Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Winter Wonderland (No, Not a Music Post) ...

(Source)
While pondering what to write about today, a couple of ideas crossed my mind. (No, one of them wasn't "more music." Based on the number of views of those two posts over the weekend, it ain't all that popular a topic.)

One was "Hey, let's do a post about tanks!" - no, let's not. Juvat just wants to blow them up. Another was "Hey, let's bitch about the government." I think juvat feels about government much the same way he feels about tanks. Can't say I blame him.

The less said about government the better, I ain't in the mood for a rant.

So as I often do, I went searching for random pictures. As the Christmas season is upon us (come on, I played the song the other day, so it's official) I used "Christmas" as my search criteria. That opening picture really caught my eye, so I used it. I've had Christmases like that in the past. Lots of snow, and cold, real cold.

Not February sub-zero cold, but in the teens cold. Which by late December I was used to, back in the day.

I remember winters as a kid being colder and having a lot more snow. Of course, the "lot more snow" thing could have something to do with me being a lot shorter back then. It's relative. But cold, I remember it being colder when I was a kid. Not too many years ago (within the last decade) we had a Christmas day with temperatures in the 60s. Pretty damned warm for 43° North Latitude in New England.

Its not that I prefer cold weather, though honestly, my ideal temperature is around 65°, but that in the winter it should feel, ya know, like winter. At least it should feel like the winters I grew up in. Of course, if, like Beans, you are used to the more tropical venues, your winters growing up were certainly a Hell of a lot warmer than mine.

If you live in some place like Minnesota or North Dakota, you probably scoff at my idea of "cold." You shouldn't. I've seen the temperature at -40° where I grew up, and that was without a breath of wind. At those temperatures the chimney smoke goes straight up. It hurts to breathe (outside of course) and it's dangerous to be out in that weather for too long if you're not properly dressed for it. (Think layers.) But no, it wasn't like that all the time.

I've been to North Dakota, in June. On the base (Minot, why not?) I saw electrical outlets at the front of parking spaces near the headquarters building. As I recall, you could plug in your car's engine block heater. Being from a warmer clime, I had to ask what that was. When told, I was fascinated, there were a number of times when having one of those in Vermont would have been awesome. I got the impression that those were used a lot in North Dakota.

One of the reasons I moved to Rhode Island is it's warmer than Vermont. It still gets cold, but for not as long and certainly not as low as I've seen in the past. I'm not sure, but in the 22 years I've lived in Little Rhody I don't think I've ever seen the temperature get below zero. (That's Fahrenheit, I don't do metric anything, well, except for weapon calibers. Even though I lived in Asia for nearly seven years and in Germany for nearly eight, I never adopted Celsius as my go to scale. Yes, I know, I know, water boils at 212° F and freezes at 32° F, in Celsius it's 100° and 0°, much more "logical," I suppose. But hey, metric is a product of the French Revolution, it ain't, ya know, 'Merican.)

We also don't get nearly as much snow as they do further north. But we do get the occasional blizzard which can dump a foot and a half of the white stuff in my driveway. (Yes, there have been storms which dropped more snow in this area, but I didn't live here at the time.)

I also know that other areas get snow in addition to my driveway, but my driveway concerns me most. The state/town will clear the streets and highways I need to travel, but I'm responsible for my driveway. I remember the day we got hit with 17 inches of the white stuff. The Missus Herself and Your Humble Scribe ventured out to clear the deck, the walkway, and the driveway. It was a major undertaking.

After the deck and walkway were cleared (it's worth noting that due to the wind the walkway just off the deck had something like five feet of snow piled up on it), we started clearing the driveway itself. Around the cars, not a big deal (no, we don't have a garage, and don't ask ...) but when we got to the main part of the driveway, we were pretty much spent.

We just sort of stood there, leaning on our shovels, wondering if we could get done before nightfall. As we stood there, no doubt looking very pathetic, a couple of young 'uns in a pickup truck (with a snow blower in the bed of the pickup) stopped and asked if we'd like for them to clear the rest of the driveway (to include the massive pile of compacted snow pushed up by the town plow at the foot of the driveway), to which we said, "Why yes, yes, we'd like that."

One of the kids asked, "Is thirty bucks okay?"

To which I answered, "Sure, that'll be fine," as I reached for my wallet.

Once inside, watching the two young fellers cleaning out the driveway, The Missus Herself opined that thirty was a bit steep for her tastes. I pointed out that I would have gone as high as fifty rather than shovel the rest of that stuff. She thought about it for a second and said, "Yeah, you're right. Thirty works."

These days I've got a guy for that. Spend money to avoid back-breaking manual labor?

You betcha!




64 comments:

  1. One of these days, I probably should think about getting "a guy for that". Last couple of winters have seen some pretty substantial snowfalls around here, and it takes me a few sessions to get it all cleared. Ain't getting any younger.
    Have a fine day, Sarge!

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    1. Age catches up to us all. Have a great one!

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    2. Heck with the "guy for that". Just get yourself a Flammenwerfer and MELT the snow and ice and let it run down into the street!

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    3. M2,
      But Melting Snow = Water
      Frozen Water=Ice
      Snow is usually drivable, Ice is usually not. In spite of what most Texans think.

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    4. It's no longer a snow removal problem, but a water direction problem. But come on! Flamethrower! Ya gotta love it!

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    5. And if you use enough flamethrower, you EVAPORATE the water!

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  2. Ah yes, coastal locale vs mid-continent locale, yesterday's afternoon high 9F, right now 8F. A two-stage snow thrower is mandatory in my book, a 24 inch Ariens helps the mental adjustment to those picturesque snowfalls. At my age I'm considering "a guy" for the driveway, 82 feet by 16 feet looks bigger every season Sarge..........:)

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    1. Driveways grow, especially in winter, it is known.

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  3. Originally from upstate Pennsylvania (Bradford) and was a part-time ski instructor for a while whilst in college. Lake effect snow, and as low as -40 (doesn't matter - at that temp, C=F!) without the wind. And when you ski, you "make" your own "wind." Most fun was teaching a bunch of local high school teachers to ski at night on a bunny slope. Yup, at -40! And many of them were wearing light weight windbreakers as their coats!

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    1. Ouch!

      Yup, -40° F = -40° C, damn cold in anyone's book!

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  4. My thoughts are drifting towards those of Patrick D and Nylon12. I need a guy.
    Wrestling the snowthrower is more challenging each year.
    I'm pretty sure that eventually I will feel that way about cutting the lawn.

    The fresh snow does look wonderful and is best viewed through the window.







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  5. Pond hockey at -30 on a sunny day with no wind. The wind on the prairies of Southern Alberta and North Central Montana usually never stops.
    In Jonesboro,Arkansas once, a young lady upon seeing the cord on the front of my pickup asked me if I had an electric truck...
    The Montana plates should have been a hint.....
    As for cold again, try -65 and wind chills of -110 to-120..

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    1. The wind on the Great Plains seems to never stop.

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  6. Wrestling the "SnowBeast" (28", 10 hp, tracked, Yard Machine snow thrower) has always been a pain. It does a great job on our 16' * 76' driveway that climbs 15'. And on the street, doing the triangle before the driveways so the city plow will have dumped his collection from the street on my yard before he gets to my driveway, the mailboxes, and John & Brenda's driveway. Last year I bought a Toro 18" electric, so I could use it on the deck, ... it works great on up to about 6" of medium weight snow (4" of heavy, 8" of light.) I can carry it about with one hand. The cord (100' 12 gauge) is a chore when it's 60°F and when it's cold ... it's a giant springing snake. Electricity warms it a bit. It (and the plower) live in a 15?20? gallon plastic stock tank, coiled (over & under coil) and ready for duty. There are days I dream of having a winter home in Az/NM.

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    1. You've list many of the reasons for me "having a guy" to do all that.

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  7. 2,000 sq.ft. blacktop driveway and parking area plus 125 ft. to the back steps. At age 70 I bought a Sears tractor with snowplow. Age 75 I put a plow on my 2 wheel drive S-10 pickup (480 lbs. of cement blocks for ballast). Age 79 upgraded to a 4x4 S-10 dump truck conversion.I still clear the deck and front walkway by shovel. Old Guns.

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    1. My only worry is that after I retire "having a guy" might not be cost-effective.

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  8. Sarge, I have never lived anywhere that snow was nothing more than the odd occurrence and novelty. In that sense I am one of the "Christmas Card" people that enjoys the views without grasping (beyond second hand) what it is like to live in such stuff. In Old Home, Winter was mid-40's to mid-30's and rain; here in New Home it can be the same, although we tend to freeze more readily (in a rather "Embarrassing admittance to those suffering through cold", I was raking leaves last weekend).

    I can look at the temperature graphs that determine that Winters are "colder" or "warmer", but I wonder if in my mind - experientially - the truth is somehow different. Winters may have seemed colder (or warmer) but that was also because I did not have a frame of reference to compare against, just like years seemed longer or Christmas seem shorter. I wonder if it is not just time that bends, but how we perceive things within the time stream itself.

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    1. Also -if it makes you feel better - looking around on the InterWeb with blogs I follow, music posts are a pretty hard sell overall. It is so personally based to the reader that they either gush with enthusiasm or memories or "harumph" about how there is nothing interesting here and go look for something that will conveniently raise their ire and blood pressure.

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    2. TB #1 - I think you're right about the relativity angle.

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    3. TB #2 - I must confess that even on some of my favorite blogs, if it's a musical post, I nod and move along.

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    4. $50 doesn't even begin to make a dent in the deductible for back, knee or heart surgery.

      Sarge, you chose.........


      WISELY!

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  9. $30, $50, good deal either way IMHO. That's one of the benefits of being older- you've got the $50, and the brains to use it wisely!

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  10. Growing up in Montana and the Dakotas, snow always came as stinging pellets from the NW at greater than 20 mph. I have a distinct memory of my first Michigan State University snowfall: giant puffy flakes, like dandelion seed heads, floating straight down. "Currier and Ives is real, not imaginary!"

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    1. I've seen both types (and any number in between), much prefer the latter.

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  11. Crusty Old TV Tech here. Whynot Minot? The Freezin's the Reason!

    Ah yes, winters on The Griff (Griffiss AFB, NY). 9 months of snerts, black ice, freeze/thaw, Calcium Chloride off base, urea on (yep, it smells like it sounds!)...driving up to a stop sign and not seeing anything either way, pulling out and hoping and praying...1/2" > 1.5" per day, then some REAL Lake Effect "flurries" (1-2 feet in a dumping)...the "Dark Ages" it was called. You know you're sledding in Central NY when you zip past some little nubbins in the snow, and realize they're the tops of fenceposts!

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    1. Oh yes, I've heard of Griffiss AFB and the winters there. That part of NY is "famous" for its winters.

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  12. Hey AFSarge;

    The stories of snow...and I couldn't live in the northeast corridor like you do, or at least in the northern part of the country like you do, I hate cold, and since I get older, i really don't like it and I shoveled enough of it when I was a kid stationed in Germany and being a G.I in Germany for 5 years, and the occasional snowfall here in the South (Yeah stop laughing, we do get snow), It looks pretty, but I don't like working in it. I do get the reasons for the not ranting, I find myself kinda burned out on that, I may do a blog post on that subject.

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    1. As I get older I can see the attraction of living someplace warmer. Then I realize that the summers in those places are also warmer, a lot warmer.

      If my Mom at 91 can still tolerate the New England winters then so can I.

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  13. Winter in Lubbock usually meant ice. We were in the perfect spot for it, seems. There was a big snowfall in the 60's, one in winter 76-77, a big one in Feb 83. Dad picked me up like a doll and flung me in a drift in the 60's. Once. I wanted him to do it all day. The 76-77 was windy, drifts on the south side of the house went from the peak of the roof about 100 feet into the yard. Took over a month for it all to melt. 1983 was 31 inches, shut down the county. We walked around Abernathy checking on friends and playing in it. When you fall on all fours, you are still in it. I laughed until I was spent when that happened. Farmers came out and plowed the streets. Again months to melt. Driving down 2.5 miles of mud in the morning was easy, frozen solid. But coming home in the afternoon was 10 mph max, and intense concentration not to get out of the ruts and into the ditch.

    But I can't tell you how many ice storms we endured. So many I don't remember any one of them in much detail. Heading to basketball practice one afternoon, I couldn't get up a slight rise on the road. So I drove into the bar ditch. Worked fine. I miss the clear blue sky out there. But that land exists only in my memory now. It's changed a lot.

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    1. I am originally from just east of Amarillo. First time in ages I've seen anyone talk about driving in the bar ditch when it snowed. Been there, done that! My earliest remembrance is a snowstorm in 1958 that drifted over the houses. I was 4 years old. Our car (1954 Olds Super 88) was totally buried. Only the very tip of the fully extended radio antenna showing. Only reason I remember was that everyone was busy shoveling snow out of the attic so it wouldn't collapse the ceiling. I was hungry and nobody was listening to me. As a dumb kid, I stuck an unopened can of soup in the oven to heat it up. Blew up the stove. The stopped ignoring me when that happened.

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    2. The first time I ever drove through Amarillo was in January of '87. It had snowed the night before, quite a bit. I was impressed, I didn't know at the time that it actually snowed in Texas. Wow!

      Blew up the stove? Now that's an attention grabber!

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    3. STxAR, I was in Lubbock for that 76-77 storm, remember it well. I was finishing up my Masters in prep for leaving for pilot training so hadn't gone home. The front door of the house I (and 3 other guys) lived in faced south. You are exactly correct. Fortunately there was a west facing door off the garage, so we could at least get out. That was an interesting next few days.

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    4. Yes sir Feral Ferret, it's a different world out there. No snow plows, highway department would throw sand on the overpasses and bridges. That's all they had for snow and ice.

      My Geometry teacher in HS was a pc nut. His TRS80 had every bell and whistle. We were heading home one night after a personal computer club meeting. It started sleeting just after we got in the truck. We were crippling along on 87 when some kids blew by us in a car, spun out on the overpass and wound up backwards in the median. Mr. Drake pulls over and yells across, "you guys okay?" "Yeah, we're good." The back seat passenger hollered, "got any toilet paper??" We all laughed, rolled up the windows and drove on. I guess they hiked to a phone. We slipped and slid all the way up to New Deal... They were down near the airport. Ice was rough.

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    5. Driving on ice is super no fun.

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  14. I would be more than somewhat happy to have kids come up my door, in the manner I did when a kid myself, and ask if I wanted things shoveled. I'd pay them well, too. I've got a driveway that's at least sixty feet and I just plain can't do it myself since my heart operation. But nobody ever comes to our door and asks. Hell, I used to live for snow days. As a kid who wasn't afraid of a little manual labor, it was the time I could make $$$.

    Insofar as temperature scales are concerned, Fahrenheit is MUCH better. Gradations from 32 to 212 = 180; 0 - 100 = 100. Fahrenheit is 1.8 times more accurate.

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    1. I am tempted to say "Kids these days." But I'll restrain myself. 😁

      Concur on your last.

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  15. First time I ever saw an 'electric' car was girlfriend's Vega with a block heater. Bought at Patrick AFB from some airman who was going overseas. Car was fine during winter but didn't like summer at all. Was okay as she (her father) sold it when they got posted to Germany.

    Weird. Never realized or had to realize that one has to keep the engine from freezing. Which, of course, explains freeze plugs. Which, of course, are more an indication of a frozen block than actually saving said block from freeze damage.

    Ah, well. Never ever experienced a White Christmas. Had to experience a frozen roads black ice Christmas once and that was pretty much enough. Bleh.

    And so I live vicariously through people like Dr. Jim at 'Every Blade of Grass' as he has to deal with snow. First year after moving to Colorado he bought an electric snowblower, which was rather insufficient. He has now bought a big Ariens gas-powered machine. Waiting eagerly for the after-action report on that.

    I like some people's music posts. The ones that work the best are where it's an explanation of what is going on in one's mind and then the music, or relating an event (like one's first rock concert or something) and then the music pertaining to. Just straight up music isn't particularly attractive.

    Doesn't help that I don't normally have the sound on, or even use headphones. I'm one of those weirdos who watch videos with the subtitles turned on.

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    1. Bear in mind, when I do a music post it's because I'm too lazy to do a "real" post.

      drjim lives in the town where I went to college. Winters there are mild to "Holy Crap look at all the snow." And that can change from day to day. Golf one day, three feet of snow the next, then a week later, back on the golf course. Life along the Front Range of the Rockies can be "exciting." (Did I mention the occasional tornado?)

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  16. When I was in Michigan (CGAS Traverse City) the rental house came with a 2 stage slow blower, it seems that 24" of lake effect snow overnight was not unusual... it was a good thing to have.
    If you have enough lawn to justify a riding lawn mower, get one that you can get a snow blower for. Sounds like you can use it.

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    1. I tried a snow blower Once. The only space available to put the stuff was always UPWIND. Not pleasant at all. OG

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    2. OG - Yup, that's the way it works around here.

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  17. Brings to mind the BOQ at GFAFB (wasn't grand but it sure forked); the genius who laid it out ran the long axis east-west (prevailing fron 350°)
    somewhere I have a photo (winter '66 or '67) showing the snow piled on the north side all the way up to the roof ridge extending out 50/60 ft.
    We used to leave our windows slightly ajar ) stuffing rags (dirty shorts) into the opening and run long extension cords out to the parking lot to the dipstick heater and electric engine blanket.

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    1. Ah yes, architects who pay no attention to the prevailing winds. Geez ...

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    2. My Dad was the "commander" of a Early Warning site in North Western North Dakota. I believe he was the only officer there. There were also no more than 5 or 6 quonset huts that housed the whole site. One was ours, One was the site, two were shared by 4 NCO families as duplexes, the other two were Barracks. They broadside of all faced North. One of my earliest memories is of a blizzard which we all spent in Mom and Dad's bed with every blanket in our possession on top. Mom was from San Francisco, met Dad and went to Okinawa with her and I, this was the next assignment, so I don't think she was quite ready.
      My distinct memory is of that blizzard and the next morning being able to sled off the North Slope of the quonset and go quite far on the drift before coming to a stop.
      Thought it great fun at the time. Pretty sure Mom wasn't quite as impressed, but she stuck it out.

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    3. We adapt as we must. Kids always find that sort of thing more exciting than the adults. DAMHIK.

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  18. (Don McCollor)..Somewhere in my collection is a locally published cartoon book (produced by an AF person in the 60's that knew his subject) titled "Why Not Minot". One cartoon shows an AP with transfer orders dragging an airman off a tropical beach while his bikini clad girlfriend innocently asks "Why not Minot?"...

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    1. "Why not Minot?" Well...true story: Buddy of mine who had been in my Sq w. me @ DaNang AND RAF Woodrbidge got cross-wise w THE Wing CO @ RAF Bentwaters-Woodride, had his next assignment F-4 jerked & ended up cooling his heals in terminal assignment as T-39 personal pilot/chauffer for the 4-Star Head of AFLC (Air Force Logistics Command for non-Military types here) One snowy day in dead of winter while on inspection tour to Minot they were shooting a long boring straight-in approach when told rnwy was open but taxi-ways hadn't een lowed yet so full stop & Snow-cat will pick them up. Tom, making idle conversation w. tower controller kids: "Well here in Viking territory how's all the Plundering, Pillaging and Rapin' going? Comes the dry reply: "I dunno about all the Plunderin' & Pillaging ut I'm sure as hell ready for the rapin' bit to start." LOL!!! THEN-----Once on the rnwy & riding back to the VOQ in the Snow-Cat they pass y a snow-bank where the observe two Red-Fox's (ahem) eagerly "having at it" says the enlisted driver casually: "That's the most sex i've seen since I've been here" My guy Tom leans forward and sez: "Are you sure you're not the same guy I talked to in the tower?" LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    2. Got ANOTHER Minot story too Sarge. A N.C State grad in my UPT class washed out and Nav School slots were full so poor guy didn't even get to be an F-4 GIB/Wpns System Officer. Somehow ended up in Missile School & they shipped him to Minot in dead of winter for his 1st assignment. WX was so bad & snow so deep he had to be sent in via Helo. Wasn't even there for the full winter before he called up his college sweetheart & said: "I CAN"T TAKE IT ANYMORE! Let's get married! LOL!!

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  19. The wind is a problem with a blower (or a shovel, for that matter. I usually do the upwind side first, blowing the snow across the driveway with the wind Later, on calm day, I do "snow space management", which is blowing it away from where it is (on both sides of the drive) to make space for more, later.

    We had ice last night, then snow, now more snow, and even the Subie with new Nokian all-season all-weather triple-peak tires struggled with the driveway. We may be housebound tomorrow.

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  20. Snow shoveling? Gets increasingly old... still, love the snow header infographic, reminds me of Calgary.

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