Claudia, There isn't much to shoveling snow but it helps to have the right equipment.
I have a 30 inch steel scraper I like, a bit heavy but it moves quite a bit of snow at a time. I generally prefer the aluminum scrapers but I tend to end up pulling the supporting rivets out of them. I also now like the wide plastic scrapers with a steel edge attached, they have a decent capacity and are lighter to lift. Janet uses one as do I some of the time. Finally I have a big scoop, it too is 30 inches wide and probably 2 feet deep. It is best for light fluffy snow which compacts into the scoop as you push it. The technique which works best with a scoop is to push it a long way beyond the area you need cleaning then tip it up to dump the load. You then make subsequent passes tilting the scoop back as you approach your previous dump running the scoop up the bank before tipping it out. You thus form a ramp. This isn't necessarily that easy for the blind, well not for this blind guy, if you don't hit it right or if you don't form the slope right it begins to get too steep to push the load up. I tend to push scoops full against a bank, tip them out then come back with a wide scraper type of shovel and throw the snow up the bank. Depending on how heavy the snow is and how deep I more often just use one of the scrapers, I like the heavy steel one partly because it tends to get down into the harder packed snow. I actually file the edge to sharpen it a little and I wax it to keep any sticky snow in the spring or fall from freezing to it. This is another benefit of the plastic scrapers, they tend to release the snow more readily. I push the snow ahead until I have a decent pile of more compacted snow which, though denser and heavier does lift and pile better. If you are total or near it, the same issues of distance applies as confounds grass cutting in the summer. I can't reliably cut straight lines for more than several feet so pushing snow in nice strips the length of the driveway isn't practical. It is a long driveway so it is also impractical to move it in short bursts, you end up moving the same snow several times. I tend to do one of a couple of things, either beginning at about the middle, I push the snow to an edge sort of sidling along pushing the snow. It may be appropriate to do this for 15 or 20 feet then turn around and push the remaining snow the other direction to the other side. A scraper has about a 5 foot handle, my arms add a couple of more feet and by taking a step or two I can easily cover 10 or 15 feet per stroke. turn around and push the other direction and you have 20 to 30 feet. If there isn't a lot of snow you can throw it up onto the bank at the end of each stroke but more usually I finish by going along the edges and throwing the snow up onto the bank. It all gets a little more difficult at the end of the driveway for example when the plow goes buy. It makes a good bank of dense packed snow a little more difficult to move. Again I generally like my scraper, usually I begin on the street side of the bank and taking narrow cuts more or less scoot along the very edge cutting away only an inch or three at a time. This turns out to be plenty, when I get past the driveway I then pick that up and throw it onto the bank then turn around and make a similar cut the other direction throwing that up on the bank. Well that is how it happens at the best of times, more commonly I need to dig a walk way out to the street on my way to work so Janet can get out and look after the rest some time later. She is generally left with clearing the front stairs but then we don't have a car. Because my neighbour and I share a driveway outs is about 45 feet wide altogether and 80 or 90 feet long so mostly his brother comes with a plow on the front of his pick-up and shifts most of the driveway snow if we wait a day or two, usually I am happy enough to wait a day or two then just go out and clean up. The truck can't lift the snow and if I don't get it up onto a bank we run out of room by about this time of year. My patio is 16 by 45 feet and I clear that banking up against the back of the house to about 4 feet which we had this year well before Christmas. Most of the far edge of the patio now is to about 6 feet but a much wider base out onto the lawn. I have one pile in front of the house where I open a sort of gallery for Tim to push his truck plow fulls of snow where I am at the limits of my ability to lift the snow, it is now about 10 feet high and about 30 feet long. To lift snow that high takes a little coordination. I fill the shovel then lift it in a sort of arc pushing the handle end up and to the side while allowing the handle to slide through my lower hand which I use to guide the rising shovel end and sort of keep the shovel under then behind the load of snow while the handle hand continues up in an arc well above my head. The blade of the shovel then turns about 90 degrees from horizontal to the ground where it is picking up snow to parallel to the bank beside me where is is pushing the load sideways and on up to the top of the bank and hopefully beyond. Inevitably some comes sliding back down and if there is any wind you frequently get a spray back into your face or down your neck but that is what makes us tough! I also keep a small square shovel for scraping up snow which compacts under foot and for cutting down banks which begin to intrude. This shovel is good for lifting snow too but in much smaller quantities so I don't much like it for that. The trick for clearing large areas for me though is to develop a manageable pattern and work it then move on to the next one. Sometimes I bring a radio out with me partly to keep me company and partly as an orientation device, a sort of tool to judge my distance and direction by. Probably more than you ever wanted to hear about shoveling snow. I hear that the mid west is going to get another dump as is southern Ontario. Fortunately much of that melts. Ours tends to just accumulate until mid April. ----- Original Message ----- From: Claudia To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 8:16 AM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Shoveling Snow? Hi, I'm not usually the snow shoveler in our family, but I would like someone to describe the technique to me. We have had so much snow here this winter, and I'm trying to give my better half a break! Thanks. Claudia Join either of my groups; the first is for visually-impaired women, while the other is for people wishing to discuss homemaking issues. our-safe-haven-subscr...@googlegroups.com makinghouseworkeasier-subscr...@googlegroups.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
