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 | blizzard
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 282 Central Maine 
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2004-02-17 77115
Here's a short article that describes why rocks seem to grow up through the soil, and some other interesting effects of the freeze/thaw cycle.
Enjoy,
bliz
Link: GrowingRocks
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 | grinder
Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 677 central Maine 
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2004-02-17 77177
BLIZZARD,
There is hope! I saw a large flock of small birds today in Augusta! Couldn't tell what they were but it was encouraging!
To all of the rest, it has been one long cold winter, and
it doesn't take much to get excited for spring.
....
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 | Peters
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 3034 Northern AL 
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2004-02-17 77187
Murf can probably relate some good examples of the power of ice. At our cottage in the Kawarthas I have seen it move rocks that are the size of a small car and much greater weight.
The lawn was covered with cardinals the other day, not sure I want them to depart so soon. ....
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| blizzard
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 282 Central Maine
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2004-02-18 77193
Thumbs up for Spring!
All kinds of big&little critters out today in the milder 16F daytime warmth. Been -12F or worse at night for a while now.
As much as I anticipate spring, AKA mud season, I wish there was more snow cover. It may be another year of dry wells around here if we don't get a lot more precip.
Grinder, I'm almost a month behind Augusta for green-up, but its nice the birds are getting closer. Ravens and chickadees are all I have seen since late December. Even the turkeys have retreated!
I hope the sudden cold of early January won't 'grow' too many rocks in my drive. Last spring there were a couple of 'pumpkins' sprouting up to make for a rough ride.
Is CUT an acronym for 'Cold Utility Tractor'?
bliz
....
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 | Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2004-02-18 77202
Ice can generate some tremendous power, no doubt about it. If harnessed it can be a great tool. It can also do great damage.
I was taught at a very young age how to split large rocks (BFR's) with just ice. The process is simple, just drill a series hole shallow holes in a line where you want the rock to split, then fill each hole with water, drive in a hardwood plug to seal it, and then just wait for a cold snap. The pressure created by the expansion of the water as it freezes will lay it wide open.
I also remember my father relating a story of a narrow escape they had when he was a young man. Our family used to make a little extra money by cutting large blocks of ice from a nearby lake, one known for sudden severe weather changes. Draft horses where used to drag the ice to shore and load them onto trains to TOronto. They used to camp in a big cedar grove on the west shore in a sheltered bay while doing the cutting. The cedar grove offered great shelter form both man & beast. One night a storm blew up suddenly from the east driving the ice pack up into the bay. They were awaoken in the middle of the night to the sound of a wall of ice bulldozing everything in it's path. The got out of there real fast and sought shelter at a nearby farm. The next morning they went back to survey the damage. The entire tree line had been pushed back quite a distance from the shore. Big trees, stumps and all, topsoil, rocks, everthing was moved back like a line of bulldozers had just driven in off the lake. I'm told the ice was piled up the height of a two storey house.
Best of luck. ....
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 | Abbeywoods
Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 110 New England
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2004-02-18 77214
Murf, we landscapers have been letting ice do our work for ages. We don't even worry about the wooden plug, enough water stays in the bore to do the job by spring. As long as the customer has the patience to wait, the fractures make the removal of tremendous amounts of bedrock (ledge) easy pickings when the thaw comes. ....
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