Tightening would give a longer throw. Whenever I check the belts, I make sure there is sufficient slack with the belt disengaged. When pulling the lever to engage, I want the belt to loose its slack about 70% of the way through the pull. The extra 30% of tightness of the belt gives a little added pressure of the pulley.

The forecast has changed since yesterday,this coming week not looking as bad(still cold though),some warmer temps for next weekend. Here are some pics of the dig out and my attempt at fixing the "G-house". I had to shovel out 5 places just to get to it. Glad I walked home during the height of the Blizzard to check on things... I couldn't do much about the snow at the time but I did turn the heater off-the frame nearly crushed it! One of the Yucca spears poking through. Crushed Colorguard Yucca,screaming-HELP ME! Now the inside-luckily the trunk cut Trachy(from last spring)was not trunk cut by the collapse! I think the frame of the space heater may have just saved these 2 Trachys(they are both s-pulled from Neem oil)the heater frame was almost crushed. Looking the other direction- So glad my biggest Yucca was not snapped-the A.havardiana had very minor damage and the A.parryi was untouched! Using the porch railing as for scale look at how tall the "G-house normally should be- Where it was when it collapsed(keep in mind some of it's height is the 1 1/2' of snow! Here's where it is now,as long as I keep any big snows off it-it should be fine,this would not have happened if I was home to keep the snow from piling on! Thanks for looking-SPRING is right around the corner!

Hi Moni, My gut feeling is that 2009's weather patterns will be similar to 2008's all over the state, with the following caveat: I think winter 08-09 will be colder than usual. So, that means colder than average and drier than average for the southernmost and panhandle counties and colder than average and wetter than average for everyone else. That's what I've been expecting for a couple of months now, but the lessening of rainfall in central OK kinda surprised me. And, you know, I could be 100% wrong. My "gut feeling" comes from watching the weather patterns across the US week in and week out, and from reading what I can about La Nina and El Nino and understanding how they affect us here. Since La Nina tends to bring southern OK drier than average weather, I was hoping for a return to strong El Nino patterns, which brings southern OK more rainfall, but instead, we have a neutral La Nina. Sunspot activity is also greatly diminished--almost nonexistent this year, and that factors into what the weather does too--if you believe the folks who publish the Old Farmer's Almanac. I've been waiting for Steve LaNore, the met at our local CBS affiliate to give us his prediction for southern OK's winter weather and he finally posted it on his blog either last week or the week before. I'll link it below and y'all can read his reasoning and predictions if you want to. For what it is worth, he pretty much agrees with me about what to expect here in southern OK....although his reasoning is built on science and probabilities and mine is mostly a gut feeling based on what little I know and understand about the weather. I cannot begin to explain how dry it is here. I have been watering, and have the highest water bills I've ever had in the cooler months to prove it, but everything is still bone dry. Every day I make water puddles for the wildlife and they come to drink at them morning, noon and night including deer, rabbits, racoons, possums, coyotes, bobcats, field mice, voles, etc. Our dogs and cats are so used to all the wild critters being around that they pretty much ignore them. Well, the bobcats, racoons and coyotes mostly come after dark, and all my animals are in either the house, chicken or guinea coop, or barn/garage by then. I feed the wild birds, and have more than ever before, including woodpeckers and flickers, blue jays, carolina chickadees, tufted titmice, etc. The crows, whom I've never been especially fond of, have become very territorial and have their own spot where I scatter grain for them. In return, they chase off every hawk, kite and kestrel that tries to lurk in the skies over our property. That's a good thing, because the predator birds will attack our poultry if given the chance. And, for what it is worth, my daffs are still chilling in the extra refrigerator in the garage. It isn't that I have forgotten them or that I don't care.....it is just so dry. (sigh) The area where I am going to plant them is very sandy, and I need to till it up, rototill in some organic material and get them planted soon. If I stand there in that spot and pour a glass of water onto the ground, it beads up and runs off....the ground is so dry, it cannot soak in. So, I clearly need to water that area well for a few days before I plant the daffs. One year I didn't plant until Jan. and still had blooms in March. Steve's blog entry with the forecast for colder/drier weather here in southern OK is linked below and I found it to be fascinating reading. It just amazes me how he looks at and analyzes everything that is going on and climbs out on a limb and makes a forecast. I need to read his later blog entries, but I am almost afraid to. I can see from the title he's talking about a Russian Bear and, somehow, I bet it means bad news for us. LOL Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: A Professional's Forecast for Colder/Drier

They claim that we got 7 to 8 inches of precip. That would be part rain and then snow, but the wind was blowing so hard - my guess is that a lot of that snow may have landed on Connie's door step! Everything was blowing straight sideways and heading toward ND. Right now it is sunny (very bright) and the road is almost clear already. Tonight we will get down to 4 "above" and I so much want winter to be over.