Inspired by a few things this past week, I bring you my point of view on snow shoveling. There are many, maybe hundreds, of tools you could use to clear snow. As hard as I try though I still find myself believing under many circumstances nothing works as good as a good old snow shovel and a broom.
On Twitter, I seen a post from someone from Eastern Canada asking what the deal is with everyone using leaf blowers to clear snow. I guess this is not as common of a practice to the extent it is here. On this day in particular the snow was extremely wet and not very suitable for using a leaf blower, but a traditional snow blower would have been overkill due to the light amount of fallen snow. Now I use leaf blowers too but with all the wet snow flying around, the operator tends to get covered in snow and then wet eventually. In this case I would grab my shovels and get the job done, often more quickly then using the blower and many customers have commented on how their driveway looks great and yet they did not even hear me on the property.
Another thing came to mind, in the past few weeks I have picked up customers that were fed up with who they had previously hired to take care of their snow removal. Upon arrival I found ice inches thick and an extreme hazard to walk on. I had my work cut out at first cleaning up these neglected driveways, but they sure look good now and I am thrilled to make these clients happy. This is a perfect example of using only a leaf blower after someone has walked or driven on fallen snow before it was cleared. Here too I grab the snow shovel and a few quick scrapes after using the blower and those tracks are gone in most cases.
I will continue to enjoy snow shoveling using the right tools at the right time.