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What's your Weather like today

I have a smaller electric snowblower, but with care (and frequent passes) I can generally manage large snows. In some cases the snow is more dry, fluffy, and light and a red plastic scoop shovel can be a more effective tool.

It is fairly light, has a very sturdy wooden shaft as a plastic "D" handle and I use it for so many outdoor tasks I'm not sure how I'd do without it. Scooping, tamping leaves down into barrels, and it makes a great "stand up dustpan" for any outdoor cleanup task. Even moving water if need be.
Shovel.jpg
The blade edge is now gnarly from wear, there are duct-taped breaks below where the shaft mounts to the blade from levering with it once it aged and got more brittle. Yet it keeps on going.

I even bought a new one to replace it maybe 18 months ago, but I still haven't used the new one once. I hope when that time comes it proves as faithful as the old bugger has been.

It started life as a "trunk snow shovel" well over 20 years ago, maybe 25. Anyone who knew me really well might think it has become part of my identity. :ROFLMAO: Funny how small aspects of life can go.

Sadly this weekend snow (now predicted to mainly fall tomorrow afternoon and evening) will be on the wet side. So heavier, and more likely to clog up the blower as I go. I sprayed another coat of silicone lube, but that only goes so far under heavy use, so I have my hard rubber jabber/poker tool for coring out icy accumulation in the blower.

I'm about as ready as I'll get, so I just take it as it comes. We might even be spared the heaviest of it this time around.

If it doesn't fall too wet and heavy I can also make good use of the small electric leaf blower I have now. It can help clear lighter snow in thin layers of an inch or two quite rapidly.
 
Jacob Petersheim said:
Just below freezing here all day. Morning started out sunny and I got in the jalopy and made a grocery run ahead of the snow event coming this weekend. By the time I came out and loaded the car it was already clouding up for the drive home.

Stopped at the pharmacy, got everything inside. Got my last load of leaves to the curb. Still no real new snow accumulation by after dark. Went out and got a few last things settled out there, but decided to still hold off on turning on my Christmas lights. About the only thing left is to fill up the tank on the car, but I'm just below half so I don't feel any panic there. Snow won't get here in earnest until late tomorrow afternoon, so I still have plenty of opportunity to gas up if I decide to push ahead on that.

Latest projections are showing 9 to 10 inches for me this weekend.
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Yup, we have similar predictions here. It has not started yet.
Have gas and most needed items. Could pick up some more clumping cat litter and a salt block if the weather holds.
 
Mary Stetler said:
We used that on the horses sometimes but it is oily.
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It is oily, and maybe not so good to use on animals. But for me, it smelled good, and I think the bugs didn’t like either the fragrance or the oil, and it didn’t take much. Plus, it makes my skin nice and soft, so an extra benefit.
 
Yvonne Smith said:
It is oily, and maybe not so good to use on animals. But for me, it smelled good, and I think the bugs didn’t like either the fragrance or the oil, and it didn’t take much. Plus, it makes my skin nice and soft, so an extra benefit.
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In the bush, we had little bugs that could fit through a screen, so we put Skin So Soft on the screen and the bugs stayed away from it.
 
Decided to nap, in case I had a heavy night ahead of attacking snowfall a couple inches at a time for multiple passes.

6 PM now though, and we have only minimal snow on the ground with none falling right now. Very fine particles/flakes, and they stuck to the ground. Maybe 1/4 inch deep but solid cover now, leaf blower can't really shift that layer much.

A lot more than that still projected to be arriving soon. Maybe this will be more "loose" and fluffy with larger flakes as conditions change (now after dark). Should be easy stuff to clear off.

To my West there is already a whole lot more on the ground and still falling. Later on we're expecting thundersnow. The conditions where we get lighting and thunder during snowfall isn't rare, but not common either. It can feel pretty eerie.
 
Jacob Petersheim said:
Decided to nap, in case I had a heavy night ahead of attacking snowfall a couple inches at a time for multiple passes.

6 PM now though, and we have only minimal snow on the ground with none falling right now. Very fine particles/flakes, and they stuck to the ground. Maybe 1/4 inch deep but solid cover now, leaf blower can't really shift that layer much.

A lot more than that still projected to be arriving soon. Maybe this will be more "loose" and fluffy with larger flakes as conditions change (now after dark). Should be easy stuff to clear off.

To my West there is already a whole lot more on the ground and still falling. Later on we're expecting thundersnow. The conditions where we get lighting and thunder during snowfall isn't rare, but not common either. It can feel pretty eerie.
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hoping that you don’t have to stay up all night and try to keep the driveway cleared, for sure ! Back when I lived in Idaho, and we had these large snowstorms, I would drive my Mazda pickup up and down the driveway every hour or so , to try and keep the drive cleared enough for me to get out to go to work the next day.
Sometimes, it still got to deep for just driving through it, and i would end up parking the truck right out at the end of the drive, so that I could get out and go to work the next morning. If they had plowed the road, then i had to shovel pout the berm to get the truck out.
I had 4 studded snow tires on the truck and weight over the back axle to help out, since the Mazda was only a 2 wheel drive. As long as I was careful, it did pretty good in the snow.
I miss that little truck, but not having to shovel all that snow !
 
I shouldn't need to get out for several days at least, but there are always emergencies I suppose, and I'm supposed to get some blood tests before a scan can be scheduled.

Aside from that I need to clear the sidewalk to avoid a ticket and keep the mailbox clear if I want delivery.

So no real panic here. A couple of passes tonight at the most, then clear the rest tomorrow. And I just went out and we only got maybe another half-inch. This whole event may be a nothingburger for me, though to the West they are getting far more.
 
I am looking at your radar, and it looks like all of Michigan is covered with snow. Hoping most of it misses you, Jacob, and you do not have to do a lot of snow clearing in the morning.

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Went out about 10:30 and ran the snowblower through maybe 3 inches of snow, perhaps closer to 2 1/2. I'm not even sure I expect to see much more out of this system here at home, so I lucked out pretty well. I think I have my pattern optimized again this season. Every year I seem to forget. :ROFLMAO:

No heavy wind, which changes the pattern of course. And that meant I didn't need layered pants even at 23F. Last year the snowblower's floodlight was acting up, but it was fine when I looked into fixing it a week ago and it didn't poop out tonight.

So a decent start on the season. I even turned on the Christmas light string since I see a house up the block has theirs on now. I just need to remember to clean off the solar panel again tomorrow morning in case we get a little sunlight.
 
Well, about 4 more sloppy inches cleared. Warmed a little, so wetter snow. Now I dread the plows coming by and burying the base of the driveway. Snowblowers don't work on slushbergs.

Still something snow-misting down at 10:30 this morning, not sure much will accumulate.

Different snows have different acoustic properties. Damp but not solid-packed and thick like we have produces an effect almost like hearing through a headset as neighbors call back and forth. Almost perfect echo canceling.
 
Wellllll they said we were going to get the storm Jacob was going to get. Predicted 12 to 15 inches. Made arrangements with my daughter for the critters because it takes a long time for hubby to clear our driveway. Somehow he got old. I called my plow guy that does the farm snow and he said he sold his plow truck:eek: But he arranged for his son to do his and my farm.:D
He did pretty well considering he didn't know where the farm driveway was, all of the time.
Turns out we only got about 6 inches.
Gotta keep scaring everybody.
 
Mary Stetler said:
Wellllll they said we were going to get the storm Jacob was going to get. Predicted 12 to 15 inches. Made arrangements with my daughter for the critters because it takes a long time for hubby to clear our driveway. Somehow he got old. I called my plow guy that does the farm snow and he said he sold his plow truck:eek: But he arranged for his son to do his and my farm.:D
He did pretty well considering he didn't know where the farm driveway was, all of the time.
Turns out we only got about 6 inches.
Gotta keep scaring everybody.
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As they rely more and more on computer models, the forecasts get less and less accurate.
 
Static webcams and storm chasers have been giving us quite a view of conditions 90 miles to my West. Lake effect is dropping large flakes at over 2 inches/hour right along the coast since winds are light.

Not much traffic, they know snow there so people aren't dumb. Pretty to watch through the dashcams but I'm glad our odds f getting part of it are low.

We've crept up to 31F here but that won't last long now. We got to about 8F last night.
 
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