Joe and Mike both attended the Eastern Center for Arts and Technology Horticulture Program when they were in high school and they attribute many of their basic skills and knowledge to this program. For the past several years, Sauers Tree & Landscape Service

Joe and Mike Sauers with Eastern Center's Horticulture Program teacher, Jim Rall, at the Open House Event.

Inc has been used as a success story to show what successes and opportunities can come from being a student of the Horticulture Program at the Eastern Center. Joe has served on the Occupational Advisory Committee and we are always at the Open House as well as available for phone calls from parents and prospective students.

This weekend, our bucket and knuckleboom trucks were on display for students and parents to explore – some students even took supervised rides in the bucket! Mike also gave a presentation educating guests about the values of enrolling in the Horticulture Program, the importance of hiring a Certified Arborist, and various indicators to look at while inspecting trees on home properties.

Good luck to all of the current and new students of the Horticulture Program!

Stop by our Facebook page for more pictures and details.

Cordova, Alaska has had an unusual year of snowfall, immobilizing the entire city at times. One Alaskan resident said, "This is more quantity than can be handled".

Have you ever wondered how much snow would have fallen this winter if the temperature had just been a little bit colder? I went snow tubing a couple of weeks ago at Blue Mountain and just couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that there was only fake snow on the slopes, and nothing below the lifts or anywhere on the entire drive up. I was wondering – where the heck is the snow! Between November 1 and now, we had a total of 7” of rain fall in the Philadelphia region. When you pair that information with the generally accepted rule of thumb that 1” of rain is equal to 10” of snow – we could have had a very heavy winter!  We believe we would have had an additional 35″-70″ of snow so far this season had the temperatures been colder. While we here in the Philadelphia region may be skating by without a lot of snow activity, other areas of the world are seeing a lot more than they are used to. For example, Central and Eastern Europe just went through the worst cold snap in 26 years – suffering temperatures of -40 degrees, where more than 600 people died as a result of the frigid conditions. Of course, no one can forget that Alaska was in a State of Emergency battling with 18’ of snow in January. Philadelphia had 71.6” of snow fall in 2010 – Alaska’s one storm was three times as much snow as our snowiest season! With Punxatawney Phil’s prediction of another 6 weeks of Winter not really shaping up – this all just goes to show that you really never can predict what Mother Nature has in store!

Shown above is one of our F550 dump trucks salting the drive lanes of a parking lot.

Happy New Year!  While we had a little snow storm around the Halloween Holiday, it looks like we made it out of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years with only a few scattered flurries. According to our long-term weather forecast from WeatherWorks, January is forecasted to be coldest month of the season with wild temperature swings. While there is a threat for some smaller systems coming through early in the month, the threat increases to a major coastal storm towards the end of January / early February. Although we have been prepared for snow since our October storm, we will be holding a pre-season meeting for our snow crew this Wednesday evening.  We will be discussing paperwork requirements during a storm, standard operating procedures, common courtesy/right of way for our clients and their tenants, and ways to make communication out in the field easier this season. All of our drivers and operators have already been to their designated sites to learn the layout and needs of the properties where they will be working. We are prepared and excited to get the first storm of 2012 under our belts!

The weather experts at WeatherWorks looked into 15 years since 1930 with similar summer weather patterns as we are currently experiencing, and most of them turned out to be La Nina years. If this were to occur again, we would be in our second La Nina year and this could mean another season of above normal snowfall.

Shown above is one of our trucks plowing and salting in one of the many storms we had in 2011. We have already begun to prepare for next season by installing salt spreaders and getting our de-icer supply ready.

Weather forecasts are showing a key period between late January and early February where meteorologists are expecting a major East Coast snowstorm; however, there have already been some strong signals for a kick start to the winter season with snowfall in November as well. The brief cold shots of October that we have already been experiencing will soon become more numerous and longer lasting as we get into next month – which will set the stage for snow showers in late November – possibly even a Thanksgiving snowstorm!

There are still many factors and predictors to be monitored over the next several weeks to see where we will stand this winter; such as how much snow cover is currently in Siberia, how temperatures in October relate to La Nina, and the recent volcano activity in Iceland.

Stay tuned each month for the latest information we have regarding this winter!

Joe and Mike Sauers standing in front of a golf cart at the WG Golf Open. All carts for the day were sponsored by Sauers, Inc.

This week has been a big week for Sauers, Inc.  when it comes to giving back. Over the weekend, Stephanie and her husband Jim attended the East Central Division’s Regional Relay for Life Summit in Pittsburgh, and on Monday, Joe and Mike both attended the Greater Willow Grove Golf Outing; two charities that Sauers, Inc. is always a proud sponsor and supporter of.

We feel that supporting the various charities that our customers and clients are involved in is an important element of showing that we care about the same things that our clients care about.

The Greater Willow Grove Golf Outing is a fundraising event that originally only benefited the Second Alarmers Rescue Squad of Willow Grove; however, it now provides contributions to other local charities, local school scholarships, and the needs of the less fortunate in our community.

The American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life is a fundraising event that raises money for Cancer research, education, and my personal favorite – programs to help cancer patients and caregivers in our community. Some of the programs include Road to Recovery (transportation to treatments), Reach to Recovery (A 24-hour hotline for those who need someone to talk to in their darkest hours), and Look Good…Feel Better (a class where a beautician helps patients cope with the changes their bodies are going through).

We are so proud to support these charities and give back to our community.

Thanks for stopping by and please check back often to see what’s new at Sauers, Inc. and how we can help you!