This winter has been strange. We usually get about 100 inches (255 cm) of snow a year, but it usually is sprinkled throughout the winter season. This year, we had a huge storm in November, not much in December and not a lot in January until the last week of the month, and that seemed to unleash the snow monster. We've broken records for three-day totals and ten-day totals. The temperature has run a bit cooler than normal, too, so when the snow falls, it's been pretty fluffy. Bad for snowmen, good for shoveling where the back is concerned, and skiers are in ecstasy.
I feel that I should have consulted with someone who lives in Buffalo, New York, and get the skinny on snow management engineering because many of us are running out of places to put the snow when we wish to move it.
My plow man stopped by earlier in the week to push the snow farther back from my driveway. The top of the pile is easily over 12 feet (11 metres), and I realized with a bit of a start that I really needed to roof rake.
No, it's not some weird sporting event, they truly make rakes with extension handles that you can use to scrape the snow off the roof. The one I have has two long extensions, and while it's okay, it couldn't get the entire roof unless I were to do something crazy like stand on a ladder. Um, no. SFB told me that I could get extra extensions; that's what he does, and then I would be able to reach at least most of my roof and still keep myself firmly on the ground. He also casually mentioned that his wife couldn't really lift it when he had all five extensions on it, and I wondered if i'd be in the same boat. I don't think my upper body strength is appreciably greater than hers.
But, with another 2 feet of snow (61 cm) forecast, along with 60–70 mph (90–130? km/h) winds, I felt that I really needed to attend to the snow on the roof. Today was the day; i'd go to the local hardware store and see if they had something that would fit my roof rake. And just before I was going to head out, I looked at one of the local buy/sell/swap facebook groups where i'm a member, and saw a woman's post that her husband was looking for some extra shovelling or roof raking jobs. I sent her a message, and she responded right away. They were next town over, had to drive through my town to get home to theirs, and would stop en route. The husband, Kevin, was amiable, and glad to do it. We talked price, and he said he hadn't really done this for money before, wasn't sure what to charge.
I was probably too honest, but told him I had never paid anyone to do this and would have no idea of what the going rate would be. He figured it would take him about two hours, and I mentioned a figure that was a bit higher than I wanted to go, but I also felt the highest figure i'd go was really too low for the work involved. He agreed to the price right away, so I probably did say a generous price.
He went home for his tools and came back. No standing on the ground and doing the best he could for him. No sir, he hauled his industrial ladder out of his truck, got up on the roof as quick as a flash, and for the better part of two hours cleared away the snow. He shovelled all that fell onto the deck as a result, and we were both very happy.
I got the feeling after I paid him that he maybe really needed the money and recalled the times I was a waitress and on occasion, i'd get a really big tip, which I needed to make ends meet. It appears in my current season that I have a chance to pay it forward.
And frankly, the idea that my roof is ready for two more feet of snow to land on it and I didn't have to wear out my arms making that happen? Priceless.
I don't like snow; it brings everything to a standstill. We've been lucky so far this year, we had a tiny dusting which disappeared after one day. It's recently been beautiful, but this morning I can hear rain.
ReplyDeleteI like snow, and working from home means I don't have to be on the roads during the worst of it, but it also means that I don't get any snow days, unless like that early November storm, we have a power outage, and that's a pretty high price to pay when the temperatures are well below freezing.
DeleteI remember winters this bad back in the seventies. Snow piled higher than my head and only one lane into our two car garage. The thing I remember most: I was thirty or forty years younger.
ReplyDeleteJoanne, we had moved from New England to the south about a year before the '78 blizzard, and I was so sad. While my former neighbours were digging out and trying to figure out where to go with the snow, we had three feet of water on our front lawn.
DeleteI have nothing to complain about then with our tiny amount here in Southern Ontario. We have never had to clear off our roof YET, and I hope never to have to do it.
ReplyDeleteGill, there are some people here who roof rake after nearly every storm in order to avoid ice dams in the gutters. I roof rake a bit to get off what I can although I let it go too long this time and have huge, fat icicles, which can set me up for an ice dam.
DeleteBefore I got here full time, we had an ice dam form on the front side of the house, and that caused a leak inside. Now that i'm here full time, I figure some roof raking now and again a small price to pay to avoid those leaks.