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00:00:00
00:00:01
S4-164: Midwest Mega Storm Elsa!
46 Plays28 minutes ago
The guys sit down to talk about the massive winter storm that hit multiple states in the upper midwest last week with some of the snowfighters that battled it!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Early Challenges
00:00:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Let's get it, Snowjobs Nation. Here we go, bringing you episode 164 of the Snowjobs Podcast main show powered by TopCon Backblades. The best show in snow, no matter what you hear from anybody else. You know who I am.
00:00:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know who's with me.
00:01:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Steve and Rick James doing it again. What's up, buddy?
00:01:03
RICK JAMES
Hey, Steve-O, what's shaking tonight?
00:01:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
How we doing?
00:01:06
RICK JAMES
Doing good. Doing good. kind of I think winter's wrapping up around here, so time to move on.
00:01:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
Snow Measurement Discrepancies
00:01:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Recording early this week, so we know this isn is going to get fucked up. We're just waiting to see how.
00:01:15
RICK JAMES
Two weeks in a row.
00:01:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:01:16
RICK JAMES
Woo-hoo.
00:01:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, shit. Yeah, we're ahead of the game, man. This is so uncomfortable for us.
00:01:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah, definitely is.
00:01:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
you guys You guys got some snow last week?
00:01:30
RICK JAMES
ah yeah Yeah, we went out last week.
00:01:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
little bit.
00:01:33
RICK JAMES
like i After we recorded that day, and we went out or something like that.
00:01:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:01:37
RICK JAMES
We got two inches, i think it was. so
00:01:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Ooh. It's a major storm in Fargo.
00:01:39
RICK JAMES
Huge. Huge! huge
00:01:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
What's your biggest total of the year so far?
00:01:45
RICK JAMES
Of snow?
00:01:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:01:46
RICK JAMES
Push? I think it six-incher? Big.
00:01:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Six. All right. What are you up to for the year?
00:01:51
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:01:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Are you still below average?
00:01:53
RICK JAMES
It depends on which for which certified weather you look at. It's crazy the difference between the two. sort like national weather National Weather Service has us under 30.
00:02:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's wild, right?
00:02:04
RICK JAMES
True weather has got
Impact of Midwest Megastorm Elsa
00:02:05
RICK JAMES
us close to 50 or 40 something. That's not even close.
00:02:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really?
00:02:09
RICK JAMES
I can't believe how far off they are between the two.
00:02:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, the National Weather Service is always off because they use those untrained free spotters that don't get out of bed till 1130 or noon.
00:02:14
RICK JAMES
so
00:02:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
We have the same problem around here where they they're constantly underselling by 30% every time.
00:02:21
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:02:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. every time
00:02:26
RICK JAMES
I mean, it wasn't a great winter here. i mean, it was pretty much the same as last year. Nothing special. mean, we got out, but didn't have any big big events, and I'm really getting tired of these little piddly ones. They so they just wire on you. where You go out don't do shit.
00:02:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:02:41
RICK JAMES
We'll get all these big snows these were going talk to tonight. Yeah.
00:02:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, well, you just gave it away.
00:02:46
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:02:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's what we're doing tonight. We're talking Midwest Megastorm Elsa.
00:02:49
RICK JAMES
What?
00:02:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
They named another one. They named another one.
00:02:53
RICK JAMES
What did they name it?
00:02:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Elsa. There we go.
00:03:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
No, and Elsa did let it go, and she did not hold back, apparently. She blasted a lot of people with a lot of snow out there in the Midwest.
00:03:06
RICK JAMES
I guess.
00:03:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
How many states got, like, well over a foot? You had parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, where is it?
00:03:14
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:17
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Michigan got a shit ton.
00:03:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Michigan?
00:03:19
RICK JAMES
Michigan got a shit ton up north, I think.
00:03:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
did canada get some too or we don't even care about that exactly yeah we don't even care about that but uh yeah for for all intents purposes we're talking united states snow from elsa so yeah that was uh that was pretty good which hockey game actually all of them it didn't matter it didn't matter men's women's paralympic did not matter
00:03:24
RICK JAMES
Where's that? Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:35
RICK JAMES
Hey, did you hear that? Who won the hockey? Who won the hockey? The Olympics. Oh, oh. Do we sweep them? Do we sweep them? Okay. Okay. Yeah.
00:03:45
RICK JAMES
Okay. Okay. Would that be USA? Yeah.
00:03:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
It would be the USA.
00:03:48
RICK JAMES
Okay. Cool. Okay. Cool. At least they got forest fires.
00:03:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
They definitely have wildfires. They got us beat there. Things Canada does better than the U.S.
00:03:58
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:04:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wildfires. Number one. my God. But anyway, are you done firing shots?
00:04:06
RICK JAMES
paris I know.
00:04:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Can we move on here?
00:04:08
RICK JAMES
I like getting the hate mail. I love the hate mail, really. It's kind of fun.
00:04:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Jesus Christ.
00:04:12
RICK JAMES
It doesn't bother me.
00:04:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
But that is what we are doing tonight. We are talking the Midwest Megastorm
Guest Experiences with Snowfall
00:04:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Elsa that just recently blasted parts of the the upper Midwest. um It was impressive to see some of the videos coming out of Wisconsin, some of the photos um from Michigan and stuff. UP got blasted pretty good, too, Upper Peninsula, Michigan.
00:04:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
They got clobbered pretty good.
00:04:35
RICK JAMES
That's right here. 50?
00:04:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
So, yeah, we got ah ah a good panel of dudes tonight representing a couple different states.
00:04:38
RICK JAMES
50 plus?
00:04:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
you know, we got Harry Stelt is back representing Wisconsin from Extra Mile Snow. We got we got ah Dustin Van Hal is back after a long absence.
00:04:51
RICK JAMES
Whoa. Yeah.
00:04:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
We have not had Dustin on in a while.
00:04:53
RICK JAMES
It's right
00:04:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
And he represents Total Lawn in Mankato, Minnesota. And, that you know, they are the premier snow company in Mankato. So that that's, you know, that that's what I'm told.
00:05:05
RICK JAMES
right here.
00:05:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm just going what I'm told.
00:05:08
RICK JAMES
that so It says it on a sign behind him.
00:05:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
up
00:05:13
RICK JAMES
It says...
00:05:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh man we have uh podcast steve smite of storm equipment who i don't even know where he was plowing where is he were you in the city steve were you were in the cities for that one
00:05:19
RICK JAMES
yeah He's back.
00:05:27
RICK JAMES
Yeah, he was in the cities.
00:05:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, he was in the city.
00:05:28
RICK JAMES
Yep, he was...
00:05:29
Arctic Steve
was in the cities.
00:05:29
RICK JAMES
a
00:05:29
Arctic Steve
Okay.
00:05:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
10-4. And then we got Billy Apple and Jonathan Oreck of Apple Outdoor Maintenance. And those guys are the Blue Ribbon winners. It's not even funny how much snow they got because not only did they get blasted with over 30 for the big storm, they had a nice little warm-up the day before of 12. So it's like, Jesus Christ.
00:05:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
But that's what we're going to do tonight. We're going to hear from these guys. We're always talking
Snow Alliance 2026 Details
00:05:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Northeast storms. So, ah you know, this was a big one. They don't definite'tly usually get massive dumps out there, do they? Do they usually get over a foot?
00:06:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
No. So this is like a big deal.
00:06:04
RICK JAMES
I know.
00:06:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
This doesn't normally, it's not like a north Northeast, Nor'easter, which, you know, we routinely get over a foot from those. these are These are few and far between where they have enough moisture to get that kind of snow in the upper Midwest.
00:06:13
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:06:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
So this is great. Can't wait to hear about it. But before we do that, we got to hear from Team Top Gun. We got to come back and do a quick week review and then we'll hear from the boys.
00:06:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, gang, we're back. So quick week review here. As we've announced the last couple weeks, Storks Plows has announced the dates for Snow Alliance 2026. They are April 24th and 25th.
00:07:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Tickets are on sale now on the Storks Plows website. So go to head over to StorksPlows.com. Get your tickets today. They are going fast. I think they're two thirds sold now. So they ah they're going pretty fast this early.
00:07:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
They will be gone. i I mean, if you're going by the rate they're selling right now, they'll be gone another two weeks.
00:07:23
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:07:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
So if you're planning on coming and you definitely don't want to miss it, get your tickets. All right. um
Merchandise Updates and Reviews
00:07:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
What I got a Gene told me, I got to mention a couple more things. So we, we mentioned that they're having a golf outing, a golf tournament hosted by Arctic snow and ice products. That'll be on Friday. They are also having the welcome party Friday night hosted by sponsored by case construction equipment. um So don't miss either one of those. If you're a golfer, if not, there are breakout deep discussion groups at Storks on Friday afternoon. If you'd like to join those.
00:07:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
They are available. You can sign up for those when you sign up for your tickets. ah You can choose all that stuff. I was also told to mention there will be an equipment rodeo on Saturday at the thing. So i was told to tell Jeremy to warm up to you know defend his self-proclaimed best operator title.
00:08:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
So in equipment rodeo, moving moving machines, any machine, anywhere.
00:08:18
RICK JAMES
In what? What you having?
00:08:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
If it's got four wheels, Jeremy drives it better than anybody else.
00:08:23
RICK JAMES
Oh.
00:08:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Right?
00:08:27
RICK JAMES
I suck at an excavator. I suck at an excavator.
00:08:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
What? no you were at the uh we're a sandco sandbox day you were you were rolling an excavator weren't you
00:08:36
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I'm not, I haven't been in one those for a while. Last summer, me and Steve went to, we went to to Tomahawk with the Arctic boys and yeah, I thought I was better than I was.
00:08:46
RICK JAMES
i was It's been a while since I've been in the old excavator.
00:08:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
i don't think they're gonna have an excavator i don't think they're gonna have an excavator in the snowshell i'm pretty sure it's skids and sidewalk machines and loaders i'm sure if they're doing anything so
00:08:49
RICK JAMES
Oh, okay. And maybe and so just a rope.
00:08:57
RICK JAMES
What's a sidewalk machine?
00:08:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, man, there's less than them every day now. Getting a lot of feedback, man. Getting a lot of people pissed off about the Ventrac SSV going away. So.
00:09:08
RICK JAMES
Hopefully there's no shovels because and I can't find one that fits my hand. Oh,
00:09:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
there Well, that's a problem, man. That's a problem.
00:09:14
RICK JAMES
Dustin, I saw that eye roll. I saw that eye roll.
00:09:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah ah ah But, yeah, so, guys, definitely this is a great event. You don't want to miss it. So if you're coming, we'll see you there. Get your
Snow Removal Challenges
00:09:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
tickets now, storksplows.com.
00:09:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Keep hitting Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Keep hitting the five-star reviews. Keep dropping the comments and the, ah you know, the reviews of the show. Helps us immensely and keeps a keeps us bringing good stuff that you want to hear. All right, go head over to snowjobsnationstore.com.
00:09:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
right, get all your stuff. We got new hats coming, right? We got new shirts coming. We got new gimmick shirts coming.
00:09:49
RICK JAMES
New hats, new shirts are coming. Yep.
00:09:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Those are going to be fun.
00:09:52
RICK JAMES
Yep. Those should be good.
00:09:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
was There's going be a lot of people.
00:09:55
RICK JAMES
Hopefully they have none here.
00:09:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
You're going to see a lot of people where you'll be able to immediately tell if they actually have a sense of humor or not.
00:09:55
RICK JAMES
so
00:10:02
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:10:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
um I'm guessing no.
00:10:05
RICK JAMES
i know that I know a few that are not, but I'm good.
00:10:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
No.
00:10:08
RICK JAMES
so
00:10:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
So it'll be fun, but the hats look good.
00:10:09
RICK JAMES
We got our march March Madness sale going on right now in the store.
00:10:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh yeah yeah i saw that i saw that nice so get your stuff yeah there were your i think i saw a bunch of orders right there are a bunch of orders already good oh really i'm finally gonna i'm always the last to get the stuff i see all everybody posts videos and and pictures of them wearing stuff that i don't even have yet
00:10:12
RICK JAMES
So, yeahp yeah. Yeah. 15% off, to the store, get me running to the UPS store again. So, and you got a package coming any day there, Steve-o. Yeah, there's been few, yep.
00:10:27
RICK JAMES
And you got a package coming any day here. okay I about that.
00:10:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
but ah everybody well it's true everybody's further west than i am so the packages get there first if you mail them on the same day it's i mean what if my covered wagon with my stuff got robbed you know if really yeah absolutely billy the kid put a couple of buffalo in the uh in the path of the wagon to slow it down and then robbed it there you go
00:10:46
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Well, it's Pony Express. takes a while get across the terrain.
00:10:55
RICK JAMES
Could happen. see They got to cross some reservations on the way. You never know what's going to happen.
00:11:04
RICK JAMES
yeah I wouldn't doubt it.
00:11:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
happens man so if you see any uh you see any uh bandits or uh or indians out there sporting uh ojo snow jobs nation logoed luggage out there then send it my way because it's mine
00:11:06
RICK JAMES
Hey, got to do what you got to do.
00:11:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
anything else did we miss anything probably well screw it uh we're gonna hit some commercials from our sponsors and we're gonna come back and
00:11:23
RICK JAMES
I don't know. Probably. But who wants
Strategies for Heavy Snow
00:11:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
we'll get into it with the boys
Importance of Snow Removal for Safety
00:13:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, we're back. So let's bring in the boys. How are we doing, guys? Are we all recovered from the big storm or everybody's still digging out?
00:13:59
Billy and Jonathan
We're still digging here. Still digging.
00:14:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really?
00:14:02
Harry
We're good down here.
00:14:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
00:14:06
Dustin
We're ready for spring.
00:14:06
Arctic Steve
We're melting fast up in the Minneapolis market.
00:14:10
RICK JAMES
What?
00:14:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
What did you say, Dustin? You guys still digging out or are you good?
00:14:13
Dustin
No, it's we're ready for spring now. It's melting fast.
00:14:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. All right. Cool.
00:14:19
Billy and Jonathan
i just want to say I take full responsibility because we started talking last week about how we needed to start prepping for spring cleanups and mulch and everything. This is all our fault.
00:14:29
RICK JAMES
ah
00:14:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, well, there's always one. There's always one guy that says, oh, winter's over, and boom. that's you're i don't we're done yet, honestly.
00:14:36
Billy and Jonathan
think
00:14:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
I really don't think we're done. i think you're I think, if anything, this is the year that it's not going to let us go, and you're going to have that freaking first week of April dump in a lot of places, I bet you.
00:14:50
RICK JAMES
I wouldn't be surprised. wouldn't be surprised. It always happens.
00:14:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, somebody somebody was posting the clickbait fucking shit yesterday.
00:14:57
Billy and Jonathan
Yep. We're going to get shit on in April. Yeah.
00:15:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah absolutely I don't think it's done this winter is not letting go
00:15:00
Billy and Jonathan
We're going get absolutely shit on in April. Yep. Yep. i'mnna I'm going to be out of town for two weeks in April, so we're just going to get fucking hammered on up here.
00:15:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah we're fucked yeah thank you Jonathan you everybody's gonna get hammered now because you decided you wanted to go away in April
00:15:13
Billy and Jonathan
Just hammered.
00:15:15
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah. Hell, I guess I did, because last year I went away in March and we got snow, so I figured April would be better.
00:15:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
uh we got april snow last year uh it was gone i mean as as april snow does you know it's gone in eight hours even if you don't touch it but you're still it's still got to go out it' still a pain in the ass for the guys so i i think this is the year it's not done with us yet so so what let's start did the weather guys tell you this was coming like did everybody know that this was a major deal and it was coming start with harry start with harry go ahead
00:15:27
RICK JAMES
Sorry.
00:15:45
Arctic Steve
Yeah, thanks for
00:15:51
Arctic Steve
yeah i thanks for
00:15:53
Harry
Yeah, we probably saw it about a week out. Early forecasts 18 plus right away is what they were kind of telling us.
00:16:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay
00:16:02
Harry
And then as the storm shifted north, you know, as it got closer, it went to like 7 to 10. So, so
00:16:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay that's not bad when they're calling for 18 plus and then downgraded to 7 to 10 it's about average so what about uh man kato dustin what did they call for
00:16:10
Harry
yeah
00:16:14
Harry
yeah
00:16:20
Dustin
Yeah, I think early on they were calling for 18, somewhere in there, and then it kind of shifted over the metro, and then think it trended back south right at the end.
00:16:23
Harry
Thank you.
00:16:28
Dustin
So we ended up with right at about 12. But, yeah, they've been talking about it for two weeks.
00:16:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:16:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. So they were on it. What ah Steve, you were in the twin cities.
00:16:36
RICK JAMES
I thought got 17.
00:16:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, sorry.
00:16:39
Dustin
No, I just said I got 17 because somebody said they got 16.
00:16:43
RICK JAMES
Oh, I believe you.
00:16:44
Billy and Jonathan
Thank you.
00:16:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
and a half.
00:16:48
RICK JAMES
I believe you.
00:16:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Steve, you were in the cities. What did they get?
00:16:52
Arctic Steve
We were in the cities, we wound up getting about, I'd say about nine was the official where I was at. I was up on the north metro. But same thing, like Dustin said, it went back and forth. Originally, we were supposed to get, you know, 18 to 24, and then it went south to Dustin, and then it was going to come back north. And we ended up with, i yeah, about nine up in the cities, and
Weather Unpredictability and Preparation
00:17:11
Arctic Steve
then um I lived just south of the cities, and we had 15 inches at home, so.
00:17:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay so so south got more snow than north interesting all right is that guy bo still calling the weather in uh in the cities there bo knows weather is he still
00:17:18
Arctic Steve
Yeah, South Metro.
00:17:19
Harry
you
00:17:21
Arctic Steve
I think got a few more inches than you guys did, Dustin.
00:17:23
Dustin
Yeah.
00:17:23
RICK JAMES
so bonus
00:17:28
RICK JAMES
bonos
00:17:29
Arctic Steve
i don't I don't follow him, but yeah, there's a bow out there. It's all echoing something all the time, so.
00:17:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
he's usually dead on yeah he's usually dead on And then upper upper Wisconsin there. What did what the Apple boys get?
00:17:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Jonathan and Billy.
00:17:45
Billy and Jonathan
We ended up, the official NWS weather record said 34.2 was the final measurement.
00:17:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
thirty four 34.2? point two
00:17:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:17:54
Billy and Jonathan
Correct.
00:17:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
wow What they calling for?
00:17:55
RICK JAMES
That's more than got all year.
00:17:56
Billy and Jonathan
And they were...
00:17:57
RICK JAMES
That's more we have all year.
00:17:59
Billy and Jonathan
they were calling They were calling for like in the, ah you know, 18 to 24 inches possible, and it kind of kept bouncing south and then north.
00:18:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Six?
00:18:09
Billy and Jonathan
And then the the very last minute, because they were going to push it a little bit further south by you, Harry, I think. And then the very last minute, it it turned north again and and just squared up on us and unleashed its wrath.
00:18:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
How big an area got 30 inches? Was it very localized or or was it a big swath?
00:18:31
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:18:31
Billy and Jonathan
um
00:18:32
Harry
From what I saw, it was huge because Wausau and Stevens Point were 28 think it was. Yeah.
00:18:40
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah, all the way up into Mountain, and if you're following a map, like all the way across to the Upper Peninsula, I think i think some areas up there got over 40 inches. it's a pretty.
00:18:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, UP got crushed.
00:18:48
Harry
Yeah.
00:18:50
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah.
00:18:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:18:53
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:18:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
And you guys got
00:18:54
RICK JAMES
How long did it last? Was it, did it come down? how long was, was it just like three inches an hour or was it long duration or what'd you guys get?
00:19:02
Billy and Jonathan
It was basically a two day event. It started early Sunday morning, ah started early Sunday morning and just snowed.
00:19:07
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:19:11
Billy and Jonathan
I mean, I'd say we got two feet on Sunday um and then another foot on Monday. um So we we had a break Sunday overnight until about midnight. And then it started again early Monday morning or right after midnight, Sunday night and snowed till four o'clock on on Monday.
00:19:29
RICK JAMES
Bro.
00:19:29
Billy and Jonathan
So.
00:19:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
jeez
00:19:30
Billy and Jonathan
Plus we had had on Friday, we had had an 11 to 12 inch storm. So we started it off all tired and full of snow.
00:19:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
nice so at least they gave you a warm-up you didn't go in cold jesus wow 30 so so overall you guys had well over four feet of snow in the weekend wow that's crazy that's why and what
00:19:41
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:19:52
Billy and Jonathan
Something like that.
00:19:56
Billy and Jonathan
And then we had what, the peak peak wind gusts of 76, something like 76 miles an hour on Monday? Yeah.
00:20:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
I was going to say, what was the wind doing? That answers that question.
00:20:05
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah. That's what made it so so difficult by us. I mean, yeah, sure, lots of snow, you know, no big deal, but it just created such, you know, devastation by us. the the Everything from the state highways to the local roads became impassable very quickly.
00:20:26
Billy and Jonathan
on Sunday and it just, it was crazy. you You physically couldn't keep up with it unless you were going to just stay on one property.
00:20:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
I bet.
00:20:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure. Yeah, I mean, that's definitely to be expected. That's the same thing that happened in the northeast here, too. You just couldn't, you can't keep up with those kind of snowfall rates and move around. But, wow, that's nuts.
00:20:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
70 mile an hour winds.
00:20:49
Harry
you
00:20:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Holy crap. ah What kind of snow was it? Was it light and dry and fluffy or was it heavy wet, you know, mixture? What was it?
00:20:58
Billy and Jonathan
It was a very dense, very, very dense snow. The first day had more moisture and less wind, so we had more snow sticking right in place. And then as on Sunday or on Monday when the wind picked up, that was a drier snow.
00:21:13
Billy and Jonathan
But now we had all this other snow in place and it just so you had these you have these layers in it when you're peeling it and you're plowing it. You'll have layers of wet, layers of dry, and you can actually see it when you start to peel those drifts open. You can see those layers of different types of snow.
00:21:28
Billy and Jonathan
And then the longer it sits, now that it's set for a couple days, some of the moisture, I think, is actually coming up. because the and And it's, of course, melting because it's of about 35 degrees. So now it's getting wet, heavy, and hard.
00:21:38
RICK JAMES
That's
00:21:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice. that's That's a typical northeast storm, it sounds like, for the last couple of years. 35 degrees and snowing like a bitch.
00:21:51
Billy and Jonathan
but i mean, when it was snowing, it was anywhere from like 32 to...
00:21:51
RICK JAMES
not bad.
00:21:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:21:55
Billy and Jonathan
down to like 28 somewhere in there throughout the duration.
00:21:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
00:21:59
Billy and Jonathan
right
00:22:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
00:22:00
RICK JAMES
How about you, Steve?
00:22:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow. So...
00:22:04
RICK JAMES
Did you get a lot of wind where you were at
00:22:06
Arctic Steve
we had We had wind, a lot of stuff, kind basically just kind of like what you guys do up in Fargo. Our problem is the storm started out. We start pushing Saturday night at 7, and it was warm. You know, just everything was wet and scraping off, and then the temps temps and the wind picked up and dropped and then kind of iced everything over.
00:22:23
Arctic Steve
Loader I was in didn't have snow tires, so I was having a heck of time just for traction, but...
00:22:28
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:22:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Harry what how far away from Billy and and Jonathan are you?
00:22:36
Harry
What is it, two ah two and a half maybe?
00:22:38
Billy and Jonathan
three hours to West Bend, know,
00:22:39
Harry
Three hours?
00:22:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay
00:22:40
Harry
we hit We had, ours was a little bit more interesting.
00:22:41
Arctic Steve
Hopefully.
00:22:43
Harry
So when they were getting snow on Sunday, we got rain. We had almost two and a half inches of rain before our snow came.
00:22:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh
00:22:51
Harry
ah And at that point, I was kind of thinking like, man, if this freezes up, we're going to have a hell of a time, you know, with loaders. Granted, we got snow tires. So I made the decision right at the...
00:23:03
Harry
rain to snow mix, I sent all the salt guys out. We went and salted the crap out of the parking lots. um One of the guys was, he called me and he's like, Hey, it's snowing.
00:23:14
Harry
that The salt's not doing anything. And I'm like, I'm not trying to melt the snow. I'm trying to keep it wet, you know?
00:23:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow. yep
00:23:20
Harry
And another local guy in town by me, he got fed up with waiting.
00:23:21
RICK JAMES
Thank you.
00:23:24
Harry
So there was, you know, two inches of slop on the ground. He's like, screw it. I'm pushing. And I was like, have you been back to any of your lots lately? And he's like, no, why? And I was like, the temp dropped five degrees in the last two hours. I bet you you got ice skating rinks. He showed up at one of them's truck slid about 20 feet. And I was like, you better get salt on the ground if we're getting 10 inches tomorrow.
00:23:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
wow
00:23:46
Harry
So it it was a, it was a, you know, wet, sloppy, kept it wet. And then once we started pushing, it was, it was hard to push that first four inches off because a lot of it was slop, but throughout the day it got better.
00:23:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
I bet. Yep.
00:23:59
Harry
yeah.
00:24:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:24:01
RICK JAMES
Yes.
00:24:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dustin had it going, man. Kato.
00:24:05
Dustin
It was good. I mean, it was, we started early Sunday morning. It just barely had started snowing. I think the guys kind of wondered why we were going out so early, just because it was just starting to, just starting to stick a little bit. And we called everybody in and thank God we did. Cause we got, think was two to three inches an hour there for about four or five hours.
00:24:25
Dustin
So it accumulated pretty quick. um Kind of the same thing. it would It started off pretty warm. the temps dropped. um We actually, by Sunday afternoon, we had a lot of our lots were basically clean, melting off nice, but it was still so windy.
00:24:41
Harry
so
00:24:42
Dustin
then overnight, they froze up pretty good and we started a fair amount of cleanup to do Monday. But yeah, glad we got out early because that was the difference maker in that one for sure.
00:24:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
I bet. What was the snowfall rates in Mankato? Are we getting crazy rates?
00:24:59
Dustin
Yeah, I think there were two to three inches an hour for the first like four or five hours. And then it kind of backed off and through the rest of the day, Sunday, it slowed down.
00:25:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
shit.
00:25:07
Dustin
I think we're like half inch an hour, quarter inch an hour, but same thing, it was super windy and there's not much stop, but we're pretty wide open up there.
00:25:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:25:16
Dustin
So there was a couple of roads real close close to properties we maintained.
00:25:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes, you definitely are.
00:25:21
Dustin
They actually just put barricades across because they'd keep a plow truck on it, the city roads, and they couldn't keep them open. So they just, they threw some barricades up and closed a couple them down and they ended up coming to blow them a couple of days later.
00:25:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
wow
00:25:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
crazy so you guys are like what what's your you don't normally get a foot plus right in in mankato like is that yeah
00:25:39
Harry
Let's it.
00:25:44
Dustin
Yeah, it's pretty rare. We haven't in a while anyway, and not that quick. I mean, we'll pick up a foot, you know, over a day or two, but to get it kind of all in one day is little more rare. So we haven't seen that in, quite a few years.
00:25:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha. And what about you guys up there, Billy and Jonathan? You guys you guys pick up big storms like that? or Or that's pretty rare for you guys, too?
00:26:08
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah, we've had some big storms. We were, leading up to this, we were kind of comparing this to, it was April of 2018.
00:26:15
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:26:17
Billy and Jonathan
We had a ah similar storm come in that, you know, nobody thought it actually happened like this one. And of sudden, boom, it it it came in and dropped, you know, 30, maybe 28 to 30 inches that time.
00:26:24
Harry
Thank you.
00:26:32
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah. But it was a later snow. And I think, I think, as you guys know, it's the the density of the snow and the type of snow, the way it falls, the time it falls, all those things that factor into it.
00:26:44
Billy and Jonathan
And this snow is so incredibly dense and so deep that there was just absolutely no place to go with it.
00:26:50
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:26:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:26:50
Billy and Jonathan
So, you know, if you have a lighter, fluffy snow and it can compact and it can condense, that's great. But when you have these these wetter, dense snows, ah and then there's three feet of it, and, you know, we'll get area we'll get times where You get a foot of snow in the drifting, you'll have a three foot drift here and there, but it's only 50 feet long.
00:27:08
Billy and Jonathan
This you'd go into a condo complex or any type of ah a business and the entire thing had three feet of snow on it.
00:27:16
RICK JAMES
Peace.
00:27:16
Billy and Jonathan
That's just crazy. and then There's no place for it to go. It just can't get out of the way. And you get your truck, you know, these guys are getting trucks back into places where they shouldn't be with a truck.
00:27:26
Billy and Jonathan
And, you know, really what we found the the best way to handle this was track skid steers.
00:27:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:27:32
Billy and Jonathan
The track skid steers were the were the champs. cause you could leave a little bit of snow to give them some traction, and you could just peel that at two or three inches off, and they just push through like a bulldozer.
00:27:41
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:27:42
Billy and Jonathan
And then you could make ramps everywhere. So we're making ramps off the edge of our parking lots and just continuing to ramp stuff up.
00:27:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
And did you guys, that was that was my next question, like what worked and what didn't.
00:27:51
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:27:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Did you guys have to take the plows off?
00:27:54
Billy and Jonathan
Oh, sorry.
00:27:54
Harry
Thank you.
00:27:55
Billy and Jonathan
Jumping ahead.
00:27:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
and No, no, it's all good. Did you guys have to take the plows off and just go with buckets on the machines?
00:28:01
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah, we went with all snow buckets. Yeah.
00:28:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hmm.
00:28:04
Billy and Jonathan
We had, we'd run around with a plow for, for cleanup. So we'd have one guy, one guy doing cleanup with a plow blade and the other guys with buckets, you know, maybe two, two skids to one plow, you know, two skids with buckets to one skid with a plow.
00:28:17
Billy and Jonathan
So.
00:28:17
RICK JAMES
over
00:28:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Crazy all that money and pushers and stuff and when when you get the biggest storms, it's back to the buckets Yep, absolutely Oh
00:28:25
Billy and Jonathan
Yep. Back to the basics. Mm-hmm.
00:28:28
Dustin
We had a hard time stacking it. So like we we really didn't have any snow on the ground, but the ground was not frozen anymore. So were putting the snow on the grass. um We had a couple guys that actually went right off the parking lot and I mean, it would it would sink pretty good.
00:28:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sunk it
00:28:43
Dustin
Yeah.
00:28:43
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah.
00:28:43
Dustin
So we actually put a couple of loaders just with buckets in a couple of our areas just to kind of stack the snow.
00:28:48
Harry
you
00:28:49
Dustin
um So that helped out. It worked pretty good.
00:28:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha. Cool.
00:28:55
RICK JAMES
So you got some landscaping to do?
00:28:56
Dustin
Yeah, we got a little, did a little sod farming. Yeah, we got pluming out plenty of, plenty of turf repair after this one.
00:29:02
RICK JAMES
but
00:29:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
I everybody's, I think everybody after a winter like this, everybody's got turf damage.
00:29:02
Dustin
Yeah, job security.
00:29:05
RICK JAMES
We all got that.
00:29:08
Dustin
Yeah. Well, a lot of our customers pulled their stakes because it's been, you know, 50 degrees, i think three or four times and that people were pulling their stakes and dropping them off at the shop.
00:29:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh.
00:29:18
Dustin
I'm like, no, no, no, keep those out there, you know?
00:29:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. Yep.
00:29:21
Dustin
And, uh, yeah, so I made it a little more interesting.
00:29:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
We tell people all every year, do not pull the stakes.
00:29:28
RICK JAMES
Wait, your customers bring your steaks back to the shop?
00:29:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
We will pull the stakes.
00:29:31
Dustin
Oh, yeah.
00:29:31
RICK JAMES
Is that normal?
00:29:33
Dustin
Not all of them.
00:29:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
It must be a Minnesota thing.
00:29:35
Dustin
Yeah, Minnesota, nice.
00:29:35
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:29:36
Billy and Jonathan
if it
00:29:36
Dustin
This North Dakota.
00:29:37
Arctic Steve
Minnesota nice.
00:29:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man, that's crazy.
00:29:41
Harry
Thank you.
00:29:42
RICK JAMES
We used to even, you said traction was an issue with you.
00:29:44
Arctic Steve
Yeah, traction was an issue just when it glossed up a little bit with the without the snow tires. But ah did get to I did to get to run that ghost plow quite a bit up there this with this week.
00:29:56
Dustin
What's that?
00:29:56
RICK JAMES
Oh, did you?
00:29:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
I would guess you did.
00:29:58
Arctic Steve
It's the ghost plow.
00:29:58
RICK JAMES
What is the ghost plow you're talking about?
00:30:01
Arctic Steve
the it's the ghost
00:30:03
RICK JAMES
The ghost?
00:30:04
Arctic Steve
the phantom The Phantom, I brought that up there because normally I run a box up there, but I just wanted to do some testing on it a little bit.
00:30:06
RICK JAMES
Santa.
00:30:11
Arctic Steve
So I got about 50 hours in that rig this last week. We actually pushed three times in the last week up there. But um yeah, got some seat time in that. and My only issue is is a little bit of traction just because of the tires and the conditions of the parking lot.
00:30:22
RICK JAMES
Any issues?
00:30:26
Arctic Steve
but
00:30:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotta specify, you know, I need snow tires.
00:30:29
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:30:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm...
00:30:32
Arctic Steve
I did.
00:30:34
RICK JAMES
he He did believe me, I heard. Yeah,
00:30:35
Arctic Steve
I sent the text all the way up to the top of the chain of that company and said, Hey, this is my one request.
00:30:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
This is screw off.
00:30:42
Arctic Steve
I brought my own plow.
00:30:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh my God.
00:30:43
Arctic Steve
Now I need snow tires.
00:30:45
RICK JAMES
yeah yeah you brought your own plow.
00:30:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
And screw you. ah ah
00:30:47
Arctic Steve
Yeah.
00:30:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, shit.
00:30:50
Harry
I got a 926 with snow tires anytime you want bring it down, Steve.
00:30:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
See, there you go.
00:30:55
Arctic Steve
Sure.
00:30:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go. Wisconsin bound next time. Oh, man. Harry, how did you guys?
00:31:01
RICK JAMES
You have the ghost ball too, Dustin?
00:31:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
What's that? good
00:31:04
RICK JAMES
Did you use the ghost ball?
00:31:05
Dustin
Yeah, yep this is the first time on the big one. We've had our compact for a couple storms now. This is the first one on the big one. So, went well.
00:31:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, good.
00:31:16
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:31:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very good.
00:31:17
RICK JAMES
No issues?
00:31:19
Dustin
Nope, no issues.
00:31:19
RICK JAMES
Scrape good?
00:31:20
Dustin
The biggest thing is the guys really like the wings.
00:31:25
RICK JAMES
They scrape a little better than the other one style?
00:31:27
Dustin
they Yeah, and there they scrape better and they're there's lot beefier.
00:31:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, that's what I said in the review.
00:31:31
Dustin
um
00:31:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
I said the one big noticeable thing for us, we're not a wing plow company, but the one thing that was immediately noticeable was that you couldn't tell where the wings ended and the moldboard began, which you can on the other wing plows that we've used.
00:31:44
Dustin
Correct.
00:31:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
So that was, yeah, that was, that everybody's seemingly seeing the same thing.
00:31:49
Arctic Steve
Yeah, what's that with that full floating edge too, it just, like I said, I mean, I work for the company where we make them and sell them. And you guys know, I'll i'll say an ace is an ace, this fades is fade, right?
00:32:01
Arctic Steve
I call it as it is, and I'm not just saying it because we make it. But for running the thing, just the leveling and and overall use of it, it was pretty easy, pretty operator friendly.
00:32:08
RICK JAMES
It's easy.
00:32:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. Yeah, I would agree with that. Harry, what did you, as far as equipment went up there for your, your end of it, anything special you had to do, anything that wasn't working with the heaviness, the sloppiness of the snow?
00:32:24
Harry
More or less just getting blowers on all of our sidewalk stuff. um couple of stuff never got switched over. You know, it's 70 degrees. You're not really thinking about it. And you see big snow and you're like, okay, well, we should probably switch this over and,
00:32:39
Harry
Well, I wanted to, but ah it didn't. So, ah you know, we get four inches in and our ah our fleet guy, he's grabbing the snowblowers to go put them on the 1585s.
00:32:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:32:54
Harry
And ah I'll give him a shout out. He was sicker than the dog. He was throwing up for probably 12 hours every 20 minutes. And He stuck it out with me. so um But, you know, typical heavy snowstorm. ah Pucks breaking because guys are running the arctics.
00:33:12
Harry
Little two balls to the wall. ah Had a hydraulic.
00:33:15
RICK JAMES
hi Hitting old piles, probably. Hitting old piles.
00:33:17
Harry
no No, no piles. No piles.
00:33:19
RICK JAMES
I suppose you didn't have piles, right?
00:33:20
Harry
No, no, we had nothing.
00:33:20
RICK JAMES
You have piles. You're melted.
00:33:22
Harry
It's it's ah it's the it's it's the it's the curbs that sneak up on them.
00:33:23
RICK JAMES
I was worried about that here. but We didn't do anything.
00:33:28
Harry
um
00:33:28
RICK JAMES
That'll happen.
00:33:29
Harry
Hydraulicos, you know, blowing out on on wing stuff. um Just, to you you know, I was talking to Aaron about it, and I said, you know, for a 10-inch snowstorm, you expect a lot of stuff to break, but it was a lot more surprising that we didn't break more stuff.
00:33:49
Harry
So...
00:33:50
RICK JAMES
I think we bring more stuff in a tiny stone than we do. a Big, big event.
00:33:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, 100%.
00:33:55
Arctic Steve
Yeah,
00:33:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
I
00:33:55
RICK JAMES
Everything you say, oh, this will be an easy night, no issues. That's when we always have fucking issues.
00:33:59
Arctic Steve
it feels the same. Those one one or two inches is where stuff's breaking and these big ones, it just seems like everybody just does, don't know, that one good.
00:34:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
think guys take more care during a big storm that they need to work a lot longer.
00:34:07
Arctic Steve
Yeah.
00:34:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:34:13
Dustin
Well, they know they're going be out there for a long time too, right?
00:34:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
you know
00:34:15
Dustin
Like, I feel like we'd sometimes get those half inch or three quarters of an inch snow. It's a race to see how fast we can get done, which is good, I guess, to a certain extent, but it seems like when we wreck wreck some stuff.
00:34:22
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:34:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
hundred percent
00:34:29
RICK JAMES
What did everybody use for the sidewalks? Just blowers when it was going have or did or you guys use it on you?
00:34:37
Dustin
We kind of did a mix. I mean, we have some snow Raiders. We have some, blowers, we have some brooms.
00:34:42
Arctic Steve
you
00:34:44
Dustin
um We left the vroom broom on for a long, long time until the very end. We went back to some perimeter sidewalks, but yeah, a little bit of mix everything. We put a couple of blowers on, skid loaders, brought in a few extra pieces just in case we needed it. We ended up not actually using them, but that's what I was worried about is those perimeter sidewalks getting blown in.
00:35:06
Dustin
um
00:35:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
true
00:35:07
Dustin
We had some drifts that were to the top of like walk doors. So but there's nothing you can really do with that other than start shoveling.
00:35:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:35:14
RICK JAMES
yep Yeah.
00:35:14
Dustin
I was going to call Jeremy, but I just didn't know if he knew what a shovel was or.
00:35:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
as His hands don't fit any of the shovels.
00:35:20
Dustin
Oh yeah.
00:35:20
RICK JAMES
I don't, I try them all.
00:35:21
Billy and Jonathan
Thank you.
00:35:22
RICK JAMES
He just doesn't, you know, it's I'll tell you.
00:35:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, God, that's great.
00:35:23
Dustin
Yeah. They don't make a Viore shovel.
00:35:27
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:35:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:35:28
RICK JAMES
ah
00:35:29
Arctic Steve
Well, a gold gold handle with cushion cushion grip.
00:35:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:35:31
Dustin
Yeah.
00:35:31
RICK JAMES
okay
00:35:33
Dustin
Yeah. You didn't.
00:35:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah that's great
00:35:35
Arctic Steve
A Lulu edition.
00:35:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, fur line grip um on the shovel.
00:35:37
Dustin
Yeah.
00:35:39
Harry
Thank you.
00:35:40
RICK JAMES
gotta be a handle armors on there too, boys.
00:35:42
Dustin
Yeah.
00:35:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, my good God. That'd be great.
00:35:44
RICK JAMES
Good one, good one there. No sound like that.
00:35:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
But, Dustin, he could get in there with a 938 and do the same job that you're going to do with a shovel.
00:35:51
RICK JAMES
I'm sure I could.
00:35:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'll tell you.
00:35:52
Dustin
yep
00:35:52
Arctic Steve
with With a LaRue.
00:35:56
RICK JAMES
I'd definitely try
00:35:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, my God. Too funny.
00:36:00
Arctic Steve
So you think you can do it with a mag blower? Let me show you this.
00:36:04
RICK JAMES
ahha
00:36:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yi-yi.
00:36:05
RICK JAMES
You know me, Steve, I'd do it.
00:36:06
Arctic Steve
i know.
00:36:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
so um How did everything work sidewalk? Did you have any breakages, Dustin, or no?
00:36:15
Dustin
Um, not that I heard about. I mean, same thing.
00:36:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
No? All right.
00:36:18
Dustin
Our mechanic does an awesome job. Like most of those phone calls don't come to me. If they come to me, it's because he's buried and doesn't answer his phone or he left his phone in the truck.
00:36:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:36:24
Harry
Thank you.
00:36:26
Dustin
So, um, yeah, they normally don't get to me. and One of the best things we did is put, got him off his regular route and put him in a pickup and let him roam around. Um, and that makes our sidewalk guys really happy because there's always stuff to fix, I guess.
00:36:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice. Oh, yeah.
00:36:40
Arctic Steve
Thank
00:36:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh yeah
00:36:42
Dustin
And getting during the storm.
00:36:42
RICK JAMES
Hey, Dustin, so you said you'd left the Vroomer round for quite a while. Do you think that Vroomer, the upgrade we saw at Storm Day, do you think that would have, you would have taken off?
00:36:52
Dustin
Yeah, that would ah that would have helped even more, especially on, like I said, that heavy wet, like when Tom was showing us the, like the ped ramps going up and down and that's going to be huge.
00:36:54
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:37:00
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:37:01
Dustin
So
00:37:01
RICK JAMES
Yeah. I think really spins now. Holy shit.
00:37:05
Dustin
yeah.
00:37:06
Harry
We ended up buying two Vroom Vrooms this year as well and put them 1585s. um
00:37:11
RICK JAMES
her
00:37:12
Harry
They pretty much ripped through just about anything you can put in front of it. We we tried them for the first, I think by 4 a.m. m we had four or five inches. You know, it was throwing it, and then all of a sudden it was an inch and a half plus an hour, and then it was like, you know, seven inches.
00:37:27
Harry
And I'm like, we got to put the blower on. I can't chi i can't keep chipping away at this.
00:37:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
ye
00:37:32
Harry
You know, we got six miles of sidewalk to do here.
00:37:34
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:37:35
Harry
We got to put the blower on. But those things are great. They're awesome.
00:37:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
They're crazy good.
00:37:41
Billy and Jonathan
you
00:37:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
They're definitely good.
00:37:42
RICK JAMES
I didn't know you got two of them. That's cool.
00:37:44
Harry
Yeah, we're probably looking at at least three or four for next year now.
00:37:48
RICK JAMES
Get the new upgrade. He's
00:37:49
Harry
Yeah, I was talking to him about ah possible reverse, spinning the broom backwards.
00:37:56
RICK JAMES
been trying that Yeah.
00:37:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
You got to have that.
00:37:58
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Fan track.
00:37:58
Harry
Yeah.
00:37:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
You have to have that.
00:37:58
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:38:00
Harry
Yeah.
00:38:00
Arctic Steve
Yeah, you had that prototype up there with Patsy you're showing us here this winter.
00:38:03
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:38:04
Arctic Steve
It's pretty sweet.
00:38:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
so That's the greatest thing about, the well, was the greatest thing about the the SSV is the ability to go up to a door and reverse the broom to pull the snow back away from a door.
00:38:10
RICK JAMES
fantrak yes
00:38:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
That was that was a home run because ah I don't think a lot of the brooms out there are reversible. I know the 3,400 broom, when we had that, that was not reversible.
00:38:22
RICK JAMES
No.
00:38:26
RICK JAMES
No, that's 4,500 worth.
00:38:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
So I think only the 45s, yeah, the 45s and the SSVs, and I'm not even sure.
00:38:27
RICK JAMES
Yeah. yeah
00:38:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dustin, you have a mag, right?
00:38:33
Harry
Megs will go backwards.
00:38:33
Dustin
Yep.
00:38:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
mags will go backward too all right good so at least you got an option that we don't we can't
00:38:34
Dustin
They will. Yep.
00:38:35
Harry
yeah
00:38:36
Dustin
Yep. I always worry about my guys breaking a door though, going the wrong way.
00:38:40
RICK JAMES
i was
00:38:40
Dustin
They go right up to it and hit this. I, yeah, that makes me nervous.
00:38:44
RICK JAMES
One thing I'd be afraid of with that Virm room, like on a 1585 is with the reversers blowing off your windshield or something in that snow.
00:38:51
Arctic Steve
Yeah, you got some rock in there, landscape rock or something.
00:38:52
RICK JAMES
That's what I'd be. Yeah. Yeah.
00:38:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah and it also takes up the first quarter inch of concrete it's so good so we've got chips flying everywhere
00:39:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man. So, Harry, how did the wolves make out with the big storm there?
00:39:08
Harry
just fine uh had 10s and 13 lds on them um i would say they pushed i ran a 906 and a wolf in the same lot and it was pretty apples to apples i mean when you get big heavy snow you you can you can really only do what you can do with the machine you know i my 906 i was in for
00:39:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:39:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:39:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:39:30
Harry
probably six hours. And I think I went through three and a half tanks of fuel. Just, you know, you're you're just trying to hog it off and move as much as you can.
00:39:35
Arctic Steve
Mm-hmm.
00:39:37
Harry
So um overall good, no breakdowns. We've been, we We got a couple of the two new ones in that, like ah we talked about, us we switched up some interior stuff now.
00:39:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
ye
00:39:48
Harry
um So all that's been great. The new ones, we switched over to electronic joystick, so it's way more responsive. um So looking forward to some of you guys getting those. won We'll figure out how to get you on, Jeremy. Don't you worry.
00:40:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very, very, very big high chi heater now. The high chi is upgraded.
00:40:06
Harry
ah
00:40:07
RICK JAMES
He
00:40:07
Harry
The Haichi is upgraded now.
00:40:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
are we Are we trying to get that in English?
00:40:13
Harry
I enjoy it personally.
00:40:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
do you?
00:40:16
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:40:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, my guys do, too.
00:40:16
Harry
Yeah, it it'll it'll tell it'll tell you a couple things.
00:40:17
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:40:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
it's so It's a laugh, actually. They have a good laugh over it. um Hi, Chi.
00:40:22
Harry
You don't know what it's saying.
00:40:24
RICK JAMES
gets some culture. He gets some culture when he's out there.
00:40:25
Harry
yeah. Yeah.
00:40:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, my God. it It was so funny. I'm like, what are you fucking guys talking about? They're like the Hi Chi. I'm like, what what is the Hi Chi? And then they did it. They hit the button. They're like, oh, okay. That's actually really funny.
00:40:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh man that's cool yeah the snow tires uh definitely come in handy man they definitely do we the two big storms that that thing was on that thing pushed all day so we were very happy with that but uh like i said you gotta you can't sit too close to the high cheeto when it's on once it's on and once it's warm oh i think i'll melt plastic
00:40:55
Harry
Yeah.
00:40:58
Harry
It, it, it pumps it out. It it' definitely, it's, it, it was kind of, we, yeah, that that was our biggest thing is we wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to be too cold.
00:41:03
RICK JAMES
I'd really be hot than cold.
00:41:09
Harry
And then when we first started getting them, it was like, Ooh, uh, I don't think we need this one in there anymore.
00:41:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
yes you got thermonuclear mode it's like oh my god the the ceiling is dripping it's liquefying because it's so hot but like you gotta you gotta to keep that vent open you keep that roof vent open and that kind of stabilizes everything it's really good and once you
00:41:18
Harry
Yeah.
00:41:23
Harry
yeah
00:41:31
Harry
Well, it's got the 1985 fan to keep you cooled off, too, it you know?
00:41:34
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:41:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
It does. the The fan is great. the ah
00:41:39
Harry
Yeah.
00:41:39
RICK JAMES
You know, Chuckers hand?
00:41:40
Harry
Yeah.
00:41:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Man, it's awesome. It's so funny, though. that we had We had a bunch of laughs. it was it was a good time, though. But, yeah, the thing did everything we could ah we could ask it to do.
00:41:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
It definitely did in the two big ones.
00:41:51
Harry
Good.
00:41:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
it it definitely likes big storms.
00:41:54
Harry
it It'll eat, that's for sure.
00:41:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
it does it's got a lot of low-end torque like it's got a lot of like when you're trying to push a big pile that thing it has no problems doing that you don't even hear you don't even hear the cummins like fucking straining like it's not it's not working real hard so it was good in the big ones but how about billy and jonathan what what equipment work didn't work for you guys in that kind of big deal
00:42:01
Harry
Yeah.
00:42:10
Harry
yeah
00:42:20
Billy and Jonathan
I'll tell you what a lot of guys find found around here. The hard way is that trucks was not trucks. Weren't getting through this at all.
00:42:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nope.
00:42:28
Billy and Jonathan
And, you know, there's a lot of guys, lot of guys struggling around here still who, who have told a lot of their customers, like, I'm just not showing up.
00:42:39
Billy and Jonathan
I'm sorry, but you know, find somebody with equipment and you know, the, the equipment side has really paid off the way that, um, the way that, that there's been an investments made to equipment and whatnot.
00:42:55
Billy and Jonathan
Um, you know, the, I feel bad. The, the sidewalk crews are, you know, they're kind of going old school with it just because we've got stuff. That's just, it's, it's a lot of infrastructure that, you know, even for Wisconsin, it's not snow oriented.
00:43:09
Harry
because it's interesting.
00:43:11
Billy and Jonathan
And for this amount of snow, the safest thing to do is just, you know, walk behind snowblowers and shovels, um you know, in that volume of snow. So,
00:43:23
Billy and Jonathan
um
00:43:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's tough for anybody no matter where you are When you get knocked into the ridiculous snow
00:43:26
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:43:26
Billy and Jonathan
you know, we, I mean, we did call an audible in the middle of the storm. um Like we've got a Kubota tractor that we usually have a frame mounted plow on it. We switched that back over to the loader.
00:43:44
Billy and Jonathan
and, uh, made a round run to the Kubota dealer and kind of rear mount snowblower for that, just so we could put that thing to better use.
00:43:52
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:43:52
Billy and Jonathan
Um, because that, that was, that's it. That's been eaten through a lot of stuff. You know, we do, we do do a lot of driveways around here still just because of the the market that we're in.
00:44:04
Billy and Jonathan
and And we've been trailering that thing around the last two days, just eating, eating stuff open.
00:44:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
so
00:44:09
Billy and Jonathan
I mean, we've, We've really only had a day and a half of, you know, say 60% of the roads passable. Yeah.
00:44:20
Harry
Oh.
00:44:20
Billy and Jonathan
So trying to get around.
00:44:21
RICK JAMES
Oh.
00:44:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
you guys still aren't dug out like the infrastructure around you still ain't is not fully dug out
00:44:23
Billy and Jonathan
No, there's no the they're the public there's still public roads that are, you know, there I think there's a few yet that are impassable. Yeah.
00:44:34
Billy and Jonathan
um And there's a lot of roads that are just one one goat trail down the middle of it.
00:44:37
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:44:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:44:41
Billy and Jonathan
the The county highway department was out this morning still with front end loaders just opening. They were opening the highway, the state highway yet with front end loaders.
00:44:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
They're just bucketing it or they have blowers.
00:44:55
Billy and Jonathan
No, bucketing. um The state highway that runs through one of the villages here, the village of Ephraim, the state highway for a two mile stretch along the the lake, odd completely drifted 10 foot tall drifts.
00:45:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:45:12
RICK JAMES
Oh, geez. That's going to take a while with buckets.
00:45:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:45:15
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah. They, but that's, that was, that's just what they've been doing is just, you know, swinging it out to either side and the houses along through there. So sorry, pushing it right up against the house and into the yards and blocking everything, you know, and like, the so I should clarify, like Jonathan and I are two separate companies, but we run together for snow and he's country acres and I'm Apple outdoor.
00:45:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:45:33
Harry
Thank you.
00:45:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:45:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's right. I couldn't remember the name.
00:45:39
Billy and Jonathan
And,
00:45:40
Arctic Steve
right.
00:45:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Country Acre.
00:45:40
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah, no, it's all good. um You know, he's heavier on the equipment side. We are heavier on, like, the the sidewalk and de-icing, and then so we just sub back and forth. And, you know, like, ah we've got one of our skids in Ephraim, and to do a route down there, we couldn't even get to the skid for two days.
00:46:00
Billy and Jonathan
we We just finally got to it yesterday.
00:46:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really?
00:46:00
RICK JAMES
She got snowmobiles?
00:46:02
Billy and Jonathan
Yep.
00:46:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow. That's wild.
00:46:08
Billy and Jonathan
We were, um you know, like the other job I have, we we were running around on snowmobiles, literally answering calls. um And we even, it was so bad.
00:46:21
Billy and Jonathan
we the The local snowmobile clubs brought out their their Tucker groomer cats.
00:46:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:46:27
Billy and Jonathan
um That's how we were getting to people to do welfare checks and and rescues and stuff like that. Yeah.
00:46:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:46:33
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I got one for sale.
00:46:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, it does. Oh, man, that's crazy. Jonathan, what did you find on the equipment side?
00:46:40
RICK JAMES
You always roll your eyes on me, Dustin.
00:46:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Any any other? You said the track skids were ah were the winners. Anything you found that that shocked you as far as you thought would work that didn't or vice versa?
00:46:47
RICK JAMES
A woman.
00:46:53
Billy and Jonathan
um I guess we were hoping that we'd have a little better traction with some of the wheel machines, but there was so much moisture on the bottom of this and so much, you know, anytime anybody would drive over it, you'd have hard pack.
00:46:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hmm.
00:47:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:47:08
Billy and Jonathan
So, you know, traction and traction to push that much snow really became an issue. And that's where those track machines just really and in our and our area just shine because we were able to you know leave a little snow,
00:47:22
Billy and Jonathan
leave a little snow so you had traction, peel the top, you know, on the top two feet off, and then you go back and you peel be the hard pack.
00:47:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
sure
00:47:30
Billy and Jonathan
So um I think we were think we were pretty much caught up with our primary and all of our secondaries by about 24 hours from the time the blizzard ended.
00:47:41
Billy and Jonathan
And then the phone calls have been
00:47:43
Harry
Thank you.
00:47:43
Billy and Jonathan
Um, know, we've got a lot of these residential driveways that might be a quarter mile long up here and guys can't do a thing with them with a truck. So we're getting call after call to just go in and and bucket it all out.
00:47:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:47:55
Billy and Jonathan
Um, it's actually, I mean, it's a very, very dense snow. So really the the most efficient thing that we found is is the buckets. I mean, just go old school on it. You know, obviously buckets are horrible for your final cleanup, but just to be able to bulk that stuff and get it out of the way. um You know, we've we've been finding that on a blacktop driveway that's maybe ah a quarter mile long. You can run in with a track machine right down the center, just like a bulldozer, just open up your center track.
00:48:23
Billy and Jonathan
Then you can come in. Once you can see where you're going, you can come in with a V plow where you can get a little speed and get it to go up and over. But when it's three feet deep, I mean, that's as tall as your wings on, you know, even on like a 10 foot commercial V plow, you know, you're still just as as tall as your wings.
00:48:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:48:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
00:48:39
Billy and Jonathan
So you really got to get that speed to get it up and over. And a lot of these places, I mean, let's face it, how many places were designed to have three feet of snow dumped on in 36 hours? Not many. so
00:48:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
None. but
00:48:50
Billy and Jonathan
the The thing that really surprised me when you when you talk equipment, you know, Jonathan's a little heavier on...
00:48:51
RICK JAMES
I need to call the silver bullet in.
00:48:57
Billy and Jonathan
on that kind of heavier iron and then we are excuse me. And, and, uh, so we hired on a couple of front end loaders from one of the local quarries, uh, come out to w a three twenties.
00:49:11
Billy and Jonathan
We had running around opening up a lot of our long gravel roads. Um, the thing that really surprised me, we actually subbed on a bulldozer. we we had a We had a bulldozer just running running around opening up some of these places.
00:49:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
It'll work.
00:49:27
Harry
Thank you.
00:49:28
Billy and Jonathan
And that was pretty cool. I can say and in 15 years of doing snow, um I never thought I'd be relying on a bulldozer to plow snow.
00:49:39
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah.
00:49:39
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:49:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do you guys have any skid snowblowers? Blowers for the skids?
00:49:43
Billy and Jonathan
I do have a muskox.
00:49:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:49:46
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah.
00:49:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Didn't work.
00:49:48
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah. didn't blow if i didn't Didn't blow fast enough. We've got it on an S770.
00:49:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
OK, standard or high flow?
00:49:54
Billy and Jonathan
We just really weren't able to keep up up with it. And it kind of came down to wrong place, wrong time. um
00:50:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
OK.
00:50:02
Billy and Jonathan
The muskox for long term, running a snowblower gets the snow out of the way.
00:50:02
Harry
so
00:50:07
Billy and Jonathan
But it's it is much slower than just than bucketing. And, you know, when in a skid, you can bucket turn, bucket turn.
00:50:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:50:13
Billy and Jonathan
um And so we we stayed with the buckets. um we ran the We ran the blower early on and it it the did a good job, but we didn't have the traction with the with the wheel machine um that it can run it.
00:50:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:50:27
Billy and Jonathan
So we didn't have the traction actually push into the snow. And then if you're getting stuck and you're losing traction on that particular machine, um you have nothing. Like with a bucket, you can push yourself out.
00:50:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:50:37
Billy and Jonathan
ah With a snowplow, you can even push yourself out.
00:50:40
Arctic Steve
I'm sure
00:50:40
Billy and Jonathan
You know, you go and you get a box pusher on there like an Arctic or something, a little harder to push yourself out. With ah with a muskox, you really can't push yourself out. And so that it really became a traction issue.
00:50:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
All week. We do all the time. We get stuck with the muskoxes all the time when we go off the concrete and into the shit.
00:50:56
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah. Yeah.
00:50:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, where we pile it, um for some reason, I mean, it's not for some reason, the pile of snow that we have insulates the ground, keeps it from freezing where the pile is, so when we start blowing back, soon as the guys leave the pavement in this one spot, they know they're going to sink.
00:51:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
And, they yeah, they they use the muskox to push themselves out all the time.
00:51:13
Billy and Jonathan
All
00:51:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
That thing's a tank.
00:51:18
Billy and Jonathan
right.
00:51:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
But are you guys in are you guys standard flow?
00:51:18
Billy and Jonathan
I guess we got to send... We got to send...
00:51:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
or a high flow.
00:51:22
Billy and Jonathan
No high flow.
00:51:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
High flow?
00:51:24
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah.
00:51:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow. Man.
00:51:27
Billy and Jonathan
we got it We got to send Griffin over over by Steve and get some training. and Get some training on the Muskacs.
00:51:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, here's the thing.
00:51:32
Billy and Jonathan
Right.
00:51:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Just don't give a fuck what happens to it.
00:51:32
RICK JAMES
Sounds like...
00:51:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's basically what my guys are like.
00:51:37
Billy and Jonathan
Right.
00:51:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
like know But the Muscox guys told them to do it.
00:51:39
RICK JAMES
so i'll say
00:51:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, no, use this thing.
00:51:42
Billy and Jonathan
Right.
00:51:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Even if you have no hydraulics, even if you can't use the blower, use it to push the snow.
00:51:48
Billy and Jonathan
This is a push off, yeah.
00:51:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, yeah they and they do everything with it.
00:51:50
Billy and Jonathan
All
00:51:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
they They really beat the balls off it, and it works. I mean, like I said, we push ourselves out all the time. It's a little dirty, and you you know the first time you turn it on after that, you're blowing a lot of mud and stuff, but the you know as long as you're keeping track of where it's going, it's no big deal.
00:52:08
Billy and Jonathan
right.
00:52:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
What do got, Jay?
00:52:09
RICK JAMES
Sounds like they need the silver bullet to catch that speed to get the
00:52:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes. Yeah, absolutely.
00:52:16
Arctic Steve
Oh
00:52:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
The bullet.
00:52:17
RICK JAMES
silver.
00:52:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man.
00:52:18
Billy and Jonathan
There we go.
00:52:18
RICK JAMES
The bullet would do it.
00:52:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah,
00:52:20
Billy and Jonathan
He can do He can do it.
00:52:20
RICK JAMES
He don't need much room.
00:52:21
Billy and Jonathan
Okay.
00:52:22
RICK JAMES
He don't need much room. He'll send it.
00:52:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah it's definitely, it definitely is slow going. When you have that much snow, though, it'll move it and it'll move it out of place, but you're definitely faster with the bucket at that point. That is 100% accurate.
00:52:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
I actually want to buy after this year. I said that I'm like, we're going to have to buy some new snow buckets because we don't we don't really have the big, you know, whatever, 96 inch, you know, full yard, two yard snow buckets that we should have.
00:52:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
We just don't have them. and And it cost us time this year.
00:52:53
Arctic Steve
My favorite snow bucket is the Vernig by far.
00:52:57
RICK JAMES
Yeah, they got nice snowboard.
00:52:58
Billy and Jonathan
Why do you like that one so much?
00:52:58
Arctic Steve
We had...
00:53:00
Billy and Jonathan
What do you like about it?
00:53:01
Arctic Steve
we ran We used to do a ton of parking ramp decks downtown Minneapolis. We'd have to bucket afterwards at night, and it just they're just built really well. We ran we ran a lot of 96-inch buckets on our skiddies just so we were dumping over the walls. We weren't tipping the skids over with it on the 100-inch or the 101-inch buckets. But I don't know.
00:53:20
Arctic Steve
Dustin, I know you run some Vernigs, right? You guys have got Vernig, and
00:53:24
Dustin
Yeah, they were good.
00:53:24
Arctic Steve
there it is
00:53:25
Dustin
Yeah, we dumped a couple.
00:53:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, Bernie's super heavy duty.
00:53:27
Arctic Steve
they're heavy-duty and just
00:53:27
Dustin
They're super heavy duty you can see out of them.
00:53:29
Arctic Steve
but We bought some other brands, you know, over the years and just, yeah, it's just, they build a hell of a bucket.
00:53:31
RICK JAMES
Yeah, you can see. You can see.
00:53:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, they're slotted on the back. They have the, yeah.
00:53:36
Harry
Thank you.
00:53:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah We have the quick attach snow buckets. We have two of them, and they are the one I want to say we've had
00:53:42
Arctic Steve
Sure.
00:53:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
four shit 2016 17 and we just broke the weld on the skid plate that's the only thing that's gone wrong with it in that that amount of time and it's still they they they also make a really good bucket they're they're very well very much overbuilt but yeah vernix are tanks anything vernix makes is horrifically overbuilt like it's not in a bad way it's a good way it's way overbuilt
00:53:56
Arctic Steve
Sure.
00:54:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
But what else we got? What else you got? um Funny stories. We want to hit commercials first and then let everybody tell their stories.
00:54:27
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:54:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, let's hit some commercials and then we'll be right back and we'll get into some ah storm stories with the boys.
00:54:33
Harry
Thank you.
00:55:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, we're back. So let's let's see what the guys have as far as crazy stories. For a storm this big, you always have good stories that come out of it. So who wants to go first?
00:55:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Don't everybody jump at once. What do you got?
00:55:55
RICK JAMES
Make Dustin.
00:55:57
Arctic Steve
Dustin, what do you got?
00:55:57
RICK JAMES
Dustin do.
00:55:57
Dustin
I don't know if we had many funny stories, to be honest.
00:55:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
but he got
00:56:00
Dustin
My toe rope, yeah, tonight we should finish.
00:56:01
RICK JAMES
You guys do any hauling afterwards? Any haul?
00:56:05
Dustin
So, yeah, it's kind of fun to haul when it's 55 degrees in T-shirts.
00:56:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you Yeah.
00:56:09
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:56:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:56:10
Dustin
But finding dump lots little bit tricky, you know.
00:56:13
RICK JAMES
That's the problem.
00:56:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
out
00:56:14
RICK JAMES
yeah That's the problem this time here.
00:56:16
Dustin
So we had to be a little creative on that. But, no, i just had a lot of stuck equipment, um even skid loaders. You know, tires were warming up. And it was getting on that real dense snow and we were getting we had a couple skid loaders that were getting stuck.
00:56:29
Dustin
um So tow rope got a lot of use, lot of sidewalk trucks that got stuck somehow. I'm not sure how that happens a lot of the times when, if they would just park on the plowed side of the lot instead of in the snow.
00:56:42
Arctic Steve
right.
00:56:44
Dustin
But we had a lot of extra help. So we had a lot of, A lot of new guys, lot of guys that hadn't plowed for a couple of years, kind of my on-call list. We dumped kind of every skid we had and put them on sites and kind of just turned everybody loose.
00:56:58
Dustin
So um there was maybe a little inexperienced operators out there. So we had a few little little hiccups, but nothing nothing huge, I guess.
00:57:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
when When you guys, Dustin, you and you and you and Jonathan both mentioned that the wheel machines were a problem traction-wise.
00:57:09
RICK JAMES
Let's get it. Did did you ever?
00:57:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
When you guys are talking about this, are you guys using the regular construction tires or you got snow tires on them?
00:57:21
Dustin
No, we're running snow tires.
00:57:21
Billy and Jonathan
Yes. Yep.
00:57:22
Dustin
don't know about what do you, yeah.
00:57:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
You're running snow tires and you're having you had traction problems?
00:57:25
Harry
Thank you.
00:57:25
Dustin
Yeah.
00:57:26
Dustin
Which is normally the opposite.
00:57:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
No shit.
00:57:27
Dustin
Like we don't plow with skids.
00:57:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:57:28
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
00:57:29
Dustin
We just have two couple skids that are just dedicated on site that are wheeled machines. We have a bunch of track machines that just sit in the shop or sit in the yard, don't get used for snow. But um it's kind of interesting, Jonathan, you said that the track skids were actually working better this time.
00:57:44
Dustin
And I would agree with that. We need to get 30 inches.
00:57:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:57:49
Dustin
but we were able to, like said, leave a little bit ah little bit on the ground and and keep pushing was was huge. But yeah, those the wheel machines, the tires would get warm. And then with that real dense snow, they were getting stuck.
00:58:01
Dustin
I mean, there's a couple times where the guys are just pick up the front of the skid, jump out, literally clear the snow with their boot underneath the tires and then set the front of the skid back down and they'd be able drive out of it.
00:58:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
No shit.
00:58:11
Dustin
But just that little bit of a ridge.
00:58:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really?
00:58:13
Dustin
Yeah, it was crazy. But it was, you gotta remember, it was like on Sunday afternoon.
00:58:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's weird.
00:58:16
Harry
Peace.
00:58:17
Dustin
I mean, it was, melting off, like, i mean, the parking lots, once you plowed they were actually staying clean. So it was melting from the bottom up.
00:58:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hmm. Interesting. Never had that.
00:58:29
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah, we we only had to make one de-icing round through this entire storm with the exception of like our our clinic that we do. no Really easy.
00:58:40
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah, the sun came out and it has has a lot of power in it this time of year.
00:58:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
00:58:45
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:58:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. Got full angle now. So who else has got any? Anybody got any good stories from the storm?
00:58:51
Billy and Jonathan
Yep. Yep. I've got a i've got two two good stories from the storm.
00:58:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
00:58:54
Billy and Jonathan
So you get this much snow and You get a north wind, our our post office is in the downtown and behind the post office is a public park park and public beach, ah all facing up to the north. And we had a north wind.
00:59:07
Billy and Jonathan
And so in front of the post office, there was a drift that was probably 10, 15 feet tall, across the sidewalk, across the road. the The county highway emergency services, everybody's telling people stay home, stay home, no need to go anywhere.
00:59:22
Billy and Jonathan
They've been warning of this for days, so everyone should be prepared.
00:59:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Uh-oh.
00:59:26
Billy and Jonathan
And we get a guy that's just begging us, begging us that he's got to get out, got to get out, got to get out.
00:59:30
Harry
Thank
00:59:31
Billy and Jonathan
And of course, you know, when you've been doing this long enough, you you realize that everybody's got a sob story. And so you push a little deeper and you and you find out that what he really needs, what he really wants to do is go to the the post office, you know, and to get to check his mail.
00:59:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:59:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:59:46
Billy and Jonathan
And I'm like, you can't even get in the post office right now, let alone get you out of your place with 30 inches of snow, just so you can get your mail.
00:59:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
me
00:59:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Was this gentleman in his late 70s or early 80s?
00:59:55
Billy and Jonathan
And look, Yep, yep.
00:59:59
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:00:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
How many times have I said it?
01:00:00
Billy and Jonathan
Yep, get the mail.
01:00:01
Harry
Thank you.
01:00:02
Billy and Jonathan
Yep, yep, yep.
01:00:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
100%. Oh, my God.
01:00:03
RICK JAMES
Clockwork. Yeah.
01:00:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh like
01:00:05
Billy and Jonathan
And then ah another good one, one of our operators told me that he ran into this driveway. Hey, guy's probably been stranded in there for three days. And um kind of an old old older hippie. And he came in there and came into the back. And the guy says, oh, you're just here in the nick of time. I'm down to just a few cheese puffs. I need to go out and make a snack run. Yeah.
01:00:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
He's got the munchies. He's stocked.
01:00:29
Billy and Jonathan
Saved it yep save a few cheese puffs left.
01:00:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
That is great. That is great.
01:00:34
RICK JAMES
Good
01:00:35
Billy and Jonathan
You know, the, the, the takeaway that I, that I have from this storm, we didn't really have a lot of funny stories just because it was a lot of pushing, but you know, it was eyeopening for us to see this level of, uh, I mean, we, we hear locally, you know, we're state of emergency and we, and we've now declared a disaster
01:00:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
What else?
01:00:57
Billy and Jonathan
and it, it really shows what snow guys like us do for the community, because I can't tell you, i mean, there are probably a dozen times that you plowed a path for us on, you know, firing EMS to, to get to somebody having a medical emergency. The County highway department said, you know, we can't get anything there.
01:01:23
Billy and Jonathan
And these guys are out there. I, all I got to do is pick up the phone call, a phone and, these guys have a trail open within 15 minutes and we're, we're in there making the save.
01:01:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
01:01:37
Billy and Jonathan
and And you saw that all over the place with, with plow guys.
01:01:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's, uh,
01:01:37
RICK JAMES
yeah.
01:01:40
Billy and Jonathan
It just, you know, people, people don't always, they kind of take us for granted until something like this happens.
01:01:41
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
01:01:49
RICK JAMES
do
01:01:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, you can always survive two inches, no matter what guy you have plowing your shit. But when, when the big ones come that we've said it, that's the separate the men from the boys storms.
01:02:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, the guys that get it done.
01:02:01
Billy and Jonathan
and and and i'm goingnna I'm going to blow some smoke up this guy's ass here. i didn't do shit. but you know he He's always he's always you know taught me the lesson of you know you invest you invest when you can in your equipment you yeah to increase your capability and this is where it really show shines.
01:02:25
Billy and Jonathan
i mean You want to tell a story about ah ah like Andy's mentality and stuff?
01:02:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
hundred percent
01:02:30
Billy and Jonathan
Oh, well, years ago I had a mentor of mine and owns ah a tree company and we came through a big windstorm, you know, where was doing a lot of trees on houses. And I asked him what he's, you know, what's what's his plan for, you know, what's his plan for all the the windfall of money? and And his answer was, well, im I'm going to invest in nicer equipment so that I can be better prepared for the community the next time it hits.
01:02:56
Billy and Jonathan
And I think that's the mentality of ah of a lot of guys in our industry is, you know, sure, we could we could buy a beach house and we could buy a Mustang or we could, you know, whatever.
01:03:01
Arctic Steve
Thank you.
01:03:05
Billy and Jonathan
But the chances are we're going to reinvest in our businesses. We're going to reinvest in being prepared so that we are here for the community. So we are here when when the shit hits the fan.
01:03:16
Billy and Jonathan
um And you can never be overprepared. um You know, I'm a big backup, big believer in backups for my backups. And, you know.
01:03:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
01:03:24
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:03:27
Billy and Jonathan
plow plow stops working, just go grab another truck with a plow on it.
01:03:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
100
01:03:30
Billy and Jonathan
you know
01:03:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
the age of the age of predictable winters and historically uh the you know the historical range of winters that's over the global global warming is not meaning we're getting warmer it means the weather is getting more and more unpredictable and severe so all the guys rocking trucks
01:03:31
Billy and Jonathan
Hopefully you got one sitting there.
01:03:35
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah.
01:03:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
try and get at least a machine or two it's uh you know look
01:03:51
Harry
I don't what's up.
Historic Snowfall Comparisons
01:03:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
at look at how many big storms we had northeast had a couple big ones uh the midwest had a couple big ones like storms that don't normally happen like you guys don't what is it once every 10 to 15 years you guys get something like this out there
01:03:54
Billy and Jonathan
I think
01:04:08
Billy and Jonathan
actually haven't andt had this big this much snow in a century right well so i i went uh i busted a trail open to my uncle's place and and he's he's 79 and i i busted it up i had literally i look out the the windows of the skiddy and all i see is snow just on the trail that i'm making and I get there back to him, and he comes out to talk, and he's sitting here.
01:04:34
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah, I think it was winter of 1978, but that's not even close to this one. You know, he's sitting there just getting historical, and then the that I saw something posted the other day that the last time that we here had an event was like 1888.
01:04:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
01:04:54
Billy and Jonathan
That Yeah,
01:04:56
Harry
Thank you.
01:04:57
Billy and Jonathan
this catastrophic
01:04:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
so so yeah so i mean but you're you got it now and it'll be interesting to see next year what the winter is like last year kind of tuned up a little bit we a lot of places that were quiet for a couple of years had better winners except for fargo and then you know this year a lot of places had really good winners and then what happens next year that'll be uh interesting to see if this was our banger or if we got one more to go because it's a five-year cycle right everybody says it and
01:05:04
Arctic Steve
Oh.
01:05:09
RICK JAMES
Um,
01:05:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
But who knows? I mean, the it seems to be getting more and more erratic, though. You know, what did we say all the time? We said that the winter seems to have shifted a month where we used to get snow regularly in November and December, and now it's not starting most places until January. Well, that went out the window this year.
01:05:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, and now we're we're still getting snow into March, in the well into March. So, when you know mother nature's pretty crazy but
01:06:00
Billy and Jonathan
that's for sure i mean we had thanksgiving snow here and we uh i was looking back at uh We didn't have that early, we had an early November snow, know what, like the 9th of November where we had five inches, five inches of wet snow on a Sunday morning because we had to get out and get all the churches and a couple of businesses done that caught everyone by surprise in early November, right? Yep.
01:06:23
Billy and Jonathan
But like I was looking back at that records from last year, we were prepping mulch last year this time already.
01:06:37
RICK JAMES
You're muted, Steve. You're muted.
01:06:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, somebody else can talk then if I'm muted.
01:06:44
Harry
There we go.
01:06:46
Billy and Jonathan
this is
01:06:47
RICK JAMES
I did. I said you're muted.
01:06:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, shit.
Personal Stories and Humor During Snow Events
01:06:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's cool.
01:06:51
RICK JAMES
How about you, Arctic Steve? What do you got? Any good stories from that last event?
01:06:55
Arctic Steve
I kind of played the lone the lone ranger this event. We plowed a week ago Tuesday night into Wednesday and came home and wound up getting the flu. And I think you called me a couple jeremy a couple times Saturday night when we were out. And you were like, get on the call. And I just, my...
01:07:10
Arctic Steve
throat felt like I swallowed razor blades and I'm surprised my teeth weren't chipped for how bad they were chattering.
01:07:10
RICK JAMES
a
01:07:15
Arctic Steve
I'm still not a hundred percent. I kind of feel like shit tonight, but I was pretty sick, but I told him I'd be there. So he kept rolling.
01:07:21
RICK JAMES
ah you in You wouldn't be getting on the call with us.
01:07:25
Arctic Steve
No, wasn't out there just for 45 minutes in a tick tock video that night.
01:07:25
RICK JAMES
Oh,
01:07:28
Arctic Steve
We were going for the we're going through the duration.
01:07:28
Harry
ah
01:07:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
01:07:31
Dustin
First time for everything, huh?
01:07:32
RICK JAMES
yeah. Yeah. Then you go back to the old town sleepy.
01:07:35
Arctic Steve
What's that?
01:07:37
RICK JAMES
Then you went back to the old town to go sleep.
01:07:37
Arctic Steve
it's a swim.
01:07:40
RICK JAMES
Oh, to swim? Okay.
01:07:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Went swimming Nice Alright
01:07:45
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:07:45
Billy and Jonathan
tell I can tell you the one thing I'm glad I did.
01:07:45
RICK JAMES
You got to pee.
01:07:48
Billy and Jonathan
I put all my guys up in hotels ahead of time. Nope.
01:07:51
Arctic Steve
that's That's huge.
01:07:52
Dustin
Yeah, same.
01:07:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotta do it On the big ones
01:07:54
Dustin
At least the out-of-town guys.
01:07:55
RICK JAMES
Steve's always in all time.
01:07:56
Arctic Steve
One thing that was good again, i mean, it happened happened when we were out with Todd, but the company I was plowing for, one of the sales account reps came out on Saturday night.
01:08:06
Arctic Steve
you know It was coming down pretty good, but picked up a bunch of Jimmy Johns and just brought them to us in Gatorade so he didn't have to stop.
01:08:13
Harry
Thank you.
01:08:14
Arctic Steve
He'd just eat the machine. and
01:08:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
the fuck is a jimmy john
01:08:19
Arctic Steve
It's like a Jersey Mike. You know what that is.
01:08:20
RICK JAMES
You don't know what a Jimmy John says?
01:08:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay gotcha all right you don't have jimmy john's here that's a sandwich place i guess no we don't have that shit here we got jersey mics we got subway we got we don't even have that anymore around here fuck those were at least good the jersey mics aren't bad they're not bad
01:08:22
Dustin
Thank
01:08:22
Arctic Steve
It's a Midwest version.
01:08:28
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:08:31
RICK JAMES
You just fire health Fire health subs is all the way you go, dude. I know. I'm just kidding. I just give you hard time about that every time. Yeah. Yeah.
01:08:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
No, they're not bougie enough for Jeremy. Jeremy wants a designer sandwich shop.
01:08:47
RICK JAMES
No.
01:08:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
You would love the Italian delis out here in the Northeast then.
01:08:53
RICK JAMES
I don't eat cold.
01:08:53
Arctic Steve
jeremy jeremy doesn't usually je Jeremy doesn't usually stop the food.
01:08:54
RICK JAMES
I don't eat cold sandwiches. I don't eat cold sandwiches.
01:08:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh!
01:08:56
RICK JAMES
um Yeah.
01:08:58
Arctic Steve
That's usually the the boys up there are on the radio and two hours in want where they're going to eat.
01:09:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes, my sandwich. My sandwich must be at 96 degrees.
01:09:04
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I don't eat. steve Steve knows.
01:09:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
my God.
01:09:07
RICK JAMES
I don't stop. i don't
01:09:08
Arctic Steve
He doesn't stop.
01:09:09
RICK JAMES
very
01:09:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh my god
01:09:10
RICK JAMES
I get so much shit because my guys, that's all they talk about is food. being on the lower for where' Where's lunch? like You just fucking started. That's all so we
01:09:19
Arctic Steve
And now hour in, they're bringing donuts around.
01:09:22
RICK JAMES
Oh, donuts, cookies.
01:09:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's pretty funny.
01:09:23
Arctic Steve
yeah
01:09:23
RICK JAMES
Yeah, those guys, they don't pass a quick star. How about you, old Harry?
01:09:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's pretty funny. Well, what else we got boys?
01:09:30
RICK JAMES
Did get anything? i mean
01:09:32
Harry
Oh,
01:09:32
Arctic Steve
Tell us some Aaron stories. Is there any good ones?
01:09:36
Harry
geez. What did he do?
01:09:39
RICK JAMES
Did he do anything for the storm?
01:09:40
Harry
Well, you know. What was he doing? I'm trying to even think. I don't even remember.
01:09:49
Harry
Yeah, I...
01:09:49
Arctic Steve
he might He might have been recuperating from falling in that skid bucket and the assault still.
01:09:53
Harry
Oh yeah, that was pretty gnarly. He, uh, Aaron played backup. He, uh, I think he took over in a machine somewhere, ended up in a salt truck. Um, you know, I wouldn't say we had any, yeah, yeah.
01:10:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
He does it all. He does it all.
01:10:06
Harry
Jack of all trades.
01:10:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it.
01:10:08
Harry
Um,
01:10:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wherever you need him.
01:10:10
Harry
i don't I don't think we had really anything funny. It's mostly like day after funny stuff for me. ah You know, you get a couple of new guys out there and a foot of snow or whatever, and you go to job sites and you're just like looking at these like – Why would he push snow across a sidewalk towards a building?
01:10:29
Harry
You know, just, just dumb stuff that happens when you have a bunch of snow. And, uh, for me, that's like the funny part of it because logic, you know, outweighs anything when, you know, you can't see 10 feet in front of you. So wherever I can push it, that's where it's going to end up.
01:10:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Or he was trained in New Jersey because that's a Jersey thing.
01:10:45
Harry
But.
01:10:48
Harry
Yeah.
01:10:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Push it right to the front entrance.
01:10:49
Harry
Yeah, we've we've got a local contractor for, he does the Home Depot, and he pushes all the snow from the back of the lot towards the handicapped spots and buries in the cart corrals.
01:11:01
RICK JAMES
ah
01:11:01
Harry
um
01:11:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
i mean, that's one way to go.
01:11:03
Harry
Yeah, yeah he takes he he takes care of it pretty good for those nationals that, you know, we weve we actually have a couple that we stopped servicing because, ah you know, classic, they're not responding and not paying, so.
01:11:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
You
01:11:03
RICK JAMES
Hmm.
01:11:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
know,
01:11:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
What do you want for $114 a push at Home Depot? That's funny. Nice.
01:11:20
Harry
Well, but those guys are they're, they're a special group. They're the cowboys town. That's for sure.
01:11:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
funny
01:11:27
Harry
Truck, truck plowing six acre parking lots. Um, I watched him, I watched him, uh, plow probably a four acre parking lot with a salt around the entire time one night.
01:11:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
nice
01:11:38
Harry
Yeah.
01:11:39
RICK JAMES
Huh.
01:11:39
Harry
Yeah. His lot looked really good because there was, you know, four ton of salt on two and a half acres. So.
01:11:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Oh God, that's great.
01:11:46
Harry
That was good for a while. um ah Billy and Jonathan, you ah obviously you guys have been on before, but maybe take a couple minutes just to explain the location that you're at too, because I think that's kind of a special thing with, um you know, the level of service that you guys are able to do in the community that you have, being tight-knit like that.
01:12:09
Harry
um Some of these guys might not understand, you know, kind of the area that you're in too.
01:12:15
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah. So, I mean, we're on a, we're on a peninsula, door peninsula sticks out in the Lake Michigan and we have, you know, about a 2000 people in our, in our town and the commercials are lot of mom and pop.
01:12:34
Billy and Jonathan
And, you know, there are no chain stores here. There are no, the closest Walmart's an hour away. So, you know, it's, it's ah It's a whole different world here when it comes to that and and what we've been really, and I think this is one of the, this is the event where we can really distinguish ourselves because, you know, all these guys that are out there just calling their customers and saying, yep, no, we're not coming, figure it out.
01:13:03
Billy and Jonathan
You know, we're out there making making it happen. Yeah, it's been done. Yeah. It's done. and And all these, i mean, I'm not joking.
01:13:10
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:13:11
Billy and Jonathan
There are, Hundreds of people who are still calling and saying, calling in you know, through, you know, support agencies here.
01:13:24
Billy and Jonathan
I'm still snowed into my house and I'm running out of supplies. What do I do? Call your snowplow guy. Well, he said he's not showing up. So it's just crazy to see that here.
01:13:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
So you guys could pick up a lot of customers potentially next year if you want them.
01:13:44
Billy and Jonathan
yeah I think, I think, so there's a couple of guys, there's a couple of guys.
01:13:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Monopoly time. but
01:13:48
Billy and Jonathan
I think this was a straw that broke the camel's back. Um, they're getting older and all that kind of stuff. And i think, I think you're going to see them, you know, start to fade away after this one.
01:14:02
Billy and Jonathan
um I mean, we're running, we're running 291 this year and between residential and commercial and,
01:14:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
01:14:14
Billy and Jonathan
i I just don't physically think we can take on a whole lot more with the infrastructure that we have around here to support us.
01:14:19
Harry
Thank you.
01:14:22
Billy and Jonathan
So I think what we've definitely started to see is starting to build up the other guys, the the younger guys around us to to build a good machine here in our market so that everybody wins. And we're not out here cutting each other's throats and stuff like that. That's kind of the mentality that we've taken and we've taken.
01:14:40
Billy and Jonathan
and trying to build that up so that everybody, everybody has each other's back and, and stuff like that. I mean, there's, there's another one, you know, probably ah one of our biggest competitors at our, you know, at our level has had quite a significant amount of property ah account failures on this, this
Business Challenges in Snow Removal
01:15:01
Billy and Jonathan
event.
01:15:01
Billy and Jonathan
Well, they're stretched too thin, their labor that you know, they're too cheap to begin with.
01:15:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:15:06
Billy and Jonathan
So they're not, paying their labor what they really need to get them there through the winter or get them there when it really counts.
01:15:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
01:15:13
Billy and Jonathan
um they're they don't They're not making good enough profits, so they can't reinvest enough in their business to give them more backups, to give them more equipment. And like you said, it separates the men from the boys.
01:15:25
Billy and Jonathan
I mean, preparedness when you have something like this is is key.
01:15:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
I definitely do.
01:15:29
Billy and Jonathan
You want to make big boy money, you got to do big boy shit. Yep.
01:15:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it Everybody wants to be a gangster What's that Dustin?
01:15:33
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
01:15:33
Dustin
So talking about money real quick for you quick for you guys, how are you keeping track of like those one-off like jobs?
01:15:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
I was gonna ask that Yeah
01:15:43
Dustin
So my our biggest problem is when we get those, like lot of them come right to my cell phone, right? Somebody call me, text me, hey, can you come help me? I'll send them like one of the guys a pin or I'll go do it myself.
01:15:54
Dustin
And then, yep, done, good job. And then it gets forgotten about it until like two weeks later.
01:15:58
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah. It's a great way. You know, if if you want to lose a lot of money in the snowplow business, you first got to start off with a lot of money.
01:16:01
Harry
Thank you.
01:16:05
Billy and Jonathan
So.
01:16:06
RICK JAMES
Unfortunately,
01:16:09
Billy and Jonathan
It's kind of, yeah, I was joking around about that earlier, that exact point earlier today.
01:16:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
01:16:14
Billy and Jonathan
Like, I think ah i think there's an awful lot of this that is just going to be community service.
01:16:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah well when you're in a state of emergency like that does the local government like the county or or state reach out and say hey we're gonna pay you whatever to go open all these people up we
01:16:20
Dustin
Yeah, fair enough.
01:16:20
Billy and Jonathan
hopefully Hopefully we can remember it all, but yeah.
01:16:23
Dustin
Great.
01:16:34
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah, we've we've actually been, the local town has um has called us in because um theyve there are a few gravel roads up here still, and they they can't put a truck on them without digging in because the gravel is so soft they can't put a grater on them.
01:16:50
Billy and Jonathan
um So they've hired us to come in with skid steers, and and and to me it seems inefficient, but I guess my operators are pretty quick, and so they're they're clearing them clearing gravel roads, at least getting them passable. They're not clearing them to 25 feet wide, but they're clearing, you know, enough that two cars could pass.
01:17:08
Billy and Jonathan
um And obviously, as you guys know, with a skid steer, you can find that sweet spot with a bucket and you can just skim right off the top. Where with any kind of blade, you're going to bounce and chatter and and and screw that gravel up.
01:17:20
Billy and Jonathan
So, yeah, we've we've been we've been called in by multiple municipalities.
01:17:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
01:17:21
RICK JAMES
you know
01:17:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
What?
01:17:27
Billy and Jonathan
Even a couple other towns are calling in to get drifts removed.
01:17:29
RICK JAMES
It's
01:17:31
Billy and Jonathan
So,
01:17:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice. Good for you guys.
01:17:33
RICK JAMES
a good name to have out there then you guys have a good name so that's great.
01:17:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely. The go-to guys is never a bad title to have.
Community Support and Emergency Response
01:17:40
Billy and Jonathan
i think one of the I think one of the cool you know big wins for for us in this event, are we have a ah very large CBRF nursing home in our in our village here where we're like centrally based and um they are still trying to self-perform their snow. And i get a phone call a on at my other job on Sunday morning, ah you know, hey, we we can't get any of our guys in there and everything's completely snowed in We can't keep up on fire exits or anything.
01:18:17
Billy and Jonathan
You know, what can the fire department do to help us? And more than... not more than 30 seconds later, you know, boom, we're going up there for, for an emergency call and we can't get into them right now.
01:18:32
Billy and Jonathan
And, you know, I make, I make a phone call. We start getting skids up there. um ended up getting, ah getting a, uh, emergency contract to go in and dig the entire complex out.
01:18:45
Billy and Jonathan
And, you know, that the, the, the things that we're, that, you know, you guys, you guys specifically what on the heavier iron side are doing in this, yeah this event is really eyeopening to a lot of people.
01:18:54
Harry
Thank you.
01:19:00
Billy and Jonathan
Yeah. I mean, we're a very tight knit community up here. We depend on each other. You know, one thing that we find a lot of times you'll get people from the cities and they, they want us to cut each other's throat.
01:19:06
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:19:12
Billy and Jonathan
You know, they'll call him and they'll call me and they'll, know, they want us to slit each other's throat, but you know, once they leave and they, they abandon their second home and they go back to work to, Florida for the winter or whatever, we all need to depend on each other up here.
01:19:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep
01:19:24
Billy and Jonathan
um And so, you know, it works better to work together as a community rather than, to you know, slit each other's throat over a ah short-term game. It just always does.
01:19:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Always does.
01:19:34
RICK JAMES
yep
01:19:35
Billy and Jonathan
yeah do Do unto others.
01:19:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes, sir. 100%. What else? Who's got anything else? Anybody? Or we do are we good?
01:19:47
Harry
I'll put a shameless plug for the Wolves.
01:19:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do it!
01:19:50
Harry
we We probably got 10 to 15 demos that we're selling out. ah They're available April 1st. Price is $57.5 this year.
01:20:05
Harry
Everything's 100 hours or less. So come April 1st, we'll have a bunch of those for sale rolling in.
01:20:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
01:20:12
Harry
think we have 10 new ones showing up in the next three months with all the new cab design to stuff. cab design stuff so we'll be at storks uh we'll be at sema again probably show up at couple of those other ones too so
01:20:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool, bud. Are you all different colors or you guys standardize any colors?
01:20:29
RICK JAMES
Awesome.
01:20:32
Harry
all black now yeah yeah i'm still i'm still waiting for somebody to tint one out real dark so uh that'll be cool once somebody does that
01:20:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
All black? Nice. Nice.
01:20:36
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:20:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh yeah definitely yeah the black looks tight it definitely does definitely cool all right sweet anybody else you anybody got anything else dustin no steve all right all right jonathan billy you guys good
01:20:57
Arctic Steve
Good.
01:21:03
Billy and Jonathan
we're good.
01:21:03
RICK JAMES
Sure.
01:21:03
Billy and Jonathan
Yep.
01:21:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
cool all right boys then we'll uh we'll wrap it thanks for the time we appreciate you guys glad you guys got through the big storm all right and everything's good to go and you know continue digging out hopefully you know jonathan nerdy jinxed us so okay this winter is definitely not done because he's going away so we're gonna everybody's gonna get pounded at least once more
01:21:27
Harry
I'm leaving April 4th for Florida for a week. So I'm taking um um i'm taking off my shelter Monday just to tempt it.
01:21:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah there you go so harry screwed us too
01:21:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go. So we're all screwed.
01:21:35
RICK JAMES
No. no
01:21:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
winter Winter will continue, but ah this show will not. So we're going to wrap it there. Thanks to the boys for coming on. Glad everything went well.
01:21:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
And we appreciate the time. ah We know these guys are shot from ah from the last couple days in the last week. So that'll do it. Episode 164, the Snowjobs podcast main show in the books.
01:21:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. Thanks to the boys. Everybody have a great week. Be safe out there. All right. And, you know, keep pushing.