I intended to write an article about the health benefits of benevolence but snow got in the way. Lots of it. If you’re reading this from Central New York State, it probably got in the way of a few things for you too.
As with every task, I have my favorite tools for the job of snow shoveling. I have my roof rake to bring down as much snow as I can so the icicles don’t imperil us at the back door and cause damage with ice dams to Natalie’s bedroom ceiling at the back of the house.
I have my “plow” shovel, the one I use to mostly push the snow in front of me. This works best on the sidewalk in front of the house that has a slight incline. However it’s a bear to stop periodically and lift away the snow that piles up. The shovel itself is quite heavy and when you add snow it’s a back buster.
Then there’s my 15 year old lightweight aluminum shovel, the real old-fashioned kind. That’s the one I use when I have to move snow out of the way and pushing it isn’t enough. It’s rather crumbled up after all these years when more than one student driver in the family and perhaps even an experienced Mommy bumped into it repeatedly in the garage .
Lastly, I have my regular old garden shovel. This is another heavy one but the blade is small enough to work on the four stairs at the back door, the same back door that gets icicles overhead which drip until the stairs turn round with ice and then I need a heavy sharp garden blade to break it all apart.
Determined to stay ahead of the snow buildup on the roof, I brought the roof rake with the 10 foot handle up to the second floor bedrooms, opened the windows and attempted to reach over my head and behind me to pull the snow from the roof down to the walkway below where I could do even more shoveling to get it out of the way.
I can only imagine how I looked from outside the house; this half woman half contortionist, only contortionists never look like it hurts. In the circus they have a strained and permanent smile on their face when they fold themselves in half backward and twist 180 degrees but still you think because they do this every day it can’t really be as uncomfortable as it looks. Me? It hurts way worse. I think I gave myself scoliosis.
Here’s to a Syracuse winter finally living up to its billing. Remember there are “transplants” who expect to get annihilated after telling people they’re moving to Syracuse and everyone asks if they are nuts. It’s an El Nino year so we’re supposed to get off easy, but as of this weekend we’ve reached our 40 inches of snow which is normal for this point in the season.
If this keeps up we’ll be the Comeback Kid of Upstate Cities and we’ll keep that Golden Snowball award in Syracuse right where it belongs. Never you mind we were in last place till this weekend with Buffalo, Rochester and even Albany ahead of us. We were the tortoise and they were the hare but the tortoise gets ‘em in the end with consistency and determination and in Central New York we shovel four inches of consistency and determination each morning in January and February as sure as we pour the coffee.
Christian owes a debt of gratitude to our former Boarder Jenna who returned for the weekend from her new job in Boston and got snowed in with us. The language that comes out of Jenna when she helps me shovel is much more pleasant than what comes out of Christian when I remind him allowance isn’t for nothing. Thank you Jenna!
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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Maureen. Your shoveling is a full time job. I have never done a roof. Arrived in Clearwater Beach on Fri. Walked the beach on Sat. Yesterday it was very cold (48) so I got the idea for a good old pot roast. We went to Sam’s Club and loaded up on goods. Put the pot roast together and played bridge for 3 hours. It’s going to stay cold all week. Just need to layer up on fleeces. It’s great to have dry walks and sunshine. Happy New Year to you and your family. Carol
Carol, this is no time to remind us you are on a beach in Florida. Hahaha. Just kidding. Please tell us what it’s like. We’ll live vicariously through your winter. Pot roast and fleece to top off a day in the Florida sunshine. That’s living! Thanks Carol.
Maureen-
No where in your inventory of “shovels” do you mention the word “snowthrower” or the like. Does this mean you are a purist? I’m guessing your driveway is not in the small category, so egads, please don’t tell us you do it all by shovel. I guess I’ve reached my “tipping point” as I now hate to shovel when there is a big snowfall, like recently. Short, light stuff is still good excerise and I don’t mind that, but I guess I’ve just shoveled one too many big snowfalls, and with those, I’m done!
Hint: please don’t lean too far out that window…it’s hard to type when your arms are in a cast. You’ll be forced to use voice recognition software. High tech after a high fall!
Don
I’m with Don – no snowthrower? And as for hanging out of open windows in the dead of winter, that’s an old habit of yours. However now you are saving your roof as opposed to stray kittens in a dormitory parking lot.
Don, me? A purist? I should say not. No, I only shovel the walks. The driveway I save for the big boys who drive pickup trucks with plows. A snow thrower would be expensive, selfish with space in the tight garage and I would probably lose a foot or a hand or something. And don’t worry about me hanging out of the windows to rake my roof. That would be easier and less risky to my spine that what I do.
Allison, HA. I forgot about the kitten at Miley! You’re hysterical. Note to readers: Allison was my college roommate for two years at Salve Regina. Thanks to new media, we get near-daily updates on each now other instead of once every ten years the old-fashioned way. Right Allison?
Moey,
Well, let me tell you about snow…During the Blizzard of ‘66 Berkeley Drive was snowbound for a solid week. the only thing that moved was an ambulance responding to the home of the Dean of Hendricks Chapel (across the street from us). It had to follow an earthmover that made its way up the wrong lane of Berkeley one scoopful at a time. Took forever. The first plow that came down Berkeley was from West Islip Long Island! Happy New Year!
Johnny
For your icy stairs and sidewalks go to your nearest home improvement store and pick up an ice pik. Looks like a garden hoe but no bend to it. Straight up and down blade. Saves lots of time and energy. Ice has no chance
Good Mornin Maureen, I have all the tools you mentioned here in The Swamp,plus a snowpblower for senior citizens and real big grand children to do roof work. I have a one eighth mile driveway ,that I did plow myself ,but , I can pay someone cheaper than I could maintain the plow. Central New York is so beautiful if you like pot roast, sking,and watching your Grand-sons shoveling the roof and watching golf on t.v.. I am still here so things are just fine in The Swamp this time of the year.
The Blizzard of ‘66 capped ‘em all, in my opinion. I lived in the Salt Springs section of Syracuse. Days after the snow stopped, a Long Island snowthrower started down the street. He made it to right in front of our house, and as I watched, what seemed like a block of ice shot up through the chute and broke the top right off it. I struggled out to talk to the driver. He said that was it, he was headed back to L.I. He backed up and left. Days later, a county V-plow appeared. He rammed the snow a few feet at a time. I had never seen a truck that big in the city, but that one got us out. I lost a week of work. A plow came to do my driveway, with no success, so the guy rounded up a crew and they cleared the whole deal using coal shovels. All we ever heard was how bad it was in Oswego, and how Syracuse hijacked plows needed up there. Hmph !!!! (-:
Johnny I still love your stories! Note to Readers: John was the Chief Photojournalist and Editor at WTVH-TV for many years. He shared his thoughts about the fate of all the videotape that had been stored at TV 5 when the newsroom ceased operations last March. On the home page of the blog, scroll down to the search bar and type “The Reluctant Historians” to read John’s guest blog. And thanks again John! Love to the family. M.
Thanks for the suggestion Ken. Hopefully I’ll have better luck than with a regular axe that cut off a chunk of the limestone steps. Talk about killing a fly with a sledgehammer.
Denny, yes, I like your ingredients of a wonderful Central New York winter. Thanks once again. Happy to know all is well in The Swamp.
Fred, what a great story! I’m sure that Long Island plow guy never came back here. We fixed him! Funny, I never heard how Oswego lost all the plows to us here in Syracuse. Of course, I wasn’t here back then. I arrived in 1980. My big Blizzard was the New England storm of ‘78 that shut down the state of Rhode Island and canceled our college classes for nearly a week as you lost a week of work here. The Blizzard of ‘66 is legend around here, along with the Labor Day Storm in ‘98. Lots of memories. Thanks for sharing.
Maureen, not all the equipment was hijacked, just some, right as they were coming off the Thruway. Re the Labor Day Storm, I have a great true story about that one which I’ll save for next September. ‘Tis quite a tale. Happy New Year, btw. This is the best blog I know.. I check it daily. Great topics, great writing. I advise not leaning out the window, snow or no snow. I did just what you did, and I lost my grip and the snow rake fell two stories and fortunately hit nobody. Only a miracle saved me from falling. I found strength I have never summoned since, and wrenched myself up and back into the room. I don’t wanna think about it. ‘Twas a miracle.
Maureen, love the blog stories from the Blizzard of 66. Went to Binghamton with husband and 2 young boys to visit sick parents for an overnight on a Saturday. We were there until Wed. and I’m sure we were the first car to come up Rt. 11 to Syr. Driving through Tully was like a tunnel and also the Onondaga lake parkway. Got home to Bayberry in Liverpool and we had about 12 ft. of snow at bottom of drive. However grass was showing along the house in back. Winds had cleared an entrance. Kids were jumping off ranch roof on to piles of snow. Update, it’s freezing cold on the gulf so today we saw the very funny movie “It’s Complicated”. I could have written a good part of the story. Hope to be walking on the beach tomorrow but it ’s suppose to stay very cold until next week. My grandson has e mailed and so excited about the snow. However he has basketball practice Fri. night and can’t do ski club. Now if I were home, I would drive them to Lab on Sat. Skiing and basketball kept me going for many years during Syracuse winters. C
Moey,
I can confirm Fred’s story about the hijacked plows. It sems that all these plows were coming up the thruway,to exit at Thompson Road. Syracuse police cars were sent to meet them and “escort” them to where they were supposed to go. They were a few days late getting to Oswego.
Johnny
Fred what a tremendous compliment about the blog. As teens write, thank you SO, SO much. And you’re a contorted roof raker too? Welcome! How’s your spine? Mine is still semi-twisted like a piece of red licorice. Better straighten up. We’ve got big snows coming the weekend again. Arghhhh…. Thank you for reading the blog and sharing in the comments. It gets me through the day. That, and the coffee. M.
Carol. WARNING. I repeat. WARNING. Do not remind us you are on a beach in Florida, even in a cold snap. HA just kidding. Please write in often so we can channel visions of sand, surf, oranges –frozen and otherwise– palm trees. So happy you are enjoying yourself and we’re very flattered you’re checking in on the snowy north! Yup. It snowed every day here since New Year, officially. Fulton was mentioned on ABC news tonight with Diane Sawyer!
You liked It’s Complicated? I want to know more. Perhaps I should see it and vow to meet you to discuss it and other ‘things’ over coffee one day when you’re back. I’d enjoy meeting you. Have fun down there. We’ll hold down the fort up here, once we dig it out.
Johnny that is hilarious. How could you and I work together for 20 years without me knowing that about the Great Blizzard! More importantly, how is your memory holding up better than mine when you’re more “mature” shall we say? Great story of the police escorting the plows to Syracuse, for the public benefit I’m sure. xo