Don't Shovel Snow if You're Over 45

[JTHunter]

At the end of January, 1982, we had "thundersnow" that left a 4.5' drift in my driveway behind my '82 Toyota 4WD longbed.  It took me almost 4 hours to be able to get my truck out, then I went to the rental place in town and got a 8 hp 2 stage blower with 5 fwd speeds and 2 reverse.  The mouth was about 24" x24" with driftcutter bars sticking up another foot.
After using it to clean out my driveway, I did the same for 4 other neighbors as I wanted to get as much use out of it before I had to return it.

[230RN]

By my mid-forties, I had got back down to my fighting trim of around 165.  Snow shoveling (lucky me) was not much of a problem.  But then I rented a house on a corner lot, and that was a real annoyance with two sidewalks to clear.

(I recently broke 200 pounds going downward.  Sure is easy to gain it.)

Only other time I had trouble was when the plow cleared the parking lot at my present Senior Apartment and left a pile in front of my car.  That was more than a mere annoyance, and I advised them of the problem, nicely, and now they kind of shift it off to the side.

Still, if there's snow due, I park it heading out so the rear wheels will have ten or twelve feet of dry surface to grab onto to power out if I have to, or need to rock it back and forth.

I kind of plan things out now, supply-wise, and let the sun clear off my car.  "Facing out" means facing south so the sun has a good chance to warm up the windshield and interior.

Also, the two parking spots to my east are visitor's spots, so the morning sun usually has a chance to hit my left windows so the snow slides off.

I haven't used the supermarket delivery service, but it's an option if needed.

Terry, 230RN

[RoadKingLarry]

When I took the pic I posted above I spent about 3 hours moving snow to clear my driveway and the neighbors drive so we could get to the county road.
I put the tractor away about 1/2 an hour before sunset and went into the house to start getting ready for work. The county came along plowing the roads and pushed a 3' berm of ice and snow across my driveway.
I just pushed through it in my 4X4 Cherokee, took 3 attempts and it was damned annoying.

[French G.]

"Was that 2010? Big one for Christmas. I live an hour west of Staunton so when it snows we get around but the roads go potato in a hurry."

Christmas 2010 we didn't have much in the way of snow.

Christmas 2009? That was the first of our two 20+ inch snowfalls that winter.

I had to postpone my trip to my Mom's for a couple of days because of that storm. IIRC 23 inches at my house in Fairfax.

The next one that season was in February. And additional 20+ inches, and 3 days later ANOTHER 10 inches on top of it.

That was the winter that finally broke my brain snow wise.

Maybe it was 09 then. I just remember a pretty ridiculous trip with a small child who took it well considering. Means she was two then.

[HeroHog]

I lost my job in 09 due to my disabilities and we left the state through that mess. Not a happy time. Well remember it.

Headed to Louisiana with our cat, Lil' Blue:

[Bogie]

Out at the lake, we have about 100 yards of driveway from the house to the generally not plowed road. With a foot on it, that takes a bit. Then the hill up to the machine shop is probably 150 yards. Sometimes it is just easier to walk through the woods.

[K Frame]

My parking lot is shaped like an L. I park on the first spot on the bottom of the L, which means that when the plow trucks come they leave one hell of a lot of snow behind my car. They generally do their best to mitigate that as much as possible, but it's inevitable that if we get a lot of snow I'm going to be digging to get my car out. I don't like it, but life is life. You deal.

One of the residents in my community (I've mentioned his wife before, she's a horrendous bitch, and he's not better), parks on a section where the plows leave a snow V beside his car. Usually not much, maybe a foot wide and a foot high if we have a lot of snow. Plows shed snow. That's a given. A good plow operator can minimize that, and we had a good plow guy.

A few years ago he sent the board a note absolutely losing his *expletive deleted*it about his car "being plowed in!" and what were we, the board, going to do about it.

So, next relatively big snow that year (we had a lot of snow that year) I monitor his car and the plowing and take pictures.

At no point was his car ever plowed in, he could have easily driven through the snow V and gotten out.

He sends the inevitable note, this time losing his *expletive deleted*it even worse.

So, I send him a response, with the pictures I took of his car, explaining how plows work.

But I offered him a solution... I told him I was more than willing to come down and dig his car out if he would extend the same courtesy to me... and I attached a picture of my Subaru with a 4 foot wide, 2 foot deep bank of snow behind it.

Never heard from him on the subject again.