/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Ahhh, and then there are the people with leaf blowers. They're just going out in the street, man, they'll be right back in your yard within ten minutes.

I love shovelling the driveway and side walk.

I hate the smell of gasoline that sticks to you after snow blowing, and with shovelling you get a nice workout.

Minnesotan here. We haven't had much of a winter here, but when it does snow I enjoy shoveling. Usually. Last year we had a snowstorm every weekend it seemed, that got old really fast. But I do enjoy it, shoveling, cold winter air, hot cocoa afterwards....mmmm

Yeah man, same here in Chicago. Not as much as in the burbs, but there are still a surprisingly large number of snowblower users in the city. Not even the elderly or young feeble women. I guess it's better than them not doing it at all. No one likes that one dick who leaves the ice slick in front of his house all winter.

>>150405
Technology is a crutch and status symbol for more people.

>so i guess my point is...do you ever make an effort to do things like this by yourself, the non-lazy way? or are there any other shoveling-lovers out there?

I am. I can't see the point in using and wasting money on crap unless you need to do x job 10,000 times/hours. I love my manual hand saws, hand drills/braces, shovels, rakes, etc. I have a ton of tools. I even have my own sickle and a scythe. I even have a reel mower, but god damn it I have 3 acres to mow and with a reel mower you need to mow that shit like 2-3 times a week, so I have a huge ass Scag 0-turn radius mower with grass catcher on the back ($12k+) and I hate using it, but I at least make extra cash with it by mowing everyone else's lawns within the neighborhood. I need to get a goats or something and sell the mower.

I HATE noise and HATE fuel odors.

>>150405

Gonna go shoveling soon.
And no, I don't love it, but IMO snowblower would be an overkill.

i use my hands and feet and a Kubota B3300 :)

Minnesotafag here. My dad bought a snowblower when I was a teenager because we get frequent snow and because he would use it to dig out my grandma's driveway which is actually pretty big.

I used to use that thing to clear out almost all of my neighbor's driveways and sidewalks. My street was almost all old people and nuns growing up so they would gladly pay me 20$ per driveway/sidewalk. Sidewalk was cleared basically in two long passes. I even cleared the old cheap-ass old man at the end that refused to pay me money to do it (he had heart problems and wasn't supposed to do it). Then I'd go back and do each house. In a light snow I could do the entire block in two hours. Netted over 300$ per run. There were a couple days that it took me over 8 hours to do them all due to heavy, wet, constant snow.

>>150450
Canadafag here.

This was pretty much me in highschool, every time school closed for a snow day I spent clearing the neighbourhood and cashing in. 6 foot drifts are a bitch with only a blower though, shovel extremely necessary. Easily made $3-400 each day my friends spent sitting at home.

Lived in an elderly area.

>>150450
>>150458
Where I live its the exact same thing...only lawn mowers.

>>150408
Resident of the northernmost provincial capital in Canada here. I've seen people using leafblowers to clear snow.

I use a snow shovel, I have a push mower for my tiny lawn, and I till my garden with a spade. It's cheaper and less annoying (noise, smell, etc.), not to mention it helps prevent me from becoming a fatass.

My pet peeve is people who spend 30 seconds changing the bit in their drill to put in 1 or 2 screws when there is a screwdriver right beside them.

Canadian here, I've never seen anyone use a snowblower in the suburbs. Also,
>Minnesotafag
>Canadafag
Why do people call themselves faggots with their location? This isn't /b/.

>>150544

General 4chan practice on all boards.

>>150405
OP, as a fellow Wisconsinite, I understand, but those of us who have a LOT of snow to clear and clean it often.

Not so much this year, though...

Iowafag here
Love me some shovelin.

>MFW I live in Madison and everyone shovels, including the snow plow guys who shovel dozens of sidewalks an hour.

>MFW Op is full of shit.

Pic related, it's my face when.

>>150405
> i don't have to spend $700+ on a gas-guzzling hunk of junk that'll probably break or at least need routine maintenance
Bitch please.
I find my snow blowers in the trash.
Got a nice Aries 2 stage that only needed a $3 float for the carb. Things worked like a champ for at least 4 years now with only an oil change. I have 4 more single stage sitting around doing nothing.

But now I am stepping up in my lazyness and making a plow for my riding mower.

Yep, technology. I was just talking about affluency to someone.

I like to run everywhere. I go to campus and my classes are a distance away from each other. There is no reason anyone should have a problem walking half a mile to class, but still people will ride bikes and stuff.

What I dont understand is how people can complain about walking around, and try and make it easier (via bikes and skate boards), then at the same time go to the gym and run around, for no reason other than to wear yourself out.

Why dont people just run to class? Why not? Its exercise, and you are actually going somewhere?

>>150544
i live in minnesota suburbs and use a snow blower (it was free from my parents friend) but i only use it if there was an over night storm like 8 inches plus otherwise i just shovel every few hours until the snow stops.

I live in Canada and shovel my snow. My driveway is just a small 2-car and it only takes about 15 minutes.

>>150519

Who the fuck takes 30 seconds to change a bit?

>>150897

I'll bike over running mostly because it's much lower impact. If you don't understand what I mean by that, you will in a few years.

It's also a lot more fun but if anyone asks I'll deny that bit.

>>150904

By impact, you mean impact on the joints yeah?

How far do you bike?

>>150905

About 6KM each way to and from work.

Joints, and other things. Don't ever allow yourself to develop a heel spur.

Michigander here.

My dad had the same philosophy the first year we moved here.

Then it snowed 6" every 8 hours.

He bought a 13 hp snowblower the year after.

>>150897
>What I dont understand is how people can complain about walking around, and try and make it easier (via bikes and skate boards), then at the same time go to the gym and run around, for no reason other than to wear yourself out.

When you live 5-10mi from work or school walking is impractical for time concerns and running is impractical because you show up covered in sweat. When you exercise outside of human powered transportation, you can actually concentrate on your cardiovascular fitness. Stop smelling your own farts.

>>150911
>>150935

Makes sense. You guys have to travel far, and have legitimate concerns about sweat and stuff.

St. Cloud, MN reporting in.
Normally I will use a shovel, unless it snows a shitload and I need to be somewhere. Absolutely no reason to snowblow this year (stupid drought).

I personally prefer hand tools over power tools. I feel I have more more control with regular hand tools.

>>150408
>that one dick who'd use his leaf blower and blow his leaves into your lawn

Iowafag on a cul-de-sac. Try shoveling after the plow driver pushes a street full of snow into the end of your driveway. Used to end up with 8 to 10 feet of pushed packed snow after a standard snowfall.

I don't have a car, I bike everywhere (bus occasionally). I have a good time trying to haul a lot of stuff while on a bike. That's the biggest one I think, I think it's safe to say that less than 1% of people are like that here (US).

I also like splitting firewood and hand sawing lumber, but I don't get to do that as often.

>>150405
Spring break 2007: I stole a shovel from a groundskeeper and devoted ten days to digging a massive underground bunker in the forest by my dorm building.

>>151019

You are my hero.

I want to build a secret bunker.

I have an old electric NOMA snowblower that I've used maybe twice in the past 5 years. Once was when a gigantic lake-effect system dumped about 100cm of snow on my city (London, Ontario) so I think I had an excuse. Otherwise it's the shovel for me, I agree with the OP. Shit has to be cleared anywyas, so may as well get your workout doing it.

>>150959
Fucking El Nino wrecking my ski season. I think I've only shoveled 3 times this year, mostly I just back the car out in the morning and everything is melted by the time I come home.

Alaska fatfag reporting in,

I love shoveling snow, is good fun, great workout and the silence that comes along with a good snowfall is amazingly calming.

>>151051
>>151051

Another Alaskan here. The economy has been so shitty that my snow removal business has pretty much gone down the drain.

I have been doing it for a few years and each year my customers try to figure out how they can be bigger douche bags. My snowblower finally blew up and the few decent customers I have left I am just doing them by hand for the remainder of the winter. This isn't my only income so I can tough it out.

But I do see a lot of this image thing. I never made enough off snow removal to buy a plow truck but a lot of assholes INSIST that I use a plow truck to clear their drive. It makes no sense whatsoever. I advertise snow blowing and they somehow are too stupid to see it in my ads. Then get agrravated when I don't have a snow plow. Snowblowers do a better job anyways and can do walkways, patios, etc.

After a few years of doing this I think these people cooped up in their houses get some sort of imaginary status from what tools are used on their property.

Alaska used to be a pretty cool place but this whole image culture is getting pretty damn strange.