Cold tonight?

it's been pretty cold the past few days. Below zero at some points. And then there's the wind which makes it even colder.

I know some of the people in the north east are experiencing some cold and snow right now. I wish them the best.

Recently I threw out a plug for a cold weather coat, and I want to tell a story about the same.

Back in the early 90's I used to work in the oilfield in Wyoming. I actually worked there a lot longer than that, but this story is from 91 or 92.

I was in my late 20's then, and we were "on call". This meant we would go, anytime, any where, 24x7. I wasn't a rig hand, I was a construction worker.

One night (of many, but this one was memorable) we got a call around 11pm on a Friday night. Our trucks had radios in them which would honk the horns if someone called. It was mid February, and it was frosty cold...about minus -30 F and the wind was blowing (hard). I heard my truck go off in the driveway and got dressed. I knew it was cold.

You never really knew where you were going to go on those calls; they could be 6-7 hours or they could be days and days. So you dressed for the worst. This particular call was from Texaco, one of our best customers. We would do anything for them; they paid top dollar, but they wanted things RIGHT NOW!! Not tomorrow, but RIGHT NOW!

This particular job was out in Red Desert, which is about 80 miles east of Rock Springs where we were based. We needed a forklift and a backhoe and it was cold...I mean really COLD!! By the time we showed up at the site it was blowing about 45-50mph, and it was about minus -70 F. Not even Carhartt's worked in these temps. So I had this jacket / coat which was pretty nice before this. It was warm under any circumstances. However, on this day I was going to have to crawl under equipment and run big salamander heaters under the oil pans to get the forklift and backhoe even started. And so I did.

It was brutal cold out there that day, just brutal. We got awards from Texaco for being there and getting what they wanted done, but what I was more impressed with is how we all kept warm.

God Bless the Renegade Cafe, next to the Outlaw Truckstop. Never had a better breakfast ever. Always ate there. But that night, all our trucks sat out in the lot, running, so we could burn off enough fuel to run #1 diesel or even kerosene down mixed with oil.

I will never forget laying under that damn forklift before daylight with a propane heater pointed at the oil pan, just to get the day started.

I pray everyone stays warm tonight! Trust me, I know about working in the cold! My ex-FIL used to work outside in Alaska on the pipeline as a surveyor and not even he had stories of the cold like I did from Wyoming.

I guess there are a lot of "cold" stories from North Dakota, but I've only spent a few days there in the winter. Maybe they're more impressive. I don't know.

It has been warmer than usual around here so far. We have about two inches of snow on the ground and not too much in the forecast from now till Christmas, maybe three more inches or so. I guess the East Coast is getting the snow this year and I am definitely not complaining. Us Yoopers will call Heikki Lunta back if New York gives the UP a hundred million bucks. Otherwise the snow god can keep trying to prove to those New Yorkers that global warming is not real.

I lived in Outer Mongolia for 10 years, part of that in a nomad camp. -40 to -50 in the winter. Rode horses and worked livestock in that.

Getting up at 4:00am to stoke the stove and put a pot of ice chunks on to melt for coffee and washing water, then going back to bed while the kitchen warned up.

Loved every minute of it.

But I'm weird that way.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Wisconsin has been unseasonably mild this year. The plants, the animals and insects don’t know what’s going on.
We finally got a little snow and when i took my dog outside i got bit by a mosquito. Yes bit by a mosquito, in December in Wisconsin during a snowstorm. 2020!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I am from the great white north, I doubt you know what cold is unless you have done it, Michigan might me Michigan but Canada is another ballgame.
Try -32 on a frozen lake in the open air or trying to play hockey with frozen hands.
We use mucklucks and boots that have 3 inches of rubber....thats what we do and how we can stay on the ice for 10 hours.

Cold....meh, its a myth.

a reply to: incoserv

Much respect.


I hate the cold but have no choice.

Nobody from Florida has the right to post a comment in this thread.

I remember passing through Ticlio (Peru) on winter. 15,807 ft over sea level. Last time I was in a bus with a hole under my seat, all cold air straight under my seat in the night.

Next morning my feet were frozen and couldn't walk for few hours.

It was minus 25 with the windchill here night before last and that was our first hint of winter before the nor'easter that blew in last night and now everything is white. Will it still be white this time next week is anyones guess.
It's funny because yesterday I was talking with friends how utterly ridiculous it is that I could be out in minus 30 in January with nothing but running shoes and a leather jacket on when I was younger but can barely take the garbage out now without freezing to death.

originally posted by: Trueman
Nobody from Florida has the right to post a comment in this thread.

"But, it got below 65* and I had to dig out the down parka! It's SO cold!"

^^ Grew up down there, and really heard that line of laughable crap from people I know, lol. People looked at me like I was nuts if I went swimming in January/February (water in the 60's) or wore shorts and tank tops in the "winter morning" 40's/50's (because duh, it'd warm up quick enough)

I remember passing through Ticlio (Peru) on winter. 15,807 ft over sea level. Last time I was in a bus with a hole under my seat, all cold air straight under my seat in the night.

Next morning my feet were frozen and couldn't walk for few hours.

Dude, just...damn. And I thought deciding against a blanket to sit on, on the bleachers at a Christmas parade last year was a bad idea (metal bleachers and girl hoohas...not nice, Mother Nature, NOT nice) You sat there like that for the whole trip or just a super cold stretch of it? Either way, goddamn!

Honey! Have you seen my flip flops? I need another cold beer! (Tennessee)

Up north it would get so cold if you threw boiling water outside it would freeze mid air. Also could spit on a sidewalk and watch it freeze in minutes. Just don't lick the frost off the lightpost! It's funny how some down south haven't even seen snow! I'm like Bane in Batman "I was born in the cold, molded by it. The cold betrays you, because it belongs to me!"

A nice water/windproof down insulated coat will save your life sometimes. It is kinda nuts to live somewhere you could die from being outside too long, most of the year....I bet Florida is nice lol.

Also a foot of snow could fall and you bet your a** we still had to go to school lol. I would watch southern states with an inch of snow shut down everything, a thousand auto accidents, statewide emergency...for us it's a tuesday.

Our grocery shelves are starting to get empty. 2 nd day of snow.
I think the west coast of the US is going to get hit maybe tomorrow or the next day. Its bad here.

I'll just post the link. Read if you like.

www.japantimes.co.jp...#:~:text=Thousand%20vehicles%20stranded%2C%2010%2C000%20without %20electricity%20after%20heavy,of%20Japan%20coast%2C%20the%20government%20and%20police%20said.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Ohh yes, the wonders on a Wyoming winter. I grew up there until I was twenty years old before enlisting into the Air Force. Hunted the medicine bow mountain range and the thunder basin national grasslands. I knew it was harsh country to live in then, but my global travels proved how nasty Wyoming truly was by comparison.

It’s funny how people can take offense to the weather. Everywhere I go people tell me how bad their winters can get. And I hear the same “if you don’t like the weather just wait 15 minutes” line everywhere I go. I’ve stopped trying to explain how quickly the weather can change in the high country compared to other places. People get upset when you tell them their winters aren’t really winters by comparison.

I remember one morning in the early 90’s waking up for school, turning on the weather channel, and seeing a temperature of-32, with 70mph winds. The wind Chill was -81 degrees Fahrenheit. They did not cancel school that day. Only day I ever skipped. It wasn’t worth the walk.

I’m sure there are colder places than Wyoming in the world. I’m just not eager to find them.

Funny side story; I saw some cross gendered, non-binary super famous YouTube star just bought a ranch outside of Casper. We will see if he/she can survive the winter. A lot of people love the idea of living in Wyoming but Leave after experiencing its harsh and unforgiving winters. I wish them well, but when the winds start blowing for a month straight without letting up and your bones are constantly cold it makes a person question their inner strength and resolve. They typically move to Colorado or Utah soon after. Lol

a reply to: Assassin82

Heh, yeah I've seen it so cold that if you're not careful when you jump in your truck the seat cover material will crack and break. That's pretty damn cold!

That U-toob star you mentioned won't last long in Casper! LOL! Used to have to make the run from Rock Springs to Casper all the time during the winter. Man, it got FROSTY out there in the desert and there was nothing to break or slow down the wind. I never left the house without a heavy down bag and an extra set of Carhartt's. You'd get out there on those rig sites an inevitably get wet somehow. Get wet when it's cold like that and you're in BIG trouble! Always left town with room for at least one more person because you'd always wind up picking up a stranded trucker whose truck froze up and quit in the middle of nowhere.

I spent a fair amount of time in Fairbanks, AK where it get's pretty cold and never saw anything like the Wyoming cold. People in Canada talk about cold, but they don't get the wind. -35 is one thing, but -35 with the wind blowing a sustained 50mph is a whole other story!

originally posted by: Nickn3
Honey! Have you seen my flip flops? I need another cold beer! (Tennessee)

Lol!

Massachusetts here. Yesterday got hit with 13 inches of snow, I waited til it stopped to go out and shovel. I watched with shock my new neighbors wiping off their cars with no gloves, no scrapers, no shovels (took them about 3 hours with all the breaks they had to take). One guy actually had flip flops on, Ive never seen a guy run through mounds of snow so fast lol.

Only took me 20 minutes to clean off car, move it, shovel!

a reply to: DrumsRfun

LOL...okay! Whatever you say.

I knew a whole lot of guys who worked Prudhoe Bay in the oilfields and they were pretty unanimous about Wyoming being colder most of the time. Again, it's not just the cold standing temps that get you, it's the wind. The wind sucks any warmth you've built up inside your gear right out of you.

a reply to: incoserv

Wow! That's pretty cool!

That's someplace I've always wanted to go.

Cool story! Thanks for sharing!

a reply to: Nyiah

Yep. Sat there the whole way. Hypothermia combined with all the sickness provoked by altitude is so horrible. My head was exploding, focusing in keep breathing and survive.

We went to a town called Sicaya. They were celebrating their anniversary or something. A 2 weeks party, 24/7 non stop.

That was the first time I chewed coca leaves. That made me come back to life. Next thing, drinking beer, chicha (fermented beverage) and a sort of moonshine with a snake soaking in the jar. 2 F WEEKS.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

LOL...okay! Whatever you say.

I do this for real...I only see you use words with no substance.

originally posted by: DrumsRfun
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

LOL...okay! Whatever you say.

I do this for real...I only see you use words with no substance.

What’s going on in this picture? Is that a dunny? A basic shelter? Is that where you live? Camp? Hunt?