It came at last. It was originally predicted a couple days ago, but didn’t materialize, and suddenly last evening I looked at the Weather Channel page, and there it was—heavy, wet snow tonight, mixed with sleet.
And this morning, as I ungaraged Mrs. Hermanson and shifted her into four-wheel-drive, I knew the couple inches that had fallen overnight were already too heavy for my snow blower to handle. And that was before an expected day of additional snow and sleet, plus mild temperatures.
Tonight we had Sno-Cone snow, heavy as a shovelful of wet concrete. I attacked it with a push shovel, with the assistance of my neighbor (we share the driveway). She’s a couple decades younger than me. Eventually she gave it up, but she let me borrow her ergonomic snow shovel (example below).
Picture credit: Scott Catron.
I’ve always been suspicious of ergonomic snow shovels. New-fangled new age gimcracks. Hippy implements. No respect for tradition.
I’m a believer now. They reduce the perceived labor about 50%. Continue reading I am Shackleton. Or Amundson. Somebody.