that's that's exceptional no def issues or anything wow oh okay
01:26:35
Todd Dickerson
You know, I give this speech. him
01:26:40
Todd Dickerson
We had some deaf issues on the melters once we got them out of the airport and took them other places.
01:26:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh that's true i didn't even think of that the melters have def too didn't even i didn't even think of that shit
01:26:48
Todd Dickerson
Um,
01:26:51
Todd Dickerson
They did. we're getting We're getting ready to fix that issue.
01:26:55
RICK JAMES
el Delete, yes.
01:26:56
Todd Dickerson
Yeah. But, um um shoot, I lost my train of thought. I'm sorry.
01:27:07
Arctic Steve
broken iron.
01:27:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
sorry yeah yeah broken iron
01:27:09
RICK JAMES
I'm she talking about the overhausing, I'm sure.
01:27:09
Todd Dickerson
Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, I give this speech every, every event at least 14 times of, you know, 92% of accidents happen backing up and, you know, blah, blah, blah. And think we had five cars hit total. Um, and we're a hundred percent, five out of five, we're all backing up.
01:27:35
Todd Dickerson
So, you know, it doesn't matter how many times you say it or what you do. Yeah. And,
01:27:41
RICK JAMES
But no airplanes.
01:27:43
Todd Dickerson
Oh, think I'll take cars all day.
01:27:43
RICK JAMES
But no airplanes.
01:27:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah yeah hit the car every day at the week don't hit the plane please
01:27:45
RICK JAMES
Oh,
01:27:47
Todd Dickerson
yeah Yeah, I'll take cars all day.
01:27:48
TK
I'll tell you the answer is blue parrots. They all got to get blue parrots. They'd be on the phone with each other.
01:27:51
Arctic Steve
Yep.
01:27:52
RICK JAMES
yeah.
01:27:54
Arctic Steve
And just don't get the blue parrot confused with the radios, the walkie talkies.
01:27:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh
01:27:59
Putz
Oh my
01:28:01
Arctic Steve
Okay.
01:28:02
RICK JAMES
oh yeah
01:28:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
That has happened. I mean, that has saved us on at least two occasions that I can remember of of us almost backing into moving vehicles or vehicles that just appeared behind the machines.
01:28:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
And because they're on a live party call, they were able to, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, and everybody stops. So it saved us.
01:28:23
Arctic Steve
Uh-huh.
01:28:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Whereas if we had a walkie-talkie or a CB, the time it would have taken to grab that mic and key it up you would have already been into the car so definitely agree with that
01:28:34
Todd Dickerson
Great. So now all my guys are gonna hear this and they're gonna be like, when are we getting our headsets? When are we getting our headsets?
01:28:38
TK
Yeah.
01:28:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
amazon you can get like go amazon corporate you can you can make a deal get 100 pairs how many guys you got the airport at dulles i don't know i don't even know i didn't ask
01:28:50
RICK JAMES
A lot.
01:28:51
Todd Dickerson
Too many. I think we had, ah think we had 70 called out for land side and
01:28:53
RICK JAMES
A lot.
01:29:01
Todd Dickerson
I don't even know what we had there aside, to be honest with you. um it was It was a good number. Probably close to that.
01:29:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
cool
01:29:09
Todd Dickerson
I don't know. You guys were there more than I was. Yeah.
01:29:13
RICK JAMES
Yeah, there's quite a few guys in there. never I never saw the Cowboy have breakout, though.
01:29:18
Todd Dickerson
Now, you know, it i went my ah to my hotel room and got it a couple of times and it sat in the back seat and I was like, you know what?
01:29:18
RICK JAMES
What happened?
01:29:21
RICK JAMES
Got you busy?
01:29:28
Todd Dickerson
I just, it just, it just didn't feel right.
01:29:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah it gets too heavy as the brim collects snow that's no good or sleet yeah
01:29:35
Arctic Steve
Or sleep.
01:29:35
Todd Dickerson
one I don't want sleet all over my you know nice felt hat.
01:29:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
No, hell with that.
01:29:40
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:29:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
one
01:29:41
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
01:29:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
you know Let's hit some commercials real quick. We'll come back. We'll keep going with the boys.
01:30:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, we're back. What else we got to talk about before we wrap it?
01:30:58
RICK JAMES
I don't know. Obviously, just want to, I don't know we're going wrap it what, but thank Todd for trusting me and my crew to come out to help him out and he's in this event and show what we can do. And i think we my guys did did really well, obviously. I'm always proud of them. They do a kick-ass job and take on whatever needs to be taken on.
01:31:21
RICK JAMES
So I just wanted to tell Todd and the top dog, whole operation, thanks for trusting us to um be part of your storm event.
01:31:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:31:30
RICK JAMES
so
01:31:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
01:31:32
Todd Dickerson
No, was cool. And anytime, you know, you can get the boys together and introduce new people.
01:31:33
TK
Absolutely.
01:31:38
Todd Dickerson
I mean, you know, they got to meet Jessica and Michaela and, you know, some other key players here and ah at Top Dog. And, you know, it's it's always good to kind of, you know, get the band together and and let everybody, you know, learn who's who and
01:31:48
Arctic Steve
right.
01:31:58
Todd Dickerson
You know, I'm still learning who's who in this whole little network. So it's cool. And
01:32:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
They're going to be on a bit unavailable for you now, Todd, because I hear they're already bidding Fargo Airport for next Now that they got this one under their belts, that'll be a breeze.
01:32:15
RICK JAMES
ah
01:32:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
but
01:32:17
RICK JAMES
I'm sure we can handle it.
01:32:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, my gosh.
01:32:20
RICK JAMES
I mean, the best thing was we got Arctic Steve and we got putts out there. I mean, my guys are always willing to go, but I never once thought we'd get putts out there, especially when he was on vacation, fly across the country to come out.
01:32:30
Putz
Yeah, that was a good time.
01:32:31
RICK JAMES
That was, that was pretty bad ass.
01:32:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, left the spa and went right to the plow.
01:32:34
Arctic Steve
That was fun.
01:32:34
RICK JAMES
So
01:32:36
Putz
ha
01:32:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's great.
01:32:37
RICK JAMES
yeah. And Arctic Steve, he's always good, good to go. So I was like, hell
Leadership and Insights for Future Operations
01:32:42
RICK JAMES
yeah, let's go.
01:32:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yup. Yup, yup.
01:32:44
Todd Dickerson
I will say when Putsy showed up, it was like a little kid in a candy store.
01:32:44
RICK JAMES
yeah.
01:32:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's cool.
01:32:48
Todd Dickerson
He was like, I'm allowed to go out and play. Let's go play.
01:32:51
Putz
Yeah, it was fun.
01:32:51
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:32:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely. You don't get
01:32:53
Putz
Yeah. That's these guys like, oh, what are you going to run?
01:32:55
Todd Dickerson
Yes.
01:32:56
Putz
What do you want to run? And I'm like, i don't know Smaller is probably better for me at the airport because I don't run a lot of pushers. So my little sweeper room I run, would have been just fine running one of those yellow sweepers up by the jet bridges.
01:33:10
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
01:33:11
Putz
But I was fine loading trucks. That was a good time. So now now I know what I'm doing. So...
01:33:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
you could ah You could have gotten a Snow Raider on the land side.
01:33:20
Putz
how i a Yeah, no, just cool to see the whole operation.
01:33:22
Todd Dickerson
We don't do that.
01:33:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
man.
01:33:23
Todd Dickerson
We don't do that.
01:33:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
man
01:33:27
Putz
I mean, and like I told Nikki, I mean, some of the stuff like just the meetings that Todd had land side and the air side. I mean, I learned stuff that I think we can take away for our operation too.
01:33:40
Putz
He's got QR codes, for example, for breakdowns and stuff like that. i think that's a great idea. um and just some of the planning that they do. a lot better planning than we do. And, um, so no, it's just cool to see that. I mean, we don't get to go, um, the storm gets to go check out some other snow operations in the cities, maybe more than me and Jeremy do, but, uh, just to go see different operation, um, how they run, you know, what they do, all that stuff is, uh, is, is, it's a good insight to have for any business, I guess. So, yeah.
01:34:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
01:34:19
RICK JAMES
Yeah, that QR code deal was pretty cool. And I thought about that quite a few times.
01:34:21
Arctic Steve
All right.
01:34:23
RICK JAMES
when I'm like, shit, I didn't i should have scanned that because I want to say the wipers didn't work on the overhaust and then stuff like that. you know My window wouldn't go down.
01:34:29
Putz
Yeah, I think you need to get those Q&A
01:34:33
Putz
we I was running a rental, I know, the one time, but I think that 744 is yours. Like, I think you need to get those QR codes on stickers in the cabs, you know? they have so They have sheets of paper all over the offices, but just put it on like a little sticker on the window so the guy could scan that QR code.
01:34:50
Putz
Because I did scan it to see what it brings you to, and it's just a simple little page. got to fill out a few little, um you know, what's wrong with your equipment, what equipment are you in.
01:34:55
Arctic Steve
Bye.
01:34:59
Putz
Great idea, because...
01:34:59
Todd Dickerson
Yeah.
01:35:00
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
01:35:02
Putz
like todd's busy enough and all of his guys his mechami his mechanics are running their ass off uh so it's at least good for probably a day like today where they can go back sit down and see hey all this shit's broke on all right equipment we need to get it fixed before the next one you know so
01:35:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
10-4.
01:35:21
Todd Dickerson
Well, I just want to say to all these guys, like, and and look, there should be plenty of more people on this on this podcast that, you know, both from Fargo and my side. um But of course, you know, certain people can only do it at nine o'clock on a Thursday night.
01:35:37
Todd Dickerson
So that's why we had to to do it tonight.
01:35:37
Putz
Okay.
01:35:39
Todd Dickerson
But, ah you know, whoa, whoa, whoa.
01:35:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
That wasn't my call.
01:35:44
Todd Dickerson
Don't get so defensive.
01:35:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
No, that was that came from out west the time.
01:35:47
Todd Dickerson
Don't get so defensive. Settle down.
01:35:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
01:35:50
Todd Dickerson
I know it's Valentine's Day for you this weekend. You gotta, you know.
01:35:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
I was good all day.
01:35:53
Arctic Steve
Okay.
01:35:55
Todd Dickerson
Yeah. um No, but anyway, first of all, I want to thank all the, all the, what what we call our snipe sniper guys for going wherever we sent you. no no complaining, just jumped in and, and did whatever we asked them to do. um You know, it was, it was very rewarding to know when I would check in with Richard or, or Steve, hey, how, and they were like,
01:36:19
Todd Dickerson
these dudes, these dudes are awesome. Like, you know, jumped right in, just like did whatever, no complaining, you know, if they had to move equipment or stage equipment or whatever, it was just, where do I go and what do you want me to do?
01:36:32
Putz
Thank
01:36:34
Todd Dickerson
So I, I can't thank those guys enough.
01:36:36
TK
Thank you.
01:36:37
Todd Dickerson
And then, you know, just for my entire team, top to bottom from, you know, the Pentagon team that my brother runs to, you know, all the three letter buildings that we do, you know, down to, ah probably shouldn't say down to, but, you know, from the, the, my mother who runs our office, who still says she's the top bitch and not the top dog.
01:37:03
Todd Dickerson
Um, you know, like, you know, we all killed it.
01:37:03
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
01:37:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
I like it.
01:37:08
Todd Dickerson
We all, you know, got Got, like I said earlier, punched in the nose and the eyes watery, but we never collapsed. So, you know, it was ah it was an epic storm in our 30-year history, um and we survived it.
01:37:22
Todd Dickerson
We got beat up a little bit. We have some bruises, but those are easy to fix, and those are mostly just Yeah. you know, I cannot seriously, and I know everybody says this all the time, but I can't thank my staff enough for just grinding through and getting it done. So, you know, thank you to the snipers. Thank you to my staff.
01:37:44
Todd Dickerson
um You know, it's it's always good to get stress tested and I don't think you could get any more dressed than Fern with you know, Houston and Atlanta, Iowa, everybody going at once. So thank you to everybody.
01:38:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool, cool. Anybody else?
01:38:04
RICK JAMES
as I mean, it it's ah it's always what we plan for. We always plan for the worst, and and we hope if we get it, we perform. And like Todd said, everybody did their job, and we got through it. So, yeah, it was a great event, like I've said before, and we can't wait to do it again. If if we get another chance at it, i mean, we'll definitely come come out and do it again. But, yeah, it's – Yeah, it was fun.
01:38:27
RICK JAMES
I mean, we've been talking about this for a few weeks now that we've been back, still talking about it. So it's it was a it's a good time. It was great good to get out there with everybody.
01:38:34
Arctic Steve
I think we'll be talking about this for years, I think.
01:38:35
TK
Definitely will be out there again.
01:38:35
RICK JAMES
so
01:38:37
TK
Oh, yeah.
01:38:39
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:38:39
Arctic Steve
got Again, another highlight for me. I just want to say again, thanks to Todd and Jeremy and all you guys, Putsy and Tommy and the rest of the guys that aren't on here. are Just a great, great group to work with when I come up to Fargo and work with you guys up there. It's just like family. you know It's second to none.
01:38:56
TK
And there's something to be said, too, about showing up at a hotel at 3 in the morning and you get to meet the owner. You get to meet the owner of the company. You're coming to help out. That was awesome.
01:39:05
Arctic Steve
yes yes yes
01:39:06
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:39:07
TK
And you have a place to stay. mean, it's a little different than showing up to a van and sleeping in a van on a job site.
01:39:13
RICK JAMES
Yeah,
01:39:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Screw that.
01:39:14
Todd Dickerson
That's not how we roll, boys. I can tell you that right now.
01:39:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, great.
01:39:19
RICK JAMES
that was a great. Yeah. Todd was up. He welcomed everybody at three o'clock in the morning and gave a little speech and handed him the room room keys and way they went. And was great.
01:39:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
I would expect that from Todd, though. Todd's pretty he's pretty high level with that kind of stuff. He understands how the business goes. He understands what what you need to do for guys that are bailing you, you know, that are doing the work for you and bailing you out of jams.
01:39:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
So I would expect that from Todd. He knows the deal. He's pretty high class, yeah.
01:39:47
RICK JAMES
Top notch.
01:39:48
Arctic Steve
Yep, top notch for sure.
01:39:48
RICK JAMES
Top notch.
01:39:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
He makes sure that he keeps Jeremy covered in velour and, you know, Gucci and Mercedes.
01:39:50
Arctic Steve
Okay.
01:39:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Did you get him caviar?
01:39:57
RICK JAMES
oh
01:39:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
I told you, Todd, like he only, you know, Dom Perignon and caviar. That's all he eats during storms.
01:40:02
RICK JAMES
we knew We did go to T Roadhouse the night before. That was good. so
01:40:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Jeremy slums it at a Texas Roadhouse.
01:40:11
RICK JAMES
ah Hey, that's all good with me.
01:40:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
There was no Ruth Chris around.
01:40:14
RICK JAMES
I'm not slumming with the T Roadhouse. We were on Rolals and me and the boys, I went to Texas or Longhorn and we got, we were finished.
01:40:18
Todd Dickerson
We wanted to go to our focus
01:40:22
Todd Dickerson
we We wanted to go to Fogaday Chow, but it just didn't work out timing wise with all the flights and everything. So, you know, but, you know, I appreciate the kind words.
01:40:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, Longhorn's good, too. All right.
01:40:34
Todd Dickerson
I do want to say that like. You know, my brother and I have always made it a priority to take care of our people and whether it's food, hotels, whatever the case may be.
01:40:46
Todd Dickerson
And, you know, I'll say this all day long till, you know, I'm out of business is, you know, I have nobody to thank for that, but both my brother and I have nobody to thank for that, but. you know, our parents were raising us the right way. They were our mentors, our heroes, and like, you know, great role models and always taught us to, you know, do the right thing and treat people the way you want to be treated. So, you know, it it doesn't always, you know, not every decision is the best decision, but we always try to do the right thing. And, you know, that's that's what we live by. So thank you, mom and dad.
01:41:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
10-4 absolutely anything else we wrap it all right well thanks boys yeah exactly thanks for coming on guys appreciate it glad you guys made it through mega storm fern that was definitely a uh
01:41:25
RICK JAMES
it's
01:41:30
RICK JAMES
I'm sure we could talk for hours.
01:41:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
everybody asks about that it it was not a once a year deal that was a once every five to ten that it sets up like that and affects that large an area like you're you're talking stretching from texas all the way up to maine going right across the country so that is not something everybody deals with every year so very cool that you guys went down there and did that and had a great time and got it done That'll do it. We'll wrap it there.
01:42:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Episode 158 of the Snow Jaws podcast main show in the books. All right. We'll see you guys next week. Everybody be safe out there.
01:42:20
TK
Thank you.
01:42:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
If you see that groundhog to call for six more weeks of winter, shoot his ass and have a great week and keep pushing.