February 05, 2004
May I Axe you a question?
All homeowners in urban Nebraska, and those who've shoveled snow for profit or as a childhood chore, know that the worst thing about removing snow from a driveway is the wall that the snowplow leaves. It's especially bad if the street's snow was packed down by several days of daily traffic before the plow came along; the driveway wall can be almost ice-like in toughness. I had the recent pleasure of using my snow shovel in a very non-shovel-like fashion trying to break down my home's barrier against the road goblins.
Yesterday morning, as I cruised down West 'O' street on my way into work, I saw a man further down the road performing some form of labor involving lots of circular arm motions at the street edge. Nine Inch Nails's Ringfinger was playing on my car stero courtesy of my Rio Karma, and the backbeat was strangely in perfect time with the man's swinging motion. I felt as if I was part of that car commercial where everything from the car's wiper blades to the streetside action was in time with the music. "That was weird."
My preoccupation with trying to remember what car that commercial was for caused me to forget the exercising man until I was nearly upon him. It was then that I finally realized he was wielding an axe, right at the end of his driveway!
He was swinging at his favorite plow-formed, goblin-repelling wall, of course. At first I thought his tool of choice was overkill, but after reflecting on the manner in which I had to assault my personal parapet, I decided that his implement was not only appropriate, but bordering on ideal. As long as one is careful to avoid swinging through a weak portion and chipping their pavement, that is. A chainsaw would work as well, but sometimes power tools just seem to be cheating.
Comments
I frequently wonder why that particular wall of snow is so much more difficult to remove than everything else on the driveway. Why the heck is that chock-full of ice while everything else is just white powder?
I believe the packing of the snow from vehicles driving on it, coupled with both heat from tires and residual heat in the pavement makes the ice.
the worst thing about removing snow from a driveway is the wall that the snowplow leaves
Living on a major arterial means that my street is almost always clear of snow. It also means that there's a wall of snow perpetually being built to either a) keep my car from leaving the driveway or b) keep my car from actually entering my driveway.
I frequently wonder why that particular wall of snow is so much more difficult to remove than everything else on the driveway. Why the heck is that chock-full of ice while everything else is just white powder?