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The most hated person in the U.S. mid west isn't a politician!
Only reason I was able to get to work Wednesday was because I own a large 4x4 pick up with an off-road package. And that only worked by shifting the truck into four wheel drive, pulling forward as far as I could and backing into the over knee high berm of packed snow and ice the plow driver left at the end of my driveway with as much speed as I could muster in the short distance.
Finally got the rest of the ice and snow roadblock our dear town's plow driver left at the end of my driveway completely cleared today from the snow that fell over night Monday and throughout Tuesday. Tonight we are to be blessed with an even greater storm starting, turning into blizzard conditions tomorrow and through Saturday with low temps dropping down to -15F with wind chills down to -45F for the first part of next week.
Comments
Take Care
Don't be macho or try to do more than you can safely do without over extending yourself. Hypothermia is a killer a lot don't recognize until it's too late. Try and remember you aren't the kid you used to be. Hon, you had one bad experience with snow and ice. Don't do a repeat, I'd like to keep you around for a little longer just to torment if nothing else.
Hugs Nunan
Barbie Jean
Nothing more precious in life than loved ones and friends.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
breaking out
Don't get too locked into breaking that snow wall. Keep your attention on oncoming traffic. A man in my town was killed a few years ago when he got stuck at the end of his driveway and then broke free just as a pick-up truck was coming through. He was struck in the driver's side and died before the ambulance arrived.
not an issue
My drive is very short, only two cars in length and width, plenty of visibility, almost no traffic, only residents really use the road and everyone drives slow even in good weather.
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Don't blame him fully, he is just a guy doing his job
Suddenly I understand why in movies and tv I have seen where they film up north they have those gas powered snow blowers for clearing driveways and obstacles made of snow.
the snow had to go somewhere and the side of the road and your yard and driveway were the designed recipient of the snow from the snow plow. It does not make it any less annoying or frustrating but what do you expect.
"Cortana is watching you!"
snow blowers are great
Snow blowers are great for powder snow and ok with heavy wet snow if you go slow enough. I've got an electric one as I didn't want to have to worry about gas, oil, etc. or trying to start it when it was too cold to be outside to begin with :)
The one thing they can't do is clear blocks of packed snow and ice that a plow leaves at the end of your drive. Even a snow shovel won't cut it. I have a 5 foot long, 1.25 inch thick solid steel rod that I've welded a 1/4 inch 5 inch wide plate of steel onto the end making it a super heavy ice scraper. that I use to chip and break up the ice and packed snow, then shovel it out of the way with a standard square end shovel. It's no quick but it works great.
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Empty Promises Here
I don't have to drive anymore. The forecast here in Portland, Oregon is for snow, 1-6" but I don't expect any.
Remember It All Too Well
I used to live in a small town and there were no driveways on the other side and four on ours. They would always block the driveways.
It's one reason I'm glad I moved (and now live in an apartment with no shoveling or driveway).
I live in the boonies
On a gravel road. The piles of snow and ice across the driveway is the story of my life. Now consigned to a wheelchair, its not my problem. I have a neighbor with a 4x4 plow us out regularly. But this is only half the snow clearing problem. The snow plow is constructed to be able to cut down almost any mailbox known. Trying to replace these in frozen ground isn't an option. After a snow dump (like the one now expected) quickly yields a field of USPS carnage... In keeping with my gentle demeanor, expletives have been deleted.
Ron
Misconceptions
Snowblowers are terrific if the snow is light and fluffy. They aren't worth a tinker's damn at clearing the ice chunks a snow plow leaves. If the conditions are right you'll need dynamite to clear your drive. And, in my town it is prohibited to shovel snow into the street so you have to stack it on either side of the drive, which quickly becomes two mountains suitable for Olympic,skiing.
The city also prohibits putting out your garbage and recycling bins on the street so you have to carve out a plateau on one of the mountains for them.
All of this compacted snow takes forever to melt in the spring and usually kills off a large chunk of your boulevard grass.
When I lived in the suburbs I had a long driveway which required a huge snowblower that pulled me behind it. Its control panel looked like something that belonged in a cockpit. I had a smaller snowblower to clear my deck. I blew the snow down onto our pool, which we had semi drained for the winter, thereby saving water in the spring.
I had a four car garage with one of the bays used to store the snowblowers, woodchipper, chainsaws, lawnmowers, power washers, etc. All "necessary" to maintain my property.
All of those testosterone powered tools chipped,away at my femininity. Bubble baths helped!
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Snowblowers and Olympic skiing
Snowblowers apparently can clog up with snow but still be "on" even if the sound is muffled by the snow. For one entire season and the beginning of next there we as public warning broadcast at the local public service TV. The warning featured a man who had lost his foot trying to clear his snowblower. "I'm so angry at myself that I put my foot there and didn't use my head instead"
You should be grateful for getting an Olympic venue at a bargain basement price. Italy is right now trying to find a builder for a new sliding (bob, skeleton, luge) venue for the 2026 games. Budget just over 81 million Euro. This is a budget version instead of the original plan that turned out to cost at least 140 million. A slight problem is that a new venue is not unlikely to be finished only after the games. Using an existing venue just over the borden in Switzerland for only 20 Million euro (as mandated by IOC) is out of the question. These are ITALIAN winter olympics!
Tricks
When they plow the street, the snow Naturally fills in every void. So I used to leave a thin amount of snow at the end of my driveway rather than clear it completely. The plow still dumped some snow, but not nearly as much.
I haven’t had to worry about it so much, the last few years. The Midwest is still getting hard winters, but southern New England, not so much.
Emma
Living in the Pacific NW
I haven't had to face too much of that. But I do remember one year when I lived two blocks off a main thoroughfare. Getting out of my driveway was no problem and navigating around the corner to head toward that thoroughfare in the six or eight inches of snow was easy for my 70 Maverick with two five gallon buckets of wet sand seatbelted in the backseat. However when I reached the intersection with that thoroughfare I was faced with a foot and a half of snow plow leavings. That pretty much reached above my bumper.
Fortunately, at the time my hobby was Time-Speed-Distance rallying. I was using the Maverick as my rally car and because some of the events I participated in had some logging roads involved in the course I had equipped the Maverick with two skid plates; one for the oil pan and one for the gas tank, The houses on either side of the street sat well back allowing me a good view of cross traffic. I just backed up until I could just see if the road was clear and gunned it. Thanks to my skid plates, I bounced over the barrier leaving a more manageable path for those behind me. Since I left early (about 5:30) I'm sure my neighbors who left later appreciated that.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
My worst ever interaction with a snow plow…….
Was in March of 1993. I was still in the service at that time, but was on TDY in Guilderland Center, NY - which is 28 miles south and west of my house. It was a nice way of the Navy to give me more time at home between deployments by assigning me to the Naval Support Activity, basically giving me a 9 to 5 job near my family for a short while, assisting in logistics and security.
So, there I am working one quiet Saturday, sitting in the office catching up on paperwork, when it starts to snow - a lot, lol. By the time I left for home, the snow was coming down at one to two inches per hour, and there was well over a foot on the ground already. So to set the scene, I’m driving a rear wheel drive sports car, in a blizzard, nearly 30 miles from home.
The fun part about this trip, is that it includes several miles down a two lane secondary route (Rt. 146),then a few miles down a four lane road through a fairly urban area (RT. 20), then 19 miles north on an interstate highway (I-87, better known as The Adirondack Northway), and then five miles down another two lane secondary route (Rt. 146), with a final half mile through city streets.
Luckily, due to the weather, there was essentially no traffic - just me, and the snow plows. All the smart people were at home staying warm, lol.
So, I make it through the first few miles of secondary roads to the interstate without too much trouble; a little wheel spin and some slipping and sliding, but as there is no one else on the road it wasn’t a major issue as long as you took your time and didn’t try to drive too fast. The fun was yet to come! I turn up the ramp to the Northway (I-87), and head north taking my time. I am literally the only car on the highway; it looks like a scene out of a movie about the end of the world, lol.
As I’m driving north, the road begins to get more and more clear - telling me that I am approaching a state road crew plowing the highway. Which is good luck for me as it is becoming much easier to drive. I think to myself, “This is perfect! Just follow the plows up to my exit and have a nice clear highway!” A little further up the road, I can see them - four snow plows driving in an echelon formation covering the whole northbound side of the highway. I slow down and just stay behind them, driving on the cleared road - until suddenly, they all slow down to a stop in the middle of the highway. They lift their plows, back up, and turn into an emergency vehicle cross over in the highway median, and begin heading back south - leaving a two or three foot high snow bank clear across the entire highway.
After a minute, I get out of the car and walk up to the snow bank. There is no way I’m turning around like the plows did; I’m only a few miles from my exit now! So I walk up to the snow bank and start kicking through it, making a gap big enough for my car to fit through. Walking back to my car, I back down the highway a hundred feet or so and get a running start, aiming for the gap I made. Now keep in mind, I may have kicked through the snow bank, but it’s still a foot or so deep. I hit it at about 40 mph and plowed right through and just kept going. No one else on the road, remember? It’s a lot easier when you have four lanes of highway to use with no one else getting in the way!
So I drive up to my exit and take the ramp to get off the interstate, and as I do, I notice that the ramp is blocked at the end by several state police cars with their lights flashing. One of the troopers stops me, and asks me where I am coming from. I haven’t mentioned it, but I am in uniform - as I was working at the Support Activity, it is required. That certainly didn’t hurt when talking to the troopers, lol. Come to find out, the state has declared a state wide emergency and closed the interstates, obviously after I got on it.
Anyway, I got home - but that is my snow plow story. I still wonder if those guys in the snow plows were even aware they left me stuck, or were they laughing about it as they drove south? You kind of have to be a sadistic bastard to drive a snow plow, lol. We ended up getting 27 inches of snow in less than 24 hours, making it the second worst recorded storm in state history.
Not the worst situation I’ve been in - after all, no one was shooting at me - but definitely my worst snowplow story.
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
I remember that storm
In Pittsburgh we got “only” about 24 inches in 24 hours. Pennsylvania also closed the interstates. Shut nearly everything else down too, which was fine by me. My mother had died a few days before so I didn’t want to leave the house anyway.
If you’ve read Wes Boyd’s TG novel “The Girl in the Mirror” and like his style, his “Snowplow Extra” might be enjoyable.