Thursday, February 11, 2010

Let's Try this One More TIme...

It's a beautiful day here at the Aerie. The temperature has soared into the mid 30s as bright sunshine streams down through a cloudless sky. All the while AccuHunch and Weather.com are telling me the high will be 32 (been there, done that) and the sky is mostly cloudy (huh?).

I spent some time this morning with Mr.Craftsman Snow Blower clearing the driveway. I was surprised to see there was barely enough snow to warrant the use of the blower. I'd estimate it was just 4 inches deep out there except where it blew off the roof. After watching it snow all day long yesterday I thought sure we had more than that on the ground. Perhaps the fact that the snow was extremely fine and almost granular allowed it to settle more than normal.

Anyway, I did get the stuff cleared using the blower. I'm glad I got it done early, too. There was not a breeze blowing while I worked which meant I didn't have to worry about the stuff blowing back on me as I went about my clearing. The snow went almost exactly where I wanted it to with the exception of when the skids on the front of the blower hooked a chunk of gravel and suddenly jerked the machine one way or the other.

I called my buddy Joe in New Jersey. He was out from around 5:30 AM until 11 using his snow blower to clear his driveway, his mother's sidewalks (corner lot) and my mother-in-law's driveway and sidewalk (one block from his Mom's). He said he was pooped from having to move the machine around and muscle it through some of the deep snow (12-18 inches of it).

He and I will make one more attempt to go to the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show in Harrisburg tomorrow. The weather looks good and barring a freak snowstorm we should be okay. He wants to book a Quebec fishing trip for himself and one of his sons. I'd go fishing with him but Terry and I have already made plans to head to Alaska this summer...all summer. Still, it will be nice to touch base with the outfitter about going fishing in 2011.

The Harrisburg venue is immense and could easily be the largest outdoor show on the east coast. We'll get there around 10 to 10:30 AM and probably won't get out until late in the afternoon. I'm going to make sure I have comfortable walking shoes on 'cause it looks like there are miles of aisles to walk.

1 comment:

Rev. Paul said...

Regarding the settling snow: our first winter in Anchorage, there was 115" of snow, with no mid-winter thaws. The ground cover never was more than about 2.5' deep - as the snow fell, it would just keep packing down & getting more dense.

The downside is that the last of the snow didn't melt until late May.

I hope you get to your show tomorrow.