Diary of a reformed snow shoveller.

[dwfreck]

Blame hensylee for this one, please save all replies until January 10...

Unless it really stinks, then feel free to stop me before that time...

 

[dwfreck]

December 12.

I love snow. I'm one of those lunes known as "downhill skiers". I also get really tired of soggy, grey, half-dead lawns. The local weathermen forecast the first real snow of the season (one that will stick to the ground) for tomorrow evening. The salt trucks are already out "pre-treating" the roads. Remebering my not-so-distant lower back problems, my existing aortic valve defects, and keeping in mind my upcoming open heart surgery, I decide that a snowthrower would be a great alternative to my trusty old snow shovels. I schedule a visit to the local lawn and garden store...

 

[dwfreck]

December 13.

Visited West Chester Lawn & Garden this afternoon. I was dopping my lawn mower off for its winter tune-up anyway, so we stopped into the showroom to look over their snowblowers. We settled on a Toro CCR 2450 GTS with electric starter. Big enough to handle the occasional foot-deep dumpings we get, but small enought to be mageable for my wife (and, for that matter, my mother). Wanted a four-cycle engine, but they were only available with the giant, self-propelled, two-stage models. This isn't Buffalo, so...

 

[catwoman]

Does it mulch snow?

 

[dwfreck]

December 14.

For once the weathermen were right. Two inches of snow overnight, with a light dusting still coming down at first light. Waited until 8:00 am (it is Sunday, after all), to go out and fire up the new snowthrower. Finished my 30-foot long, 2-car driveway, and 10 feet of front walk in 30 minutes flat. Not one twinge from my back, nor one short breath, nor one hint of pain in my chest. The neighbors probably think I'm an idiot, but at least I'm not going to be out scraping my driveway where our cars packed the snow down into ice. The "snowplow" did come by the house while I was out and pushed an inch or two of slush into the gutter at the end of the drive.

 

[dwfreck]

December 15.

Today's low temperature was in the upper forties, with rain most of the day, so all of the snow was gone by noon, but I still have a feeling of deep satisfaction from having run a smog-belching, 2-cycle engine for 30 minutes at 8:00 am on a Sunday. I'm not sure about the neighbors or the environment, and there's a ringing in my ears...

 

[dwfreck]

December 16 & 17.

It's back to the soggy, grey, half-dead lawn climate again, but the weathermen are again predicting 1-3 inches of the lovely white stuff. Can't wait to fire up that motor again...

 

[dwfreck]

December 18.

"The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for the tri-state area..." Hogwash. There's less than a half an inch of snow on the ground and most of that is alreay melting on the streets because the salt trucks were out in force again last night, getting a jump on using up this years supply of road treatment. It has "snowed" all day, but only in the sense that small white pellets are falling out of the sky. The instant they hit the ground they melt, so it's still soggy, grey, half-dead lawn climate. Predicted freezing temperatures tonight will probably mean a sheet of ice on the driveway, so I'll be out with the hand-spreader and the potassium chloride...

 

[mamsram]

Dale,

My wife has to shovel the snow since the a.r. op. and after the 2nd storm told me that I need to buy a snow blower/thrower?? Is there a difference? We plow the drivway but the walkways and small other areas need to be cleared.
That looks like a good one but doesn't 2 cycle mean you mix the oil and gas? I didn't know they made them for anything but power-saws and outboards.

She really worked hard shoveling and I feel so guilty staying inside.

 

[hensylee]

Mam, you sound like Dale's neighbor............

Reading with bated breath.........the rest of the story.

 

[dwfreck]

Mamsram,

I don't think there is really a difference between a snow "blower" and a snow "thrower". I suspect it's either a difference in marketing terms, or a common mispronunciation, that has brought us "snowblower". If you look at how these machines work, you may find that "thrower" is more accurate because they use mechanical pieces to move the snow, as oppsed to using air to move it.

As for 2-cycle, yes that means you get to mix gas and oil; and not just any oil, but special 2-cycle-engine oil (the difference has to do with the oil's "weight" rating). I also thought they only made them for smaller engines, but I haven't looked under the cowling to see how big my engine actually is. I do know that several manufacturers still make 2-cycle engines for lawn mowers, so perhaps they're not as uncommon as you and I think. Most of Toro's smaller throwers are 2-cycle; I don't know about other brand's lines, becasue I didn't research them as much.

There are also electric snowthrowers (sometimes called "electric snowshovels"), but they tend to have small clearing widths and low maximum depths, and you've got to mess with an extension cord. However, that may be all you need to clear your walkways and small areas. They're generally less expensive than a gas-powered thrower.

I picked my model for its middle-of-the-range clearing width and maximum depth and upper-middle-of-the-range horsepower, because I needed to clear my driveway AND my walkway, and wanted something that could handle the typical soggy-wet snow that falls in Cincinnati. Of course, being a power-tool hound, every purchase I make is a compromise between cost and MORE POWER. See my "My new favorite power tool is..." thread for a picture of my favorite "snowthrower"...

 

[dwfreck]

Marsha,

Yes, actually, it kind of does "mulch" the snow

It does look like an old-fashioned reel mower on steroids, doesn't it?

 

[mamsram]

awright!

awright!

That picture brought me ear to ear. I'll settle for one the size of the other picture--toro

 

[ALCapshaw2]

dwfreck wrote:

"I'm not sure about the neighbors or the environment, and there's a ringing in my ears..."

EARPLUGS are the answer. Two little rubber things connected by a small plastic cord. That's what I use when I mow my 2 acres.

OR, you could buy some of those head crushing
'headphone' style noise protection devices.

'AL'

 

[labguides]

snow machine

snow machine

The first time our son saw a snow blower, he said, "Mom, look. Grandpa is mowing the snow." That from a young boy who lives in southern CA and was seeing snow for the first time.

 

[hensylee]

First time I saw snow I was 30. It started about 1 a.m., but was really sleet - who knew. Some snow mixed in, I guess. I woke my children, dragged them to the window to make them look. Called hubby who was on duty that night and told him. He, as well as the children, was not impressed. But I was. Probably the last time snow impressed me.

 

[epstns]

Dale - Which movie was it where somebody said "I love the smell of a 2-stroke in the morning. . . ?" Never mind -- unless you've spent time behind one of these babies, you wouldn't know what I mean. We have a non-standard Chicago lot with a side driveway that is about 120 feet long. I use a 2-stroke Toro to clear it, but if I clear snow on a work morning, I have to go back in and shower and change clothes, otherwise I smell like the distinctive 2-stroke exhaust that they direct from the engines on these machines right onto the operator. Go figure. . .

 

[catwoman]

Better snow than ice!

Better snow than ice!

Gee, most of us in Texas would rather have to sweep snow off our driveways than to scrape ice to get to work.

When I was a child, we had quite a few "snowstorms" in Dallas. My dad, who grew up in Cranston RI, made "igloos" for my sister and me. Guess with global warming, we don't have as much of the white stuff now.

What we do get is sleet and ice.

I've driven in New England & Albany NY during nor'easters. Would take one of those on anytime than our ice down here. Can't drive uphill out of Aledo to the interstate to work. Since my job entails editing via internet, I'm able to work from home until roads melt enough for safe travel. Newspapers do **not** give "snow days"; you get to work or work from home no matter. If you don't, it costs you a vacation day.
If forecast calls for really nasty weather, my newspaper offers to put employees up at downtown hotels. I've spent a couple of nights downtown, once at a 5-star hotel. Bad weather bypassed us. Late last February, I stayed downtown again. This time we **did** get bad weather.

Do companies that make snow blowers/throwers make them for ice?

 

[dwfreck]

December 19.

Cold temps overnight, as predicted, but my driveway was pretty dry (thank you Toro), so no ice melt needed. On the other hand, the public streets were wet becasue of the salt trucks' efforts yesterday, so we had patchy ice here and there. On top of that we got what I like to call "idiot snow" early this morning. "Idiot snow" is a light dusting (less than 1/4 inch) over ice or patchy ice; so-called because it separates local drivers into two groups: those who can drive in slippery conditions and everyone else, the "idiots". The radio reported that salt crews were working all night and focusing on interstate highways and major thoroughfares so they would be clear by morning rush hour. I think they're lying, becasue there were hundreds of accidents all over town at rush hour (morning and evening). The 1/4 inch that settled on my driveway overnight had already started to melt down a bit by the time I left for work; we've had light snow showers all day, but no significant accumulation until the sun went down. Had to cancel a planned weekend truck rental and excursion to Cleveland to pick up organ pipes for our new church organ because my travelling companions (who had the directions) decided the weather looked too dicey. Probably for the better. I'll have time to work on financial matters and make lasagna. Looking forward to some real accumulation overnight so I can fire up the noisemaker. I'm trying to come up with a name for the snowthrower. So far I'm leaning toward "Joan Rivers" - she's loud, obnoxious, has a big mouth, and can fling s*** 30 feet.

 

[dwfreck]

December 20 & 21.

The "snowstorms" that cancelled my trip to Cleveland ended with a whimper, leaving less than 1/4 of an inch of accumulation to clean up Saturday morning. Fired Joan up anyway because we had driven over some of the snow on the driveway, and I needed to clear the loose stuff so the packed stuff would melt, before my mother arrived to pick up the kids (don't want her to slip and break anything). And boy did it melt! Temps in the upper 30s to lower 40s, clear skies, and bright sunshine made for a nice weekend to be outdoors, but quickly melted most of the snow. Predictions for Monday call for grey, soggy, rain-possibly-turning-to-snow-by-nightfall, high in the upper 40s, low in mid 30s. I think they're lying just to give us the false hope of a white Christmas.