For the guy who has to clear the sidewalks walkways at my local church, it has been a busy couple of weeks. For those who don't know, just about everyone I assume, I live in the part of New York that isn't New York City... we like to call it New Amsterdam, Upstate NY, Central NY... I am not quite Western NY, but pretty close. Anyway, with Lakes Erie and Ontario putting moisture in the air, any wind from the north, during winter, gives us "lake effect snow" which you can translate into "lots".
Right now, where there are no snowdrifts, it is about 3.5 feet deep. If we get a fast thaw, we are going to have some serious flooding issues... if it ever thaws, and mid-February it doesn't seem like it.
Anyway, on to my point. I use a snowblower, that helps a lot, but wrestling a hundred fifty pound snowblower isn't exactly what I would call easy, just easier than tens of thousands of scoop and toss'es with a shovel. I still have to use a shovel, think of the snowblower as a 'rough draft', and lifting the snow over the banks of the cleared area is a real treat, I tell you. All in all, over the last two weeks, I've had to add between 8 and 12 hours of snow removal a week, on top of my usual workload.
However, it is not all bad. My constant intake of sweetened coffee has kept my big belly intact, true, but I noticed that my shoulders and arms are getting quite large. I'm not a terribly vain man, after all I DO keep drinking sweet, sweet coffee and soda, but it is kind of nice to look in a mirror and think, "Oh yeah" even if it is about a single feature.
Right now, where there are no snowdrifts, it is about 3.5 feet deep. If we get a fast thaw, we are going to have some serious flooding issues... if it ever thaws, and mid-February it doesn't seem like it.
Anyway, on to my point. I use a snowblower, that helps a lot, but wrestling a hundred fifty pound snowblower isn't exactly what I would call easy, just easier than tens of thousands of scoop and toss'es with a shovel. I still have to use a shovel, think of the snowblower as a 'rough draft', and lifting the snow over the banks of the cleared area is a real treat, I tell you. All in all, over the last two weeks, I've had to add between 8 and 12 hours of snow removal a week, on top of my usual workload.
However, it is not all bad. My constant intake of sweetened coffee has kept my big belly intact, true, but I noticed that my shoulders and arms are getting quite large. I'm not a terribly vain man, after all I DO keep drinking sweet, sweet coffee and soda, but it is kind of nice to look in a mirror and think, "Oh yeah" even if it is about a single feature.