An Engineer shovels snow
February 2010
I arrived back in the Washington area after two major snow storms (~20" and ~15") within about a week. The street my mother lives on had only been plowed 2 days before, and the driveway had not been touched. I came armed with a brand new steel snow shovel.
The snow plow had built an ice wall in front of the driveway, and I had to cut it into blocks to be able to shovel it. I carried the blocks across the street in order to have room to stack the driveway snow later. After awhile it became fun to see how high I could stack the blocks. Finally, it got to the point that it made no more sense to carry the blocks across the street.
Then the idea occurred to me - why not build a block wall on both sides of the driveway? This was ideal snow for it - maybe 3 feet of snow that had compacted to a little over a foot. And not a single footstep in it. I could make vertical chops on 3 sides, then lift out a nice rectangular block that was perfect for building a wall.
But it was tricky - the snow was brittle, and if a block cracked it could not be patched together again - the snow did not want to stick to itself. And snow in some areas of the driveway was firm, while in others it was softer.
This was no longer shoveling a drive way - this was a construction project! Softer snow and cracked blocks went to make a 'foundation'. The firmer cubes were saved for the upper rows. As the walls got higher it became ever more challenging to stack the blocks without toppling a section of wall (which happened many times!) Could I get another row on top of this one... carefully, carefully,... poof! Oops...
The hours melted away. A well intentioned neighbor came over with some snow shovels, but I could tell he was not into the art of this project. I finally convinced him that I was having fun and got him to leave.
The whole project took over 4 hours of non-stop shoveling, but it had long since gone from being a chore to becoming a project.
Another One
After posting this page, an engineer friend sent me this:
"(My wife) thought I was crazy (first picture). All I could say was that it kept me amused while shoveling. Strangely, after I went to clear the mailbox out of the plow wall (second picture) another layer or two had been added to all of my walls.
Paul K."
