And my little truck thanks me!
Quite a difference from yesterday:
I shoveled two paths to it, knocked the snow off, and then shoveled the paths again and put down a bunch of ice melt and sand. My new snow boots got a good workout, and my feet stayed toasty warm. Took me three times in 4-HI to punch my way out into the street. I probably could have done it in two, but the first attempt wound up with spinning tires, so I went back up the driveway, and then bashed into the snow again. The third time I hit the snow it powered right through to the cleared lane, and off I went. Took a drive around the neighborhood to survey the damage, and yowie, we've got everything from small branches, to 6" diameter limbs, to whole trees broken in half and laying on the sidewalks, streets and roofs. I think the tree service people are going to be pretty busy the next few weeks.
The city ran a road grader down the cul-de-sac this morning about 0330, and luckily the blade was angled away from our side of the street. The people directly across the street had spent several hours yesterday clearing their drive way, and clearing a path to the lanes the Snowblower Guy cleared. This morning they had a three foot berm of snow blocking their driveway. This only the second time the city has sent anything down our cul-de-sac, and since Snowblower Guy had cleared a very serviceable path, he really didn't have to come down our street at all.
Have to take SLW down to the airport Wednesday afternoon, so I'm hoping the roads will be clear, and the trip uneventful.
Saw some 10' high snow banks today on WCR 74 at WCR 31. That is West of US 85 and near Severance.
ReplyDeleteThe in-laws up at the homestead (7500' in Rist Canyon) had 4~5 feet of snow, with drifts 10~15 feet high. Took them an hour to shovel to where they had the equipment staged so they could plow their way out.
DeleteAgriculture needs the water. Good news/bad news for the burn areas. A rapid melting will cause some ugly erosion and flooding. A slow melt will saturate the ground deeper which will help new growth and ground cover.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's going to be in the 50's and 60's at the end of the week, but that's down here.
DeleteYeesh buddy what a mess.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you didn't get turned into a Popsickle though.
It's easier to live with when you don't HAVE to go out in it! I hated the stuff when I was growing up in Illinois and had to drive to school and work, but here we just roll with it.....
DeleteI stick one of those small handwarmer packets into each one of my goretex mittens when using the snowthrower.
ReplyDeleteThe installed electric handwarmers don't seem to do all that much.
Did you do any thinking about tire chains for the worst case scenerios?
Every year in April or so when Home Depot blows those out as "end-of-season", I buy several boxes of them. I've heard the grip handwarmers don't do much, too.
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking yesterday I should probably get a set of chains and learn how to install/use them.
There are a lot more chain choices now than there were years ago.
DeleteI had a set of those cable chains for my two wheel drive Ranger and using them made it barely possible to drive it in the snow.
That was both the last pickup and the last two wheel drive vehicle that we owned.
I think the grip handwarmers should have a setting for frying bacon, but that's just what I think.
Or in my case, they should have a "Bake Bread" setting!
DeleteI'll ask the in-laws what they use for chains. So far the little truck has powered its way through some fairly deep snow. The snow wasn't plowed by where our mailbox is, so when I got back from the airport I pulled in there, and got out no problem.
One hopes for a smooth trip! And somebody ALWAYS loses when they plow...
ReplyDeleteThere were some really slow spots along the Interstate, but once we got about 25 miles South of here there was much less snow.
DeleteBrrr....
ReplyDeleteAnd it's about 75% melted now.
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