shovelling snow

[micky]

BTW. after all these years, I have a new improved way of shoveling the sidewalk, that's faster, better, and takes less effort.

The whole word "shoveling" seems like the wrong word now because surely shovel ling meant putting the shovel under the snow and lifting it and throwing it to the side.

The last two times, I used a spade, with a flat end. Just put it end down on the sidewalk and slide it to the side. Lift it an inch or two and do the next row of snow.

No lifting the shovel or the snow, no throwing it, and for a guy with breathing problems some times (well, only when I'm working hard), I can do four times as much without getting running out of breath. 60 feet instead of 15.

BTW, my father bought the spade around 1945 and except for some of the blue paint on the side of the handle wearing off, it's still as good as new.

Like this but the blade is not stainless and it's even flatter at the end.

[angelica...]

I hate to break it to you, but that's how all of us old farts shovel snow.

Of course, after a few snowfalls without a thaw in between, one does have to lift the snow up over the piles of snow at the edge of the sidewalk.

ISTR in 2013 we got 60 inches of snow over the course of the winter, with precious little thawing until spring. Even the snowblower was having a hard time throwing snow up over the piles next to the driveway.

Cindy Hamilton

[Dean Hoffman]

Maybe Micky should look into getting some sort of floor scraper. I use an old fashioned grain scoop shovel.

[Oliver George]

What kind of snowflake blower do you have? My little 19hp JD can hit the 7kV primary over my driveway.

[Clare Snyder]

It would take all day to clear 180 deet of 4 foot wide sidewalk and a

4 car deiveway of 8 inches of snow with that thing!!!. The YT624 does it in about half an hour. If it snows less than 3 inches at a time I clear it with the 22 inch Garrant Yukon Ergonomic snow pusher in about the same amount of time.

[hubops]

Used ones sell for a pretty price - what's it cost new ! ?

Is the track-drive a good thing ? turn radius issues ?

I'm considering a blower for next year - I've always just used a big walk-behind scoop to good effect.

John T.

[hubops]

Found it - it's the wee little of their line-up :-)

John T.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Nice, but pricey. I had an $800 Arians that got the job done for my needs. Sold it to my neighbor when I went south.

It was fun the day after a good snowfall, but the slush and slop and sand after was always a mess. I don't miss that part of it.

[Snag]

On the rare occasions I need to move snow , I much prefer to use my yard tractor with the 48" blade on the front ...

[hubops]

$ 800. US ~ $ 1000. Loonies.

That's the price-point for the cheaper snowblowers - - Ariens start at ~ $ 1500. here-abouts. ... still - half the price of the Yamaha. John T.

[rbowman]

The neighbors think I'm weird but I was raised in upstate NY. At the start of the season I push the snow back much wider than the driveway. The berm gets higher and the driveway narrower as the winter goes on.

One year a woman decided the nice, wide driveway was a great place to turn around except where she puled in was actually the lawn. Her father came by the next day with his truck to extract her.

Maybe it isn't just my style that amuses the neighbors. Most of them consider snow is what 4 wheel drive is made for. I have an ulterior motive. The clearer I keep it, the faster it melts off in the spring so I can get one of the bikes on the road.

[rbowman]

I bought one of those one winter when there wasn't a snow shovel to be found but didn't really like it. Now I have three snow shovels in various states of repair. Those plastic D handles don't hold up but I found replacements on Amazon. One is an old school steel blade that's great for chopping hardpack but it noticeably heavier when throwing snow.

[hubops]

• 1

Nothing worse than having 2 inches of snow fall from the sky - and a bit of wind - making it 2 feet deep ! between the banks of the driveway ! .. keep it flat - the wind blows it on to the neighbours . John T.

[Snag]

I like the way you think . If it wasn't so much work for so little gain there would be a set of chains on the back and a ski on the front of that Sportster trike . I can barely imagine the trouble I could get into on a rig like that . Capable of speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour , what could possibly go wrong ?

[Clare Snyder]

I think they were about 2400 new - I paid $900 for mine 3 years old with one or 2 seasons of use, The Hydro drive is it's strong point - and the tracks have a LOT more traction than tires. Turning is an art

- you tip it up on the ends of the tracks and you can turn it on a dime - or you can attempt to man-handle it flat. The 12 volt electric start is nice too. The only thing I don't like is how complex it is to change belts!!! Takes about 3 hours by the time you've done it 2 or 3 tomes compared to about 20 minutes on an old MTD or Canadiana. Definitely the best blower I have owned or used and worth every penny I paid for it. Would have likely been worth it at new price too, but I'm CHEAP!!!! (My last blower was about 35 or 40 years old Noma Canadiana 528 - I bought it used 15 years old for $300 and sold it for $350 after a bad blizzard when I was finished with it.)

[Clare Snyder]

The old Ariens were bulletproof - I maintain a 50 year old one and it just keeps going and going and going. Had to replace the fuel tank this year - it had cracked. The new ones - at least the consumer grafe crap you buy at Home Despot etc are CRAP!!!!! I liked the old Ariens Pro with the locking differential and the auger lockout lever. The old Simplicitied and Hahn Eclipse units were good too. That said you will have to pry the hydrostatic drive controls of my Yammy out of my cold dead hands!!!!!

[Clare Snyder]

An other nice thing about the Yammy - I can blow the snow from my driveway across the neighbour's double driveway into the middle of his front lawn - about 50 feet. There IS about 4 feet piled up between the driveways right now from both of us shoveling the frequent light snowfalls. (I've used the blower 3 times so far this year - shovelled all the rest - gotta do something to keep from getting fat being locked up at home for the last year - - -

[Clare Snyder]

That's snowmobile performance. Ask my kid brother what kind of trouble that can get you into. Long ago we gave up comparing him to a cat - he'd outlasted a whole litter of kittens at 9 lives each - - -

[micky]

Who knew?

Even in INdiana, where it was colder than here, we didn't have that much snow.

I had a 150 foot driveway to shovel but I only shoveled where the tires were to go. It was up to my mother to back up within those two 1-foot paths. She did pretty good.

[micky]

I don't see any point to clearing a 4-foot wide path when I only need 8 inches.

Or a 4-car driveway. When I had a driveway, I only cleared a path for the tires.