Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Snowblowing for Idiots

The snow has been sifting down all day--not a big heavy snow, but a gentle and constant drift of flakes all day. It's very similar to what sifting powdered sugar looks like.

Does anybody even have a sifter anymore? (Apparently they do--which shows you what an excellent baker I am too.)(Because, when I say "excellent" I mean "half-assed.")

My mission today was to equip our snowblower with a new gas can, fresh gas and oil. Which only took me to three different hardware stores, plus the gas station, but that's not important.

What is important is that I filled the tank, and started it up and started to blow snow. And it quickly became apparent that I don't know what I am doing when it comes to snowblowing. Does everybody have to stop at the end of each pass and switch the blow thingie to the other side? It seems like there is probably some pattern that you can use to clear the driveway without having to stop every couple of feet to switch the blower. It is probably passed down from generation to generation, from father to son, which is why I don't know it.

Is it like the Zamboni pattern at the ice rink? Overlapping concentric ovals? Is there some way to avoid blowing snow into the garage?

And how do you get the snowblower from the back of the house to the front of the house? Our lot runs the width of the block, so we front on two streets instead of a street and an alley. Should I just go around the end of the block and clear their sidewalks as I go?

Who do I even ask? Is there a Snow Blower Guru who can answer my questions?

How do you clear your sidewalks?

2 comments:

~moe~ said...

I don't have to shovel snow right now so I'm going to answer the sifter question instead...

I don't have a sifter. And when the recipes call for sifted flour I usually measure the flour, then wisk it to loosen up the clumps...so probably ending up with more flour than I intended? Interesting. And I bake all the time. weird.

Anonymous said...

First, close the garage door. Keeps the snow out of the garage. Here is a generaltion-before-you solution: Make your first pass down the center of the driveway. Return up one side blowing the snow off the drive, then turn and go down the other side. (i.e., start from the center and work to the sides in an ever-growing concentric oval. (or call the "nice man"?) To get from back yard to front yard, blow a path from garage and around the side of the house to the front. Puppies love this path also. Hope this helps.