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Snow shoveling techniques


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we live next to an old lady with a snow blower, she lets us use it whenever we want, as long as we clear her driveway & sidewalk too

Our neighbor is an elderly, widowed veteran. If I have time, I always snow blow his driveway, too. (Tonight he actually tried to give me $10 for my trouble!)

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Our neighbor is an elderly, widowed veteran. If I have time, I always snow blow his driveway, too. (Tonight he actually tried to give me $10 for my trouble!)

 

For only 3" of snow? What a nice guy!

 

Today, for once, the shoveling was done when I got home from school. But whoever did it forgot to put some salt down afterward, so the walk is still covered in an inch-thick sheet of ice.

 

What's the best way to get rid of those patches of already stepped-on snow? None of my efforts have been successful, whether it be trying to crack them, wedge the shovel underneath, etc. I'm at a loss.

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Get an apt where someone else does the shoveling.

This doesn't always work. My landlords don't even shovel their own sidewalk/steps let alone ours (they live next door). My last apartment was similar- the walk would get shoveled but not until a day or two after it snowed.

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Guest Speed Racer

Minneapolis has a law about shoveling sidewalks within 24 hours or something. Our landlord always does in time, but I wouldn't mind having a shovel in our building so I could do it myself once in a while.

 

No driveways growing up, thank god - we had alleys. The drawback there, of course, was that after a major snowfall the plow clearing the streets would leave a good 7 foot wall at either end of the alley. Classy.

 

I remember the day my grandmother died had to go pick up some funeral clothes at her house. We got three feet of snow, translating into ridiculously high alley walls. My father and I shoveled our way out of the alley, got back in the car, and the plow came by AGAIN, blocking us in again. We finally got all the way to her home and had to shovel HER driveway to get in, and she lived in one of those nice neighborhoods with a block full of elderly widows. All of them came outside, commenting on how my father was such a nice son, I was a great granddaughter, etc. and before we knew it we had shoveled about 8 driveways.

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I live in a condo, and we pay a company to plow our driveways and walks. But like Alison said, in reality, I usually have to shovel. I've already done it twice this week. We have a pretty steep communal drive leading to our respective driveways, and I have a little car. If there's too much snow and the plow hasn't come through yet, I either have to shovel a path ... or not get up the driveway. In addition, if you want it done right away when it comes to your front walk and your own driveway, then you do it yourself. I like to avoid the snow-packed-down-by-tires-that-turns-into-ice phenomenon if at all possible. And my home faces south, which means that if I leave a bunch of snow in the driveway it turns into a bunch of ice, even if the temp is pretty low. If I shovel well, on the other hand, often it will melt away entirely, leaving me a nice, clean, snow-free driveway. For a day or so.

 

Shoveling the front path and stoop is way easier than the driveway because you have a yard in both directions - the snow pile is always just a shovel-flip away. I'm fairly skilled at tossing snow while driveway shoveling, but there are limits.

 

It's still early enough that I've enjoyed the shoveling. Talk to me in a month or two when it's 20 below outside and the snow is two feet high.

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Personally I really dig it (pun intended).

Wide mouth aluminum coal shovel, and trying to pitch it as far as I can until I'm outta breath.

Of course it doesn't happen all that often in VA.

And I miss having old folks living nearby whom I could shovel for...

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What're you guys all octagenarians? How hard is it to shovel snow? It's fun, too. You're outside in the cold and breaking a sweat at the same time.

 

Buncha mama's boys....

 

(save for Preferred B. So far)

Say what you want. The shit can be dangerous. About 2 years ago we got 2 feet of snow overnight and I tried to do the whole driveway in one go. I got completely overwhelmed. Never again.

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What're you guys all octagenarians? How hard is it to shovel snow? It's fun, too. You're outside in the cold and breaking a sweat at the same time.

 

Buncha mama's boys....

 

(save for Preferred B. So far)

 

 

NAMECALLER

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Say what you want. The shit can be dangerous. About 2 years ago we got 2 feet of snow overnight and I tried to do the whole driveway in one go. I got completely overwhelmed. Never again.

Lay off the bong hits immediately before shoveling next time.

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