A tough snow removal day - March storm pics added

Yesterday the dooryard and driveway was rotten ice and easy to walk on. Today it was a skating rink. I tried to put last years cleats on my new  boots, but no way would they fit. So tomorrow I'll try to find some that will fit. Bummer! They are some nice cleats. I won't get rid of them though, they might work on future boots.

While out walking the old dog yesterday, wearing my excellent but inexpensive cleats ($6) that so far have fit on every pair of boots or shoes I've put them on, I was thinking about the shortcomings of the rubber, stretch on cleats. Mainly its the ease (or otherwise) of putting them on or off, especially as we get older. You don't want to go walking around the house in them or on any wood decking. So I'm thinking I need to come up with a good, inexpensive pair of cleats that would have easy, step-in / step-out binding to the boots, be adjustable and durable and like I said, inexpensive. Maybe the solution is a frame that the cheap rubber cleats stretch over - the cleats themselves wear out but the step in/out frame remains durable. Or maybe I'm just over thinking things and I just need to put a bench outside the door.

Thanks for the tips on loading the blower. We've been thinking about ramps for the dog - he's getting old and arthritic and jumping in and out of the truck isn't as easy as it used to be - I know how he feels! So maybe its a dual purpose ramp. I'm always noodling ways at getting things done by myself. A couple of reasons for that , first, I'm usually working alone and second, I hate asking for help. For example, I change over my snow tires myself - two sets of rims for each vehicle with summers on one and winters on the other. I store the wheels on racks against the wall in the garage up high out of the way of things. I've had 3 shoulder surgeries over the past 16 years and they alway seem to happen in the fall around tire change over time. Pulling the wheels down isn't a big deal, its a controlled drop but putting them back up was a problem. The first time I actually asked my wife for help - marrying a German woman has its benefits. In any case, I didn't want to have to do that again so I set about rigging up a block and tackle system. I found that the local outdoor shop was the best place to buy pulleys and such - high quality, man rated and actually cheaper than the cast crap at the home depot. Rope too. So I got everything ready to go but as usual problems arose. In this case the problem was that my ceiling was too low. Given the height that I needed to lift the wheels to get them into the racks and the physical space requirements of the combined upper and lower pulleys, I couldn't get the wheels high enough. It was fun trying, but in the end I just made sure I properly rehabbed my shoulders and went to the gym and lifted weights so I can still hoist those suckers overhead into the racks. Alone. Yup, they'll find me some day in the woods, pinned under a tree - my epitaph? He didn't need any help. Seriously, I'm not stupid about it but if I can do something alone I will. I'm pretty conscientious about when its a multi-person job.

Life in snow & ice country...

I wanted cleats NOW, so while I was at the feed store I looked at their cleats. They had a set of aggressive ones, more than I really wanted to spend, but I didn't want to wait 2 days for Amazon to deliver a pair. They work fine, despite being the stretch over type of attachment. I got the next larger size to make installation easier, since they go on when outside and come off before going indoors.

Then last night we got wet snow and sleet, maybe some rain. What was a skating rink yesterday, is a high traction area today.

I don't begrudge the cleats though. I'm not getting younger and I'm told that older folks don't heal as fast as when younger. I really don't like falling.

In a few more days at most we'll be wearing the cleats again to be able to walk around. Even the dogs don't like being out on that stuff. Our male wants to play, but he just can't on that surface. We go out and after they take themselves for a walk in the woods (good traction there) they come out and just stand around on the slick stuff.

But the sun is getting high in the sky and it's beginning to have good warmth to it. Sure, we can still get our worst weather of the winter when the warm, humid southern air fights with the arctic air, but typically only for one more month. Then it's wet season for a month or 2. Not monsoon weather, just heightened amounts of rain and damp. Our one day of summer is on the way!

On the subject of snow removal, PhilNH5 and ShadowsDad, how are you guys doing after the big Nor'Easter? Hopefully all is well and all you have to worry about is moving that crapload of the white stuff.

Man, we got another foot of the stuff yesterday/last night. I'm getting tired, I mean physically bone tired from all the shovelling. Oh to be young again

Yeah Marko, shoveling is the pits. I've been threatening to buy a small snowblower for the deck, but I'd rather just tear it down and put in a glassed in sunroom with summer kitchen/BBQ area attached to our home.

We were too far inland for more than a light sprinkling of rain. We did get the heavy winds that started on Friday afternoon and continued through the night and into the day on Saturday. Tonight they seem diminished. The storm is going out to sea last I heard. I expect even less wind tomorrow. The familiar areas on the coast took a beating due to the astronomical high tides combined with storm surge and pounding surf. Homes were lost, but they are right at the high tide line on a good day so loss of the home was only a matter of time.

I haven't heard from Phil.

I did check with my brother down in NJ where we heard part of the worst of the storm took place. He told me that they had wind where he was and some snow but by today it was all melted.

In our local weather, I still have the snow plow on the truck, but unless we get some pretty incredible cold air to refreeze the ground, or huge amounts of snow depth I'm pretty much done plowing snow. We can still get huge snow dumps, but I can't lower my plow w/o rolling up sod. It is one early "spring". This makes up for last years 2 incredible blizzards. I think we only had plowable snow 3x this winter and I never put the chains on the truck. We had a lot of snow storms but I just went round and round the driveway to pack it down and turn it into ice. Ice is good; an underlayer of ice means that I don't relocate the gravel outside the driveway. Most of that ice is gone at this time.

I wouldn't mind getting some warm rain to lower the snowbanks. I have things I want to do that require them to be lowered and I've been chomping at the bit for what seems months now. I go through this every year at this time. Cabin fever.

While out walking the old dog yesterday, wearing my excellent but inexpensive cleats ($6) ...

Would you share what brand and where you acquired them?

Thanks

"On the subject of snow removal, PhilNH5 and ShadowsDad, how are you guys doing after the big Nor'Easter? Hopefully all is well and all you have to worry about is moving that crapload of the white stuff."

Friday  we got rain. Lots of it. And high winds. Made the rain come down horizontally. Umbrellas were useless. They turned inside out plus the rain was coming at you sideways.
Lots of local flooding. It had a chance of changing to snow but never did for us.
The high winds persisted  Saturday but that was a blessing. Helped dry everything out.

Thanks for asking.

While out walking the old dog yesterday, wearing my excellent but inexpensive cleats ($6) ...

Would you share what brand and where you acquired them?

Thanks

I'm not sure I can be of much help as I no longer have the packaging and there are no markings indicating maker or even place made. I bought them in November at Princess Auto which is a Canadian chain that sells virtually everything sort of car and hardware related. Here's their website, I tried finding the things on the site but was unsuccessful.

https://www.princessauto.com/en/home

About them, who knew?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Auto

While out walking the old dog yesterday, wearing my excellent but inexpensive cleats ($6) ...

Would you share what brand and where you acquired them?

Thanks

I'm not sure I can be of much help as I no longer have the packaging and there are no markings indicating maker or even place made.  I bought them in November at Princess Auto which is a Canadian chain that sells virtually everything sort of car and hardware related.  Here's their website, I tried finding the things on the site but was unsuccessful.

https://www.princessauto.com/en/home

About them, who knew?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Auto

Sigh.  Thanks for the reply.  I'm hopeful there's an alternative to YakTrax.  i've walked out of one at least three times.  Unknowingly at that.  thanks to a kind neighbor who placed the orphan track on my porch...three times.

A tough snow removal day is on the way. It's potentially the biggest storm of the season for us. They are forecasting up to 18" in our area with heavy winds. This could be a blizzard. That after a few weeks of warmish weather so the ground is thawed, I plow snow so I won't be able to drop the plow. If I do I roll up the sod. What lousy timing on this storm, or the warm weather we had. I suppose it depends on ones perspective. I was sorta hoping we'd get a cold snap to freeze the thawed ground but that doesn't appear to be happening.