Mink Meadows Turf Maintenance Department: February cruising along

This is a very interesting winter for weather. This week we keep getting snow showers. It snows for hours and it barely coats the ground. The snow cover and frozen ground limit the outdoor work. We have plenty of work to clean up the tree work done on the ninth hole either the debris left from dropping the trees or the stump grinding. Of course all this is frozen to the ground so best left until the weather clears. We do have indoor work to accomplish so we are taking this time to be productive on those tasks. I began training Chris on the irrigation system computer this week. We go over the pump station software and how we would use that on a daily basis for checking to see if we have any active leaks and how tight the system is by checking the pressure maintenance pump's cycle. If the pump cycles too often it shows we have a leak somewhere. In my experience we do not always see that leak as it could be a piece of galvanized pipe at a 5-7 foot depth and the water never makes it to the surface before it rusts up and re-seals itself. this is evidenced by a long cycle for the first 4-8 weeks after turn on and then it fluctuates all over the place throughout the season.

Dueling computers

"I began training Chris on the irrigation system computer this week."

I wanted to look at something on the back up irrigation computer so I installed it next to the new one and it occurred to me it would be a great training tool to have two computers next to each other running the same program. It has worked out great and has an added benefit of keeping me from grabbing the mouse and showing someone where to click. Instead Chris can take his time to find his way around and I can move through my screen to find the next thing to show him. This will be a better way to train as he has to do all the work himself and repetition is the best way to learn anything. One of the interesting facts we learned by checking the computer often is the weather is not fluctuating much. Monday's high and low were 26 when we checked them. Tuesday it was high of 26 at midnight and low of 24 at 7:30 am. not a hint of sunshine and snow showers off and on all day and night.

Chris continuing ball washers

"One of the interesting facts we learned by checking the computer often is the weather is not fluctuating much."

Wednesday the sun pops out and it reaches 37 degrees so most of the snow melts. Chris and I did a loop closing the greens to temp cups so the players can get at least one round in before the next round of snow over the weekend. The big news is whether or not we get a big storm Fri/Sat. They are predicting three scenarios: 2-4" snow and rain; 4-6" snow and rain mix or 8-12 " +. Just a minor variation in predictions but it will force us to put all the plows on the appropriate vehicles and be prepared for the worst.