<p>oldfort - honey, snow melts - eventually. Not to underestimate the stress involved in it’s removal. Perhaps you should just hand him a shovel?
most snowblowers just can’t deal with all this snow - esp after the plow goes down the street and lands big chunks at the end of the driveway.<br>
Our priorities are to get the cars out, clear the sidewalks, clean out the mailbox and then chip away at the snow banks. takes days… I think I will be picking up mail at the post office for a while.</p>
<p>I am at work, no need for marriage counselor. Before we went to bed he did give me my Valentine’s present early, he is a smart man. The snowblower did start up, I am sure my neighbors were thrilled to hear it 5:30 in the morning.</p>
<p>For the past 27 years that we’ve lived in our house outside of Phila, I’ve always shoveled our driveway and sidewalks. When the December storm hit with 20 inches of snow, did it again. Took me 2 1/2 hours and I suddenly came to the conclusion, at the tender age of 56, that there’s got to be a better way to spend my time. So I went shopping for a snow blower. Wanted a small 1 stage unit, even though we have a decent size driveway. Not a single small one to be found within a 15 mile radius, only larger 2 stage ones so I figure the heck with it. Then last week’s storm hit with 28 inches. After another 2 1/2 hours of shoveling, I was ready to get any snow blower I could find but there was not a single snow blower of any size to be found within a 25 mile radius. Then on Monday, I found an outdoor equipment store that was getting in a dozen 27 inch and larger 2 stage units Tuesday afternoon and I jumped on it, putting a deposit on a 27 inch 2 stage. Picked it up Tuesday evening. Tore through another 2 feet of snow and ice in 45 minutes on Wednesday night, thought I would be golden this morning to be out and about. Except that a tree across the street came down, blocking my driveway and the street. There’s a 100 yard un-plowed section of my street in front of my house and others due to the tree. Maybe I should have picked up a chain saw too!</p>
<p>I too decided that I didn’t need to spend another 2 hours shoveling my deck so there is a nice young man shoveling it for me right now. He can do in 45 minutes what took me 2 hours. He be several hundred dollars richer when he leaves the neighborhood today.</p>
<p>Sold the house and bought a condo. No more snow shoveling AND I don’t have rake leaves, mow the grass, sweep the deck, clean the garage, wash the outside of the windows, climb on the roof to empty the gutters, lug out the trash, or paint the house!!!</p>
<p>My priorities have definitely begun to change. No longer looking to retire into a multiple-bedroom single-family home. After watching snowfall for what seems like days on end in the Middle Atlantic states his season, and after fearfully watching the tree limb that looms over my driveway swaying in the snowfall last night (and pelting me in the face with big clumps of falling snow) while I was digging out the car, condos are beginning to look good to me too.</p>
<p>I’m ready for a studio apartment and a plastic plant. If my house is ever worth what I owe on it, I am out of here. I never want to spend another penny on decorating or furniture or landscaping. I am so over it all.</p>
<p>^^^When our children were young, we were so focused on finding the biggest lot we could afford so that the kids would have room to play. </p>
<p>We, too, are so over that now. The yard maintenance and pool care is costly and time consuming. We’ll probably never go condo, but zero lot line sounds pretty nice.</p>
<p>We don’t know where our final destination will be, but it will not be in the Midwest. Too much weather; most of it cold. As much as I think living in Madison is very cool it often is just very, very cold. Wilmington; Hilton Head; or Savannah all sound likes places for old bones. We saw a House Hunters show last night set in the Orlando suburbs and were astounded at the low prices for huge houses and lots although heavens knows why anyone with just one child needs 3,800 sq feet.</p>
<p>This is a bit off-thread but did anyone see the CBS Sunday Morning Show report last weekend about the Atlanta family that purposely down-sized from a $2 million home, bought a house in the same neighborhood for less than half the cost, and donated most of their gain to a charitable cause? Their two children are teenagers. It was the daughter who motivated the parents to make the decision to make a substantial commitment to charity.</p>
<p>I’m with all of you–I want a condo. Our S will disown us if we move out of the city, but he’s going to have to deal with it! And we don’t even live in a detached home, so we don’t have the yard work. We have an early 1900s city rowhouse with no yard. This week there is no place to put the snow, my postage stamp front garden is probably ruined by the weight of the snow, and we’re even a little anxious about flat roof, even though we replaced it two years ago.</p>
<p>@tsdad, don’t forget that in Orlando you may not have the snow but you still have hurricane season. And I hear that the tourists can be brutal too.</p>
<p>@MichaelNKat: what kind of snowblower did you purchase? We reached the same conclusion yesterday with total 38 inches (from 2 storms) on the ground. Our middle age backs can’t handle the snow. I feel like Quasimodo. Last night we had a Blizzard Party with our neighbors and, after a few glasses of wine, talked about a group purchase of a communal snowblower. Any recommendations?</p>
<p>This morning a nice man with a Bobcat showed up in our neighborhood like a gift from heaven. We were only too happy to pay him to dig out our driveway.</p>
<p>My husband spent 6 hours on Saturday plowing our driveway as well as a few of the neighbors…he doesn’t want to deal with the stone driveways…the plow is not on a truck , but a small one attached to the front of a four wheeler. It is hard work and rough on the body , but he doesn’t mid helping out… a few of our neighbors have heart problems…</p>
<p>Today , I drove out again around town and realized just how battered we have been in the last few weeks and months…so many down and damaged trees…it makes me feel bad to see.
Also ran into an aquaintance who has been without power since Saturday here in town…and we thought it was all further south in the county.
I really hope this is the last of the storms we see this winter !</p>
<p>TS–I’m with you–moving to a townouse with all those things done was a great move. Only hard part was finding parking for all my vehicles. And no midwest for retirement either as much as I loved Madison. Southeast for us too but not Florida. Either S. Virginia, NC or SC. We’ll probaly rent to start and see what we like the most. I like Va but wife is not sold. Too conservative.</p>
<p>My parents retired in VA and love it. They were already residents there for a few years and said there were tax benefits. NC, where they had planned to retire, taxes you on your “whole portfolio”. They chose Virginia Beach.</p>
<p>For all the Hilton Head buffs, my in-laws have a place there and the building maintenance is very costly because of the torrential rains that are common. Think about that before you chose to own a house or a condo.</p>
<p>12rmh18 - I picked up an Ariens 27" dual stage blower. More than I thought I really needed but was the smallest available. Once I got the hang of how to use it, I was able to maneuver it like a smaller unit and really took advantage of its capacity to move large quantities of snow. Conclusion to my earlier story - Township finally sent a crew to cut up and clear the tree that came down but then they left, with plows in sight, never telling the plows to come through the street. Nor did they clear a telephone line that had come down. Called the township, which was like talking to a wall. Ended up calling a buddy whose business has a backhoe and he came down our street clearing a hundred yard stretch. I told him to give me a “bill” so I can deduct it from my municipal property taxes.</p>
<p>MNK, thanks! My BIL in the Cleveland snowbelt also recommended the 2-stage Ariens. Not sure the height or width. His Ariens snow blower is 20+ yrs old and is still going strong. Sorry to hear about the hassle with the tree and plows. Our neighborhood organized an email/telephone campaign and spammed the DOT and local politicians until they sent a plow. I felt the same way about deducting a bill from my taxes when it took 4 days to get plowed from blizzard #1, just hours before blizzard #2 hit. </p>
<p>Yesterday our neighborhood woke up to find 3 guys with a Bobcat and a snow blower (10-HP 2-stage 32" clearance), like a gift from heaven. We hired them on the spot! It took the Bobcat over an hour to clear my neighbor’s driveway. But it was a godsend. A friend bragged that she had Michelle Obama’s arms, to which I replied that I now have Quasimodo’s back.</p>
And I hear that the tourists can be brutal too.</p>