How Much Snow?
by John Urban
How deep is the snow? Way deep.
Blowing Snow was the title of my blog post two weeks ago. Seemed we had a lot of white stuff way back then. At the time we were telling friends it was about “three Dachshunds deep.” A week later…maybe three Shelties deep. Now? I would say it’s getting close to three Labs deep.
Who knew it would take a series of snow storms for the greater-Boston area to adopt the metric system – we now measure accumulation in meters. How much snow? Meters. Plural. This winter I feel I’ve done more shoveling than the last five combined, and that’s just the snow I’ve raked off the roof. But rather than whine, I’d like to take this moment to recognize five innovations that have made this challenge a little more manageable.
1. The Snow Blower
This technology goes way back to the late 1920s. Growing-up, we stuck to the low-tech version known as the shovel. No longer. I splurged a decade or so ago and bought a used Ariens that was built to last because that’s what they were doing in 1971 when this came off the production line.
2. 4-wheel Drive Automobiles
Ford tough. Is that what those ads say? Doesn’t matter. It can be a Ford, Chevy, Toyota…just as long as it has 4-wheel drive, you’ll be ready to bust through a snow bank or two.
3. Roof Rakes
It’s a sad admission that we need to rake snow off our roofs, but when it gets deep these long handled rakes are a lot more attractive than getting up on a high perch with a snow shovel.
4. Sorel Sub-zero Boots
Snow plus frigid temps. That’s when you want to start buying clothing that comes from north of the border. Those folks up in the Canadian Provinces know how to keep their feet warm.
5. Ice-Damn Busters
How bad has it gotten around here? It’s come down to this: in an effort to ward off roof leaks caused by ice damns, we’re told to fill nylon stockings with ice melt, chuck them up on the roof, and put them in place – with the trusty roof rake – so that the ice melts a channel that lets water drain off the roof. Does it work? Stay tuned.
So there they are. Five innovations that make this Fargo-like winter a bit more tolerable. Yet, let me end with one more innovation, one that has become even more desirable in the last month.
I believe the advertisement is: “Got to get away?”
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