Snow Lessons

dminor — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 11:54:00 -0600

The first winter storm that hit Chicago after I moved here in 2000 was similar to the one that just hitus. Digging out of this one reminds me of my first experience with Chicago snow. I didn’t have these archived anymore, but, as Doug put it, “Yea for Larry’s mail retention policy and implementation”, a good friend retrieved and forwarded me some emails that I sent while I learned to cope with real snow. I will repost these messages in their entirety.

Date: December 11, 2000 12:37:11 PM CST Subject: Snow Lessons

being from “the South” we don’t know too much about how to deal with snow. Snow policy in the South seems to be: “at first sight of snow covering the ground: close all schools, board up businesses, send the idiots out into the roads, and stay inside and shiver by the fire until that afternoon when you peek out and there is absolutely no trace of snow anywhere.” Here in the North, I have had to learn some snow lessons. Here is part 1 in what may be a multipart series lasting up to 5 years entitled, “Snow Lessons I learned the hard way.”

Lesson #1: Don’t laugh at your neighbors when they are out shoveling snow while it is still snowing. They may in fact realize that it is almost effortless to push less than 2” of snow especially if it hasn’t been walked or driven on yet. They may also realize that while the idiot neighbor is trying to shovel 2” the next day after driving and walking on it and letting it turn to ice, they can sweep their dusting to 1/2” accumulation off in about 10 minutes and return to their hot chocolate.

Lesson #2: Even if you do figure out to shovel while it is still snowing, 3 inches is too much to clear at one time if you can help it. and when snow is falling at rate of 1-2” per hour, well you do the math.

Lesson #3: The amount of clothes you would wear to play in the snow and keep warm is possibly 3 times as much as you should wear to shovel snow. It may just well be true that wearing no clothing at all would keep you dryer than wearing lots of clothes and sweating [ed. this theory has not been tested by our author. Thank goodnes!].
That’s all for this edition. It has been about 15 minutes since I came in and I now have to return to the driveway to clear another 2”. We’re supposed to up to a foot today. Look for the next issue of “Snow Lessons I learned the hard way” where we take a tangential look at coveting our neighbor’s gas-powered snow blower.

Date: December 12, 2000 1:13:34 PM CST Subject: Snow Lessons “day 2”

Lesson #4 (The day after): Advil. Lots and lots of Advil.

Lesson #5: Don’t curse at your neighbors who use their snow blowers at 6:30 in the morning even though there is no light out yet—they could very well offer it to you later in the day after you have successfully hand shoveled 3/4 of the driveway. I’ll take what I can get.

At this point, I don’t think there is any way we won’t have snow on the ground for Christmas. Although, after shoveling 3 times in a 24 hour period with a total of at least a foot on the ground, I hope we don’t have to shovel much longer …

p.s. $21.70 from each person on this list would buy a good snow blower for us for Christmas. ;-)

Thankfully, in the 4 years since I learned those key points, I have acquired a snow blower. I’m not sure how much easier it is as I have to lean over a boy who feels the need to “help.” Yesterday, I had most of the boys in the neighborhood taking turns “helping” me and we ended up not only doing our drive and walk, but lots of other sidewalks and another driveway! Whew!

I need to get back out there do clear another 3-4 inches, but can’t quite bring myself to do it.

vamp: dm: Snow Lessons

Snow Lessons