Tips on Snow-Blowing a Driveway

Every Midwestern girl and guy should know how to run a snow blower. My dad had this heavy duty snow blower that I was never allowed to touch as a teenager. I have a love of power tools and being forced to use a shovel always made me disappointed. Although i do have my favorite shovels. I have one that have a pivoted handle that get the job done quick and easy. For some reason I am extremely drawn to this wheeled shovel adn really want it even though my husband said no.

The key to any good snow blowing adventure is to be courteous and at the same time expedient. What exactly does this mean?

The first rule is to never blow the snow onto your neighbors driveway or sidewalk. This is common courtesy, be nice and don't put snow onto your neighbors driveway whether it has been done yet or not. I frequently do my neighbor sidewalks because they shovel and I have a snow blower, It takes my an extra 3 minutes to help out a few people and allows the kids to walk to school without walking in the snow.

In most area it is also illegal to blow the snow into the roadway. I am assuming there is a lack of knowledge on this second point or the people in my area just have a complete disregard for the law. Do not blow or shovel the snow into the road. Sure it is annoying when the plow comes by and puts all that snow back into the end of my driveway but think about how much worse it will be if all the snow from your driveway was also in the street.

Some towns have regulations on how often and by what time in the morning the sidewalks must be clear by. Be a good neighbor and don't be the one who doesn't clear the walks. Here is the thing to remember the people that walk the sidewalk the most are school kids on their way to school or the bus stop. It is like Halloween don't think those teenagers or soon to be teenagers will forget the ones that turn them away or don't give out candy. They also remember the house where they have to walk through a foot of snow every winter, don't get tp-ed shovel the walk. That lady that walks her dog past your house might not be so quick to pick up the dog poop if your walk is never shoveled. Don't give people a reason to not like you.

A person I knew once upon a time ago didn't realize that the front chute rotates and couldn't figure out why people like snow blowers. The discharge chute does rotate and I rotate it often as I blow the snow. I do this for many reasons, I avoid the neighbors driveway, my own front steps, and other things I don't want snow one.

Our driveway and our neighbors are close together so I move all the snow from left to righ as I go . Piling all the snow in my fron year in the end. As I pass my own front step I move the snow directly in front of the snow blower and then switch to going back into my front yard.

When you get a lovely snow with a fast fall it may require several times with the snow blower. Remember that depending on the the motor of your machine and clearance it will only take a certain amount of snow fall before it is unhappy and refuses to work. if at tall possible get out there every couple of inches to stay on top of it.