shovelling techniques

[mondeo]

I live in CT and I have a snowblower. I grew up in Western Mass and you guys get more snow than we do.

I grew up in WNY and for a while my family didn't have a snow blower.

My parents figured that three kids were a just as effective, yet cheaper, method of clearing the snow.

In all seriousness, I find that snowremoval duties in the winter and lawn cutting duties in the non snow months to be a GREAT source of mental traquility for me. And for this reason, and not just my ski love, I wish that we'd get clearable storms at least once, if not twice a week all winter long.

+1. One of the things I miss due to living in a condo in CT is the chance to do any shoveling at all. It's actually to the point that when I was visiting the folks over Thanksgiving, the first thing I did one morning was go out and shovel the 4-6" of snow out of the driveway. Peaceful and a good workout.

 

[ctenidae]

+1. One of the things I miss due to living in a condo in CT is the chance to do any shoveling at all. It's actually to the point that when I was visiting the folks over Thanksgiving, the first thing I did one morning was go out and shovel the 4-6" of snow out of the driveway. Peaceful and a good workout.

You're more than welcome to come shovel my driveway and steps. I was away all weekend and had to hack through the 2 foot ice berm at teh end of my drive to get the car in. It all has a nice thick layer of ice on top that will make shovelling fun.

There is beer available.

 

[drjeff]

I like the term mental traquility..a combination of that and leisure time is what I live for..I really hope New England has a snowpack that lasts all winter and into the late Spring.

Do you guys use much salt as well?? I used alot of it at work today but isn't it really bad for the environment? It erodes at everything..

I tend to use a bit of salt both at home and at work simply for liability issues. If my home employee(the kids babysitter/nanny) slips and falls and injures herself, my wife and I could be on the hook for a settlement, so the path she takes from her car to my front door gets shoveled regularly(even if it's a non snowblower amount of snow) and a liberal dose of salt hits the same path.

Same thing at work, the sidewalk from where the snowplow guy stops and the front door of my office gets scraped and salted regularly for liability issues.

 

[Hawkshot99]

I have a plow guy that does my apartment lot. He nearly had to buy me a new car Sunday night. Missed my car by 6" at 30mph clearing the lot. The lot is 150' long, he does not need to drive that crazy. He hit the side walk hard, and it made his truck bounce high in the air. Then he never shoveled my walkway.......

 

[Glenn]

I believe getting your hands dirty is the best way to keep your head clean.

Drink your orange juice.

I only wear my hat backwards when I'm wrenching on our vehicles....

Dr. Jeff is 100% correct: Snow removal is relaxing. So is mowing the lawn. Most people gripe about those tasks; I look forward to them. I find it really relaxing to do a job outside, that yeilds good looking results.

 

[Glenn]

I have a plow guy that does my apartment lot. He nearly had to buy me a new car Sunday night. Missed my car by 6" at 30mph clearing the lot. The lot is 150' long, he does not need to drive that crazy. He hit the side walk hard, and it made his truck bounce high in the air. Then he never shoveled my walkway.......

Some plow guys like to throw em' back whilst out and about.

We used to throw beers to the guy that operated the large front end loader in college. We lived in the second floor, so he could pull to the side of the turn around area and catch what we tossed. It was always worth throwing him a few beers because he'd deliver when I'd say: "Ok, now do a few doughnuts with that beast!" Nothing funnier when you have a few in you: Watching some dude make a multi ton piece of a construction equipment doing doughnuts behind the dorm. Classic.

 

[Warp Daddy]

Some plow guys like to throw em' back whilst out and about.

We used to throw beers to the guy that operated the large front end loader in college. We lived in the second floor, so he could pull to the side of the turn around area and catch what we tossed. It was always worth throwing him a few beers because he'd deliver when I'd say: "Ok, now do a few doughnuts with that beast!" Nothing funnier when you have a few in you: Watching some dude make a multi ton piece of a construction equipment doing doughnuts behind the dorm. Classic.

Yeah and THAT dude grew up and became Cris Elliot the MAD snowplow driver in the flick called SNOWDAY
:dunce:

 

[hammer]

I have a plow guy that does my apartment lot. He nearly had to buy me a new car Sunday night. Missed my car by 6" at 30mph clearing the lot. The lot is 150' long, he does not need to drive that crazy. He hit the side walk hard, and it made his truck bounce high in the air. Then he never shoveled my walkway.......

As much as I hate to do so, I've learned to give the plow trucks going through the neighborhood a wide berth...especially if I want to keep my mailbox...

One time I made a plow truck slow down while I was clearing my driveway...on his next pass he made sure he sped up as he went past my driveway and I got a good shot of snow right in the back.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I'd rather push the snow with all my weight..then lift it..

 

[Hawkshot99]

As much as I hate to do so, I've learned to give the plow trucks going through the neighborhood a wide berth...especially if I want to keep my mailbox...

One time I made a plow truck slow down while I was clearing my driveway...on his next pass he made sure he sped up as he went past my driveway and I got a good shot of snow right in the back.

My car was parked. I was going out to move it, so he could get the entire lot.

 

[Glenn]

Yeah and THAT dude grew up and became Cris Elliot the MAD snowplow driver in the flick called SNOWDAY
:dunce:

He told us his boss was usually pretty hammered on tequillia when driving the skid steer around campus. These were contractors IIRC...not the college facilities guys.

 

[Bumpsis]

Snow blowers are for sissies.
I'm sticking with my assortment of snow showels. Bent handle scoop, bent handle flat blade are the most heaily used. I like the straight handle scoop for breaking up the street plow wall that is formed after they pass down the street and bury our cars. The long bladed push shovel is for the polishing step - it's great for scraping down to the pavemenet. I actually enjoy showeling snow. The only aspect of it that gets rather annoying is that there is no place to put it.

My house doesn't have a driveway, so it's street parking. When snowfalls are in excess of 8 inches I have to load up the snow in garbage pails and haul it off onto the yard. It makes a nice heap for kids to dig into and hauling barrels of snow is a hell of a work out.

 

[bigbog]

....

Bumpsis,
One of those should've been there.. Jan-Apr 1993 storms....parking on the streets of Brighton was open warfare!...nothing short of....:grin:

 

[Warp Daddy]

Snow blowers are for sissies.

Let 'see must be a city boy talkin ' smack

has no 200 ft driveway-or side pkg lots or 100-200 ft of walkways - prolly never seen a whiteout come in sideways D

 

[Terry]

I shovel with a 7.5 foot fisher on my old 77 chevy truck that has 326,000 miles on it. Amazing how well the old girl will push snow. Much better than the new trucks. Full time 4x4 and limited slip differential make a huge difference. I also have a 4 foot snow blower on the front of my 1970 International cub cadet tractor. Only a single stage, but works good on anything but real sloppy snow.

 

[campgottagopee]

Snow blowers are for sissies.
I'm sticking with my assortment of snow showels. Bent handle scoop, bent handle flat blade are the most heaily used. I like the straight handle scoop for breaking up the street plow wall that is formed after they pass down the street and bury our cars. The long bladed push shovel is for the polishing step - it's great for scraping down to the pavemenet. I actually enjoy showeling snow. The only aspect of it that gets rather annoying is that there is no place to put it.

My house doesn't have a driveway, so it's street parking. When snowfalls are in excess of 8 inches I have to load up the snow in garbage pails and haul it off onto the yard. It makes a nice heap for kids to dig into and hauling barrels of snow is a hell of a work out.

Sissy this---frickin Magilla Gorilla couldn't shovel my driveway!!!!

 

[campgottagopee]

.

Do you guys use much salt as well?? I used alot of it at work today but isn't it really bad for the environment? It erodes at everything..

I go thru a pallett of 80lb bags per year---my driveway is 400ft and very steep---gotta keep er clean

 

[Glenn]

I'm thinking we need a "post pics of your snow removal device(s)" thread.

 

[Mildcat]

Snow blowers are for sissies.

Well knit me a skirt and call me a sissy! :lol: My driveways just friggen huge and my neighbors driveway is right next to it so I can't throw the snow that way. Some spots I'd have to walk each shovelful 20-30 ft just to throw it.

 

[Terry]

I'm thinking we need a "post pics of your snow removal device(s)" thread.

This is a picture of "the beast"