Monday, January 20, 2014

Winter Toys

My winter toys got another workout today, as we had a fresh 6-8" of snow yesterday (though the forecast was for 1cm.)!  The wind came up too, so in places it drifted, but not too badly, and it was really light fluffy snow, so it was easy to deal with.

 
The big toy is the snowblower of course.  Although most people here hire a local farmer to blow out their drive, a few of us stalwarts who enjoy the punishment of outdoor days in the winter do it ourselves.  It was certainly something I wanted to be able to do when we moved up here. And our driveway goes gently uphill, so I knew we had to be able to deal with the snow.  This was 3 weeks ago, after an 8" snowfall like today - pretty easy work.

I was determined that I wasn't going to do this by hand, nor by driving backwards.  So I got a lawn tractor large enough to have a front-mounted snowblower.  It's 44" wide and does a lot of snow at once, throwing it 30-40 feet away.  And I splurged on the cheap fabric and plastic 'cab' to keep the snow from blowing in my face.  Blowing snow on a windy day is one of the worst jobs around!

Then recently I finally gave in to the pains in my back after shovelling, and bought a small light-weight shovel-style blower to clean off our back deck, at a remarkably cheap price.  Once we put on a glass railing, I couldn't just push the snow off, and throwing it over is more than my aging body wants to deal with anymore.  This was after the big storm two weeks ago; you can see I'm cutting a path through snow 18" deep or so.  This was not easy work, even with the power shovel.

And it's another time you can get very snowy yourself, depending on which was the wind is blowing.  But so far I've used it three times and it's made a huge difference.

And this is my cheapest winter toy, the roof rake.  I bet some of you have never heard of a 'roof rake'!  I hadn't either before moving here.  I knew I might have to pull snow off the roof though, so I went in to the hardware store asking for a bracket I could attach to the end of a long pole to create such a thing.  His cheerful response was 'Oh, you want a roof rake'.

So here it is, just a short attachment with a 2 foot wide blade that screws on the end of a long extension pole.  I already had one of the long extendable poles for pruning trees; you can also use them for cleaning high windows and so on.  With this it's child's play to pull deep snow off the roof, as long as you don't pull it right down in your own face.  I got this out when the January thaw was forecast a week ago, pulling some of the snow off before it could become saturated and heavier with the rain we got.

So those are the winter toys we play with here after the snow storms. Check out things going on in the rest of the world at:
http://ourworldtuesdaymeme.blogspot.ca/

21 comments:

  1. With all your equipment, you are ready for the snow. Some neat toys! I like the roof rake..It would nice clean off the roof, so it does not drip on my head as I am walking in the door. I need to get my hubby the rake..Have a happy week, enjoy the snow.

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  2. Wow that roof rake is something else!! : ) I've never seen one of them.

    Ken had fun with his snow blower yesterday.

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  3. You are certainly prepared! I think I could learn to play in the snow if I had to!!

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  4. You have some very useful and practical winter toys! We just use the push scoop shovel, and we do have a roof rake as well.

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  5. WoW, that's a lot of snow but you are well prepared!! I like that you refer to them as "toys"!!

    We are suppose to get 6-9 inches tomorrow!!

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  6. You look like you're actually having fun! How lucky that your snow is so light and fluffy. Ours in northern NY has frozen to ice, so it's no longer much fun to play in.

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  7. We've talked about getting a roof rake but our roof it not as accessible from the ground so it would be a bit difficult. My hubby climbs up to the roof and scoops the snow very carefully off of it. Have fun out there!

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  8. A roof rake sounds like a brilliant invention. I've never heard of it either. At least now I can calm down as my friend in Michigan mentioned cleaning her roof of snow and I had this image of her climbing up to the roof.

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  9. We have a steel roof so our snow usually slides. We do have a roof rake someplace, and a snowblower but my brother has a Skidsteer with a huge snow blower on the front of it and blows the snow far away into the woods!! That power shovel looks like a handy shovel..cool. Stay warm! We are headed back into the deep freeze:)

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  10. I do believe that James Bond managed to do away with a villian with a snow blower in one of the films!

    Nice set of toys!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  11. How you like there, nothing like we have to put up with here. If it snows it stays on the roof or melts though I have a snow shovel for clearing the drive, it's not that long. Loooks like you can have fun there clearing snow

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  12. Lots of roof rakes here (but I don't own one- snow seems to blow off ours). I love our big blower, but I may be getting tired of woman-handling it around.

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  13. Ah, winter in Canada! I love snow, but you have a bit more than I could handle! I just bought Hubbers a snowblower, I don't want his aging body to succumb to a heart attack.

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  14. you're totally tooled up for winter. never used a roof rake. seems like a good idea when it gets deep.

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  15. I was just telling hubby the other day we need an electric shovel for our deck as well; maybe next year it will be a must. Happy we have the Tractor/blower with Cab as we have a lot to blow out some days here.

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  16. Hi There, Great methods of snow removal. I'm sure you HAVE to have things like that up there...Two inches of snow here today (nothing to you)--and SO pretty to us. BUT--going down to about 5 degrees (F) tonight... That's very cold for us. Gads.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  17. Nice work, at least you don't need to go far for your entertainment and work up an appetite as well. I really like your toys,. In our time in Canada it was just snow shovel.

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  18. It has certainly been a winter for testing your winter equipment, hasn't it? We just gave up shovelling paths by hand this year and splashed out on a snow blower. I used to help with shovelling, but since the snow blower qualifies in my eyes as a man's toy, I have been completely freed from this task. Yay! We also have a roof rake, and a tractor with a blade that my guy seems to, inexplicably, enjoy using. Sheri

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  19. When my parents lived in cottage country, Dad had a roof rake for that same purpose, to pull snow down from the top before it could cause problems.

    And though he had a snowblower for a long time, it finally gave out on him, and he hired a guy to come in with a plow after that.

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  20. ah yes back in Vt we had a roof rake and it comes in mighty handy. You have to watch out while doing it though, last year my friend was raking and the whole side of the roof-snow loosened up, swooped down on him and would have swept him off the high deck, if it had not had a strong railing ! It took him a while to dig himself out though...

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  21. Excellent set of toys for your snow-clearing duties! I particularly like your snow blower--nothing really beats automation. Here's to hoping you'll stay as prepared for weather like that for years to come!

    Kristina Cobb @ Dennys Lawn

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