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MiHale

(9,751 posts)
Sat Jan 13, 2024, 09:01 AM Jan 2024

Snow shoveling lesson TODAY!...

Come one, come all! We will go over the correct way to shovel snow, including the scoop and throw, push and shove techniques. Classes are absolutely FREE! We will provide all the snow you need to work with. We are donating our driveway and sidewalks for teaching purposes, all you need to do is bring a shovel.

Over 2 feet of snow available.

For the kids: Assemble your own SNOWMAN all materials provided!!! Have a blast!

Later in the day…Snowshoe activities in the backyard…make trails for your fun and the dogs enjoyment…dogs will provide lane markers.

19 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Goddessartist

(1,811 posts)
6. My hummingbird
Sat Jan 13, 2024, 09:23 AM
Jan 2024

feeder is inside until it gets light, then I put a sock over it....it froze solid yesterday.

Thank you!

marble falls

(57,124 posts)
3. I'll be taking my lessons as distance learning. I will not gloat. Monday we are supposed to get our snow ...
Sat Jan 13, 2024, 09:09 AM
Jan 2024

... here in the Hill Country of Texas. The outdoor cats were all puffed out this morning at 33F. Our indoor cat's nickname in winter is "bunny pants'.

marble falls

(57,124 posts)
9. Have you ever seen a city shut down with a 1/4" of snow? And look deserted at 20F? ...
Sat Jan 13, 2024, 10:13 AM
Jan 2024

... In Ohio, where I am from (I refuse to do the Texas 'Pledge" to the state flag. The secret is the one star on it is Texas' Yelp rating), 20F is a good temp for me to work outdoors in. Cold enough not to have take a layer off and then put it back on. If there's still a little snow on the ice, it's stable enough to drive safely on at a bit slower speed. The snow isn't 'wet'.

I will always be an Ohioan. If I haven't had such great care from VA here in Texas these last 10 or so years, I'd back to N.E. Ohio as fast as I could get there.

2naSalit

(86,660 posts)
5. LOL!!
Sat Jan 13, 2024, 09:21 AM
Jan 2024

We don't have much for snow here but we have all the refrigerant you'll need to preserve those precious snowmen and women!

What snow we did get, what hasn't blown away is now a layer of concrete welded to the ground and sounds like stiff styrofoam that crackles when you walk or drive on it, it's loud.

Approaching -31F/-60F wind chill... and that's before it gets windy later.

It's headed your way so shape your snow now before it becomes permasnow that cannot be broken by a shovel!




MiHale

(9,751 posts)
7. Hey 2na...absolutely hate that snow...
Sat Jan 13, 2024, 09:31 AM
Jan 2024

Happened a couple winters ago really badly, shortened my driveway by about 20 feet took till the first part of March to finally get rid of the ‘snice’.
Get and stay warm I used to work outside in conditions like that when I was a young budding male idiot, fingers never been the same since.

2naSalit

(86,660 posts)
10. Yeah...
Sat Jan 13, 2024, 10:23 AM
Jan 2024

This is among the times that I am soooo thankful that I am retired and don't have to go anywhere, like a job. I have done my time out in this stuff and trying to operate a large machine in it too, my many years driving semis around the middle of the continent gave me plenty of experience! Some of my winterwear for work was ski bibs and such. I recall ice skating on 18 wheels more times than I care to.

I'm fine right here unless the power goes out, then I'd be heading down to my buddy's house until that got fixed. He's only 8 blocks away and I could trudge that far if I had to, I have a snowmobile suit and sheepskin boots and he's got a wood stove going at his place. There's an extra room if I need it so I am not too concerned.

Stay warm, don't work too hard!

MiHale

(9,751 posts)
11. Worked on reinforcement bar (re-bar) as a youngster...
Sat Jan 13, 2024, 10:56 AM
Jan 2024

Helping out a friend that started his own company furnishing re-bar to construction companies. All sizes from #3 to #14 bar. We cut it to length, bent it into specifications for use in buildings and roadwork. He started as a ‘job shop’ …when you got a job (contract) you went and fulfilled that job, waited till you got another. We had no building to work in just a field with the equipment…Quonset hut came later, then a huge pole barn. No heat..railway came through the building for unloading steel bars.
First winter working outside,1976, we got a blizzard a little like the one that just came through. First half of day clear machines of snow, after lunch work on the steel. The rest of that year we got snow everyday till about the middle of February. At least an inch a day. This was all before we unionized.

2naSalit

(86,660 posts)
12. Well, it just so happens...
Sat Jan 13, 2024, 11:16 AM
Jan 2024

That I remember that particular blizzard well. I was hauling a load of potatoes from Idaho to the Detroit produce market. An epic task once I descended from running north of the storm to the tail end of it as I approached Lake Michigan from South Dakota. Most of the Dakota/Minnesota/upper Wisconsin stretch was clear, very cold and blowing snow. I remember blasting through small drifts at every overpass. Once I got to Portage, Wisconsin the snow was deep and only a few trucks were heading the other way and I started seeing rigs laid over in the median and off the road and it was snowing pretty hard. The drivers heading out were warning me to just keep going without trying to exit beyond where I was because I would get stuck.

Sure enough, by the time I got to north end of Madison, there was a WSP cruiser in every turn around in the median, more trucks laid over than I could count, every exit and entrance ramp was packed with swamped vehicles with snow drifted up beyond the wheel wells and so much chatter on the CB that I just turned it off. I would have blasted all the way through but I had to get fuel and just barely made it to the pumps when I got to Illinois where they had had a chance to do some plowing. All the while it was windy and at least -30F. It was kind of like that all the way to Detroit, took an extra day to get there.

It was a run around the lakes I'll never forget.

MiHale

(9,751 posts)
16. Eastern Market in Detroit...
Sat Jan 13, 2024, 01:11 PM
Jan 2024

One of my favorite places when I was downstate. Delivered small farm produce with a couple neighbors on the weekends. I did it for helping and fun. They did it for subsistence.

Sounds like a very memorable run. It’s fun reminiscing about past exploits…god am I glad I’m retired with ‘nothing’ to do. Already got an indoor garden growing for winter salads, lettuce, radishes, tomatoes. Since we didn’t lose power the cannabis tent is getting ready for some more action.

2naSalit

(86,660 posts)
19. I don't remember...
Sat Jan 13, 2024, 02:40 PM
Jan 2024

the produce market ever being a pleasant event. It was one of the places I had to fight misogyny with every word I spoke. Many had a hard time seeing little 105# me hop up on the dock to do business. It was like I was some kind of blasphemous ogre or something. Glad I don't have to deal with all of that now.

And I am really thankful to have a place to live that has heat and amenities!

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