Snow Plowing & Ice Management

[TEG Project Manager]

Let’s talk about something many people deal with every winter, especially in snowy places. Snow plowing and ice management. It might not sound glamorous, but if you’ve ever tried to walk on an icy sidewalk or shovel a heavy pile of snow, you know it can turn into a whole adventure pretty fast.

Snow has a funny way of showing up overnight and acting like it owns the place. One minute your driveway is clear. The next morning it looks like someone dumped a giant bag of powdered sugar all over everything. That is where plowing and ice control come in.

Maybe you use a shovel. Maybe you have a snow blower. Or maybe you rely on a trusty plow truck that rumbles down the street while you’re still in your pajamas. Either way, clearing snow is a bit like resetting your outdoor world so life can go on. When you remove the snow, everything feels safer, calmer, and a lot less slippery.

Ice is the real troublemaker though. It hides under the snow or forms slick little patches that make you feel like you stepped onto a surprise skating rink. Throwing down salt or sand can help give you traction. Some people even use pet safe ice melt if they have furry friends running around.

And of course, everyone has their own winter routine. Some folks like to get outside early and clear everything before sunrise. Others wait until the sun helps soften things up. Some people swear by the metal shovel. Others prefer the wide plastic one. We all have our tricks.

So let’s talk about it.

How do you manage snow and ice where you live?
Do you have any helpful tips that make winter chores easier?
What tools do you rely on most when everything freezes over?

Share your experiences, your frustrations, and any clever hacks you’ve learned along the way. Winter may be chilly, but we can warm things up with a good conversation.

 

[digitS']

The most recent 2 Winters have been mild. Over the last few days I have been looking back at weather history and records. They are a little disturbing . We never quite know what we are getting into.

I thought that I might be able to come up with a cute little rule of thumb — that whenever I move, the first Winter will be terrible. Nah. But, experience does help with understanding how to deal with events even those unexpected.

i have a snowblower but it is electric and being tied to an outlet with a cable is problematic. It can do a quick and easy job on the front sidewalk and path to the door but that is an easier task even with a shovel than elsewhere. The elsewhere is the long, uphill route from the garage to that front yard sidewalk. It's nearly all a lawngrass path.

I try, with reasonable success, to avoid damage to the lawn. Shoveling works best in that regard. The problem, the shovel isn't as wide as the garbage cans. The blower will cover that width. The problem, it can tear up the grass. Either is likely to leave a little snow so later in the season, the grass is protected by a frosty crust.

I can't leave a crust on the sidewalk and the walkway to the front door and rocksalt helps with that and makes things safer for deliveries and for the school kids. Anyway, I remain shovel oriented and use both a metal one and plastic. The plastic is so much lighter and the metal is so much better at scraping concrete. Oh yeah, and I need a parking space on the asphalt roadway . And when the snow plow passes, there ain't no way that my snow blower is gonna be able to move those berms.

Steve ugg!